Lower Kaituna River

The Crown made swamp land in Lower Kaituna available for European settlement, expecting it to be drained and used for farming.

The first Tumu-Kaituna Drainage Board meeting is held, with trustees Robert King (chair), C.F. Tuthill, H.A. Vercoe, James Dudson, and B.G. Pinker elected. The board’s goal: drain land east of the Kaituna River.

On 15 February, after a heavy storm, the Kaituna River naturally broke through the sand spit at Te Tumu, cutting off flow to the estuary. The SS Katikati was the first to navigate the new channel to Canaan landing. By October 1907, a twice-weekly service was operating via this route, marking the decline of Maketu as a port and ending plans for a wharf there.

On 24 January, George P. Ford of Maketu offers his launch Puke Lass (formerly Reremoana) for tourist and fishing trips. Powered by a 15hp Union engine, the vessel completes the Te Tumu to Victoria Wharf (Tauranga) journey in just over three hours.

On 19 February, the Te Puke and Te Tumu–Kaituna Drainage Boards review a report by Chief Drainage Engineer J.B. Thompson on plans to lower the Kaituna River to improve swamp drainage. He proposes short diversions, easing bends, clearing snags, and building stop banks. However, as neither board controls the river itself, he recommends forming a dedicated River Board.

On 8 April, the Kaituna River Board is established to oversee dredging and lowering of the river. Elected members include Herbert B. Bayliss, B. Vercoe, Joseph O’Shaughnessy, W. Kelly, R. King, M. Griffin, and A.P. Knight. Government drainage plans are reviewed and sent to committee for further assessment.

8 June: Torrential rain causes the river to flood. “The worst flooding we’ve ever experienced around the house.”

Settlers in Lower Kaituna formed a working bee to cut a new outlet to the sea at Te Tumu, aiming to reduce flooding after the river mouth had shifted east. But when Jack Ford and his father visited on opening day in August, the river didn’t flow as expected.

The Kaituna River District Board created two parallel channels—known as Ford’s Cut or the Twin Cut—through land leased by Mr Ford to redirect water into the estuary. By then, the river had already naturally reconnected to the estuary via the Papahikahawai channel.

3 November – Te Puke Times: The Kaituna River Diversion officially reopens to its original outlet at Maketu. Following speeches, the crowd gathers for a tapu lifting ceremony. A launch carrying officials from the Kaituna River Board, Arawa Trust Board, and local chiefs heads to the river mouth. After a ceremonial cannon blast, the launch—followed by two others—sails out to sea, then turns to re-enter the new channel.

The Kaituna River Board dredged the Lower Kaituna, cutting through sharp bends from Te Kopua Canal to Te Tumu. However, a storm in early March 1928 caused the river to naturally divert back to its former outlet.

13 December – Flax planting is completed across 1,350 acres of the Kaituna plantation, with the oldest plants now three years old. A new flax mill is planned for construction in the coming year.

21 August – Te Puke Times: Flaxlands Development Ltd acquires Broad and Berquist’s old flax mill at Bell’s Landing, Papamoa, and establishes a modern facility managed by F.W. Douglas of Mercer. A new process for producing wool packs and corn sacks from flax at lower costs is expected to bring significant commercial value to the industry. The mill is connected to electricity in September 1932.

6 May – Members A.J. Collins, M.G. Cruickshank, W.J. Ford, E.H. Hintz, David M. Steel, and Wallace Williams are re-elected to the Kaituna River Board.

In 1950, the Tumu-Kaituna and Te Puke Drainage Boards merged with the Kaituna River Board to create a more efficient and unified response to the upcoming Murray Report. Now overseeing all drainage in the region, the board aims to reduce maintenance costs through a centralised drain-cleaning operation.

6 July 1951 – After two and a half days of heavy rain, Te Puke experiences its worst flooding since 1907. The Kaituna River and the Waiari and Raparapahoe streams overflow, cutting off the town and leaving it without power for 18 hours. Roads at Long Swamp, Papamoa, and Canaan Landing are severely flooded, with only limited truck access. Pukehina and Pongakawa are also heavily affected.

Since May, the Kaituna Basin has remained flooded, with 14,000 acres underwater and farmers facing severe stock losses. Government aid is sought to support those affected.

19 May – The Government approves a £3-for-£1 subsidy, covering up to £60,000 of the estimated £79,930 cost for the Kaituna Flood Protection Scheme. At the time, 8,000 acres remain flooded—one farm with 110 cows has just two acres above water.

The Te Tumu diversion redirected all Kaituna River flow out to sea, with Ford’s Cut and Papahikahawai blocked. Designed to reduce flooding on surrounding land, only minimal seepage or overflow into Ford’s Cut occurred during flood events.

1 February – The Kaituna River diversion officially opens at Te Tumu. What begins as a trickle soon becomes a wide, raging torrent, swiftly carrying water to the sea. The $50,000 project—largely funded by affected farmers—aims to prevent flooding across 16,000 acres of fertile farmland. Fittingly, local farmer Jack Pittar, long impacted by floods, is the first to navigate his launch through the new outlet.

The Kaituna River Board is dissolved, with its responsibilities transferred to the Tauranga County Council. To support the Council, a local advisory committee is elected by district ratepayers. Members include Councillors G. Don Vercoe and A. Gordon Spratt, along with A.E. Clague, H.M. (Mick) Collings, Eddie H. Hintz, and R.S. (Bob) McCosh.

1 June 1962 – A severe storm cuts off Te Puke for 24 hours, with 9 inches of rain recorded in a single day. A man in Ohope Beach is killed when a clay cliff collapses behind his home. Te Puke residents Mr and Mrs H.H. Anderson, returning from Rotorua, are trapped between two landslides and forced to spend the night in their car.

3 September – Te Puke Times: The Government approves, with some modifications, the Bay of Plenty Catchment Commission’s $2.3 million flood control and drainage scheme for the Lower Kaituna River. Funded on a 3-to-1 subsidy basis, Commission Chairman Charles W. Mundt is confident their share will be raised with ease. The first step is classifying the 19,000 acres included in the plan. Once complete, the scheme will protect some of the region’s best dairying land, which has faced up to five floods annually in recent years.

Planned in the 1970s and launched in 1981–82 after Ministry of Works & Development approval, the Kaituna Scheme aimed to prevent flooding and convert swampland between Te Puke and the coast into productive pasture. Key works included further straightening of the Kaituna River—most notably a cut 400–900m from its mouth—realignment of tributaries, and construction of stop banks.

A parliamentary petition with 3,000 signatures is presented, calling for the Kaituna River to be re-diverted back into the estuary.

DOC applies for consent to partially re-divert the Kaituna River back into the estuary, requesting approval to redirect 400,000 cubic metres of water per tidal cycle.

NIWA was engaged to investigate erosion on the Ford family property. The report found the main causes to be ocean wave action entering the river mouth and likely eddies forming during floods—both intensified by increased flood peaks caused by the Kaituna Scheme. NIWA concluded the scheme is the root cause of the erosion. Meanwhile, DOC was granted consent for a partial rediversion of 100,000 cubic metres per tidal cycle, limited by water quality concerns.

24 July – Heavy weekend rain followed by a swarm of shallow earthquakes, the strongest at magnitude 5.4, forces the evacuation of 1,500 people in the Eastern Bay. The disaster claims two lives and causes damage estimated in the tens of millions. In Maketu, a major landslip leaves a home teetering on a cliff’s edge, while Te Puke dairy farmers, in the midst of calving season, struggle with no safe areas for their cows or calves.

7 April – Bay of Plenty Times: A new tsunami warning system will be installed along the Western Bay coastline, with ten sirens set to provide up to four hours’ notice for evacuation. This makes the region the first in New Zealand to implement a fully coordinated alert system. Authorities highlight the area’s vulnerability to tsunamis triggered by earthquakes, volcanic activity, and undersea landslides.

The Kaituna Maketū Joint Council Committee, along with the Chair of the Working Party, hears public submissions on the draft Kaituna River and Ōngātoro/Maketū Estuary Strategy.

The Regional Council agrees to fund the partial re-diversion of the Kaituna River in its 2012–2022 Ten Year Plan. The project aims to maximise river flow to the estuary, keep the Te Tumu Cut open, and preserve existing flood protection levels.

Re-diversion options were explored through meetings with the community, iwi, and landowners, with feedback helping to shape the preferred approach. Consultants conducted Cultural Impact Assessments, ecological studies, and modelling, while regular updates kept the community informed throughout the process.

January–May: Ongoing community updates.
April–June: Resource consent application and designation notice prepared and lodged. Construction requirements confirmed and environmental assessments finalised.
July–September: Public notification and 20-day submission period.
December: Consent and designation hearings held, if required.

February–March: Resource consent decision issued and designation recommendation made. The Regional Council reviews and responds to the recommendation.
April: Appeals, if any, are lodged with the Environment Court.
August: Environment Court hearing held, if required.

Construction begins, followed by implementation of the re-diversion and ongoing environmental monitoring.