Onemana

The area was originally named Whitipirorua by Māori.[6] The first known settlers of the area were the Ngāti Hei. They were supplanted by Ngāti Hako in the mid 17th century, but Ngā Puhi raids during the Musket Wars of the early 19th century left the area without a permanent population.[7] By a variety of means the land was acquired by the government and sold to settlers.[8] Archaeological evidence suggests that the area was first settled in the 1300s, with a pā located at the south of Onemana Beach.[9] The area was important for the production of stone tools made of matā (chert) and matā tūhua (obsidian).[9]

The 364 section subdivision was created in the 1970s on the Bambury family's Shang-ri-la farm.[10] Much of the archaeological site was destroyed to make way for the subdivision.[9] The name Onemana was adopted for the subdivision, however the name has no traditional relationship with the area.[6]

Onemana is in meshblocks 1060413 to 1060419.[11] The permanent population of 116[12] often exceeds 3,000 during the summer peak.[13]

A 110 m (360 ft) deep groundwater bore into rhyolite provides water for the village,[14] which used 5,370,000 litres (1,180,000 imp gal; 1,420,000 US gal) in the peak 2 weeks of 2014/2015.[15] The sewage plant handles up to 196 m³ (43,000 imp gal) a day, which is disposed of to landfill.[16] Heavy overnight rain from Cyclone Wilma in March 2017 damaged 2 houses with slips and caused wastewater overflows.[17] Onemana sewage plant resource consent renewal was scheduled for 2019/2020.[18] Two accessible toilets, a shelter and community notice board were funded by the Tourism Infrastructure Fund in 2019.[19]

Onemana has several surfing peaks along the beach with both right and left handed breaks. The seabed is a mix of sand and rocky reef; and a stream discharges centrally to the bay. A right hand break is sometimes off the southern point through to the beach.[20]