Te Kōpuru

Te Kōpuru is the largest community on the Pouto Peninsula in Northland, New Zealand.

[5] During the Musket Wars of the early 19th century, fighting between Ngā Puhi and Ngāti Whātua and the effects of influenza substantially depopulated the area.

A court exonerated the farmer and the perpetrators of the “Muru” ceded the land at Te Kōpuru as compensation.

[7][8] A hui held at Te Kōpuru in 1860 to make peace between Ngāti Whātua and Ngā Puhi was attended by about 600 people.

[9] An attempt to set up a kauri sawmill at Te Kōpuru began in 1867, but the machinery was damaged because the ship was leaky, and the owners refused its delivery.

[21] Gum-diggers were active in the area in the 1890s through at least 1910,[22] and around the turn of the century W Brown and Sons established a boat building yard at Te Kōpuru.

Dairy herds became established in the early 20th century,[23] In 1903, the Customs Office was moved to Te Kōpuru from Pouto.

[25] The first sealed road in the Kaipara District was probably the one from Te Kōpuru to Mount Wesley, just south of Dargaville, in about 1918.

[27] A ferry service was established in 1934 running from Raupo (on the eastern shore of the Northern Wairoa) to Tikinui (just south of Te Kōpuru).

The service was initially established to transport milk from dairy farms on the Pouto Peninsula to the dairy factory located in Ruawai, but many travelers to the peninsula found using the ferry service preferable to driving through Dargaville (currently a 35-minute journey but far longer on the metalled and windy roads of the time).

Improved road conditions and the establishment of a railway line led to the service being discontinued around 1971.

The results were 73.9% European (Pākehā), 50.0% Māori, 3.9% Pasifika, 1.7% Asian, and 5.6% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander".