Māori settlement

The area was settled by the people of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, descendants of those who had originally settled in the Kawerau area. The Ngāti Tūwharetoa invasion of Taupō occurred from about the 16th century with a war party under command of Tūrangitukua who engaged in a number of battles against earlier inhabitants of the Taupō, Rotoaira and Kaimanawa area.^[8] Following these battles a variety of settlements were established in the area with major pa established on the cliff overlooking the Tongariro River and at Waitahanui on the Tongariro Delta. Another important settlement was at Tokaanu.

The people who eventually become known as Ngāti Tūrangitukua associate mainly with Waitahanui pā. From here they established a number of homesteads along both sides of the Tongariro River and its tributaries, including houses along the main Highway to Taumarunui (now Hirangi Road). In 1910 construction of a wharepuni begun which eventually became the Hirangi Marae complex.^[9]

Tongariro River

Non-Māori settlement

The first Europeans reached the Tūrangi area in the 1830s,^[10] however it was not until the 1850s that European settlement occurred with the construction of a Mission Station at Pukawa.

In the 1880s and 1890s brown and rainbow trout were introduced into the lake and rivers of the area. A small fishing camp was established at Taupahi on the Tongariro River bank (now Taupahi Road). European settlers used the camp for recreational fishing.

In the 1920s two prison farms were opened at Rangipo and Hautu^[10] because of the isolated nature of the area. Also during this period the Morar family arrived from India, settling and establishing a store in Tokaanu.

By 1960, the population was about 500.^[10]

Tongariro power development

In the 1950s, in response to post World War II needs for rapid expansion of energy resources to meet the growing industrialisation in New Zealand, the Tongariro Power Scheme proposal was developed. The scheme would require a large construction force, and provide accommodation for that force for the duration of the project.

Four sites were considered for the township to accommodate the project workers: Rotoaira, Rangipo, Tūrangi West, and Tūrangi East. The tourism potential of Lake Taupō was appreciated, as well as the economic benefits that could be captured by creating a permanent township. Taking into account accessibility, climate, and adequacy of suitable land for development of a township, it was decided proceed with the Turangi West site.

Construction of the modern town began late in 1964.^[10] The Government invested $16 million ^[10] in the development and by May 1966, the population of Tūrangi had jumped from 500 to 2,500^[10] people. By 1968 the population reached a high of 6,500.^[10] A model town with curving streets and cul-de-sacs, uniform houses, pedestrian shopping centre, car parks and separation from the traffic on the main highway was created.^[10]

Between 1967 and 1982 several hundred Italian hard-rock tunnellers came to Tūrangi to work on the Ministry of Works's Tongariro Power Development project, building tunnels and an underground power station. The men were contracted by Italian company Codelfa-Cogefar, which supplied accommodation in six camps near the works, medical services, a priest and Italian food and wine for the workers.^[11][12] Many of these men were from around Treviso in northern Italy where the company was based. Italian traditions such as a mass for Santa Barbara, patron saint of tunnellers and miners, were also acknowledged.^[13] When the project was completed some of the workers returned to Italy but others stayed in New Zealand. In 2017 a 50-year reunion for Codelfa-Cogefar employees was held in Turangi.^[14]

A publicity pamphlet published by the Ministry of Works in 1969 described Tūrangi at that time as a pleasant and attractive town of 5000 people which offered a ‘balanced community life’. The pamphlet enumerated the town's amenities, shops, and services, such as its mall, schools, sports facilities, library, maternity hospital, parks, and, not least, its wide, grassy verges and kerbing.^[15]

Following the completion of the project in the late 1970s,^[10] the Ministry of Works and other government departments began a process of selling assets^[10] within the Turangi township.

Eastern Lake Taupō, Tūrangi to Taupō

Treaty settlement

In 1989 Ngāti Tūrangitukua registered with the Waitangi Tribunal (Wai 84). The claim was heard under urgency between April and October 1994, and the Tribunal's Report was released in September 1995.

The Tribunal found that the Crown had breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in a number of ways:

• The Crown acquired Māori land at Tūrangi West when Crown land at Tūrangi East was available:
• The Crown did not adequately consult with Ngāti Tūrangitukua regarding the construction of the township:
• The land taken for the township was in excess of the maximum area that the Crown promised it would take:
• The land the Crown undertook to lease for industrial purposes and return to the people after 10 to 12 years was compulsorily acquired and not returned:
• Wahi tapu were destroyed or damaged in the construction of the township:
• Adequate compensation was not paid for land acquired:
• The Crown did not give full effect to conservation values:
• The Crown did not pay Ngāti Tūrangitukua the respect due its mana as tangata whenua:
• The provisions of the Public Works Act 1928 and the Tūrangi Township Act 1964, relied on by the Crown in entering and taking the claimants' land, are inconsistent with the basic guarantee in Article II of the Treaty of Waitangi that Māori may keep their land until such time as they wish to sell it.
• The Tribunal found that, as a result of the Crown's breaches of the principles of the Treaty, Ngāti Tūrangitukua lost much of its ancestral land. Its social and economic base was seriously eroded causing spiritual, cultural, and economic prejudice to Ngāti Tūrangitukua.

In July 1998,^[16] the Crown and Ngāti Tūrangitukua negotiated to achieve a full and final settlement of Ngāti Tūrangitukua's Treaty claims and to remove the continuing sense of grievance.

The Crown and Ngāti Tūrangitukua entered into a deed of settlement on 26 September 1998,^[17] resulting in a full and final settlement of Ngāti Tūrangitukua's Treaty claims relating to the development and construction of the Tūrangi Township and its after effects.

In 1999 the Ngāti Tūrangitukua Claims Settlement Act 1999 was passed to:^[18]

(a) To record the apology given by the Crown to Ngāti Tūrangitukua in the deed of settlement executed on 26 September 1998 by the Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, the Right Honourable Sir Douglas Arthur Montrose Graham, for the Crown, and Ngāti Tūrangitukua; and

(b) To give effect to certain provisions of that deed of settlement, being a deed that settles the Ngāti Tūrangitukua claims.

Marae

The local Hīrangi Marae and Tūwharetoa i te Aupōuri meeting house, located in the Tūrangi township, is a meeting place Ngāti Tūrangitukua and Ngāti Tūwharetoa.^[19][20]

Rongomai Marae and meeting house, located east of the township, is a meeting place of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapū of Ngāti Rongomai.^[19][20]

Korohē Marae Rereao meeting house, located further east, is a meeting place of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapū of Ngāti Hine.^[19][20] In October 2020, the Government committed $1,338,668 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade the marae and 4 other Ngāti Tūwharetoa marae, creating 19 jobs.^[21]