Title: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1905, Christchurch

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Tuatapere lies between Te Tua and the Waiau Ferry. A local punt, constructed and maintained by the Government, was long known by the name of Papatotara, but when this name was bestowed on a settlement about six miles from the punt, towards the mouth of the Waiau river, on its western bank, it was deemed advisable to rename the district when the post office was established, on the Ist of January, 1904, and the name chosen was Tuatapere. The caretaker in charge of the ferry is the proprietor of an hotel on the western bank of the Waiau, but the post office is conducted at the store on the eastern bank. Tuatapere is also connected with the outer world by a telephone bureau. Sawmills and flax mills are in active operation in the district, and the clearings of the settlers are frequently seen from the road to Orepuki. Several of the settlers, however, are far back in the bush, off the line of road, and their homesteads are not within sight of the traveller. The district on the south-western side of the Waiau is in the Orepuki riding of the county of Wallace, and, as Waiau, it had a population of sixty-five at the census of 1901; while the north-western side is in the Waiau riding of the same county, and, at the census of 1901, the population of West Waiau was set down at thirty.