Josie Kemp Baker and Pamela-Anne Simon outside of He Iwi Kōtahi Tātou Trust, Moerewa
Photo: Justine Murray

It was on a return trip from gathering kai from the beach that a family noticed a girl was missing; what ensued inspired the name of Moerewa.

Josie Kemp-Baker shares the story of the name that goes back hundreds of years ago and begins with the ancestor Nukutawhiti.

During the early 1900’s, Moerewa was set up as a service town with the freezing works, diary farms and the main railway line. Today it is known as Tuna Town because the many silver bellied eel in its rivers and streams, and as we’ll learn, it’s also a great place for a pizza and coffee.

Pamela-Anne Simon works as a community connector with He Iwi Kōtahi Tātou Trust, a health and social service provider, she says this town is all about manaakitanga.