Opotiki Attractions

Opotiki (pop. 4000), near the east end of the Bay of Plenty, was formerly one of the largest Maori settlements in the bay. On the outskirts of the town is the little St Stephen's Church, built in 1864 on the initiative of Carl Volkner (1819-65), a German Lutheran missionary. Volkner, who had worked in Opotiki since 1859, was brutally murdered in the church by supporters of the Hauhau movement in 1865 on returning from a visit to Auckland; the Maoris suspected that he was a government spy and had betrayed them. Because of its nearness to the impenetrable Urewera Ranges, Opotiki was frequently attacked by Hauhau groups or Chief Te Kooti's guerrillas.