BOPDHB History Whakatāne Hospital History Book | Page 12

Te Puke o Ōtarahioi. Photo: Whakatāne District Museum & Gallery (6919) Te Puke o Ōtarahioi is located in the middle of Tāneatua with walking access from both McKenzie Street and Morrison Street. The total area of the hill is 0.445 hectares and the total perimeter is 278.785 metres. At its highest point it is approximately 20 metres above the surrounding residential properties and is the only hill of any consequence within the town. The photograph, taken in 1912, shows Ōtarahioi being used as a natural stadium by local residents to view the annual Agricultural and Pastoral (A&P) Show on a nearby farm. At that time the area was entirely in grass with no evidence of any remnant indigenous forest cover. In 2011 Kanuka dominates the sides and top of the hill and a programme is planned to re-establish many of the original indigenous plant species under this canopy. At the end of the 19th Century and the first two decades of the 20th Century land development came very quickly to the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Cut-over bush and scrub was converted to pasture and the Rangitaiki Swamp was progressively drained14. The rapid growth in population scattered along 150 miles of coastline, with roads, tracks, rivers and harbour entrances that were frequently impossible to navigate made it inevitable that there would be a clamour for better medical services and a local hospital. As mentioned earlier, the search for a suitable site for Whakatāne’s first Public Hospital started early in the knowledge that a possible site (Section 24) had already been identified in Tāneatua. In December 191015 the Board received a letter from the Whakatāne County Council suggesting that Puketi, (Cabbage-tree Hill) another site in Tāneatua, be reserved as a Hospital Reserve. The Board informed the Council that the land in question was Native Land and that the Board was ascertaining if there were any difficulties in the way of reserving the land for the purpose mentioned. WH Gibbons, The Rangitaiki 1890-1990, A history of drainage of the Rangitaiki Swamp, (Whakatāne: Whakatāne & District Historical Society, 1990 15 Bay of Plenty Hospital and Charitable Aid Board Minutes, Volume 1 [03.12.1902 – 21.06.1917], 16 December 1910, (Auckland, Archives New Zealand, Reference ADHL A1669 22975 6) 14 Page 7