The custodian of city’s hidden valley

On the fringes of Tauranga City there’s a secluded, fertile valley which time and progress has passed by.

The hum of traffic from the busy Bethlehem to Tauranga expressway is a constant background noise for the three households on the land just off Cambridge Road. In the past it hummed to a different tune – that of people working the soils to grow food.



Fruit juices
“Te Hoori’s organic produce is always beautifully presented and his fruit juices are very much in demand. He has a strong following among customers.” Trixie says Te Hoori and the trailer he built years ago for his stand are very much a fixture at the market.

The weekly markets are a highlight of his week too. “I enjoy the market not so much for the money but more for the people I meet, both stall holders and the public.”

Te Hoori’s garden is bordered by a high wooden fence, the other side of which is the expressway. The terraced bank created from topsoil removed by the road construction is a source of organic soil for his raised beds.

Not long after he returned to the land, Te Hoori realised its fertility was dwindling and decided the only way to restore it to productivity was to use organic practices, so he took courses to learn about organic gardening.

He also created a meticulous, hand-drawn plan of his proposed organic garden. Each raised bed, every tree, and garden building is recorded on the plan, which he followed faithfully when clearing over-grown land and constructing more than 20 raised beds.

Te Hoorie was instrumental in the formation of OrganicFarmNZ, established in 2002 with the aid of a grant from the then Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry and the Soil and Health Association.

He acted as secretary at the first formal meeting of the organisation attended by Minister of Agriculture Jim Sutton. OrganicFarmNZ has an organic certification system designed to be a low cost for growers supplying the New Zealand market only. It is accessible for everyone, including commercial growers, community groups, schools, and individuals.


Te Hoori Rakirangi alternates plantings in his raised organic gardens, leaving some fallow, while others are in production.

Queen’s Medal
He was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, instituted by the Queen by Royal Warrant on February 9, 1990 in recognition of contributions made to some aspect of New Zealand life, especially the various 1990 celebrations.  

The medal is known as the Sesquicentennial Medal, because it was issued on the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on February 6, 1840.

Te Hoori was born at Huria Marae (Judea Marae) in nearby Brookfield, and remembers regular family trips to the extensive gardens off Cambridge Road to care for, and
harvest, vegetables.

“Later on my mother Hinemaua Ngatoko and father Tamehana moved our family to live here on part of the 12 hectares of land which had been returned to our people following confiscation during the land wars,” says Te Hoori.

It was Hinemaua who planted many of the trees from which Te Hoori still harvests fruit.


Te Hoori Rikirangi has been a member of the Tauranga Farmers Market since its inception in 2003.

Great gardener
“My mother was a great gardener. She didn’t have much time for flowers, but loved hydrangeas, which are still here. My aunty Rangihoa Matthews on the other hand – well she had almost every kind of flower in her garden.”

The contour of the land, which runs down to a swamp, meant not all of it is suitable for gardening. Nonetheless, it served an important role in supplying food for the Ngāti Ranginui iwi hapu Ngai Tamaranwaho of Huria Marae. Early crops included kumara, corn, maize, cabbages, and cauliflower.

When he left school Te Hoori went to Auckland to train as an engineer, returning after 25 years to build a home for his family at Bellevue. However, Auckland offered better pay and job prospects so he went back to the city, finally returning to his ancestral lands when he was 48.

“This land was returned to my hapu in the 1800s after an American, who married an ancestor of the Matthews family, discovered this land had been taken. Thanks to his efforts it was returned to his wife’s family.”

Close to the city, and now surrounded by houses, the land was surveyed for subdivision – Te Hoori still has the plans.

“It looks fine on paper but the reality is different. Because of the contour and swamp, much of this land can’t be built on, and now with the expressway going through the middle of it, there’s no road access to the western side.”

The expressway between Bethlehem and Tauranga – originally referred to as Route J – cut the land in half, taking the most fertile and flattest part of the property. It also cut off any hopes of development for housing. Te Hoori worries what will happen when he can no longer maintain it. He doesn’t want it to become over-grown and uncared for.

For as long as he’s able, he will continue to grow vegetables in the raised gardens, harvest fruit from the trees, and mow the extensive lawns with his ride-on mower. And, of course, attend the Tauranga Farmers Market each Saturday at the Tauranga Primary School in Cameron Road.


Young kauri trees grow among the fruit trees and vegetable gardens in this secluded valley just off Cambridge Road in Tauranga.


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