Road

Before the road around Lake Rotomā was constructed, there were several Māori trails over the Rotomā hill which could be used to get between Rotorua and the Eastern Bay of Plenty by foot, but these trails were too narrow and uneven to be used by horses. Travellers from Rotorua could only get as far as Tikitere on the rough track. In May 1895 work commenced on the Tikitere to Rotoma road. By July, there were three road gangs working on different sections of the road, and work began over the difficult section over the Rotomā hill in the summer of 1895–1896. A proper road was also constructed from Te Ngae in Rotorua through to Tikitere.

Once the road was completed, horse-drawn traffic commenced and public coaching services began. The first such service was started in 1907 by the R.M. Company, who ran a service twice a week from Rotorua to Ōpōtiki carrying mail and up to three passengers. In 1910 the R.M. Company upgraded to a large coach drawn by five horses which could hold 10 passengers. In 1916 Colletts of Rotorua started the first regular motor car service, using Cadillac service cars. The average travel time from Rotorua to Whakatāne was 5 hours, but like the horse-drawn coaches, the service cars could take up to 9 hours to travel this distance depending on the driving conditions. The road surface gradually improved, decreasing the travel time to 3 hours by the late 1920s.^[2] Today, this journey takes just one hour and 20 minutes.

In 1947, 60 men were employed on the construction of the Rotorua to Whakatāne highway, as increases in traffic had caused problems on the road which was barely 12 feet wide. In the winter of 1956 the lake level of Rotomā rose very high, causing the road to be shifted to higher ground. More serious flooding occurred in 1962, and the famous "cheese cutting" landmark was destroyed and used to build up the road. The cheese cutting was a large wedge shaped rock formed during road construction in 1895–1896 when the road gangs cut the road through a hill with picks and shovels and left a portion of the hill standing.^[3]

Establishments

Various establishments have come and gone at Rotomā, and most were set up to service the passing traveller's desire for rest stops, refreshments and accommodation.

"Suicide Beach"

The bay at the foot of the Rotomā hill where Manawahe Road commences had the nickname "Suicide Beach" in the past due to the occurrence of a murder-suicide there in May 1925.^[7] The real story was lost over time, with the majority of Rotomā local residents holding the belief that it had been a young honeymoon couple who committed suicide there together. However, in actuality it was a 38-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl; understood to have been romantically attached. The man, Carl Olsen, had told the girl's father of his love for her. In an attempt to separate the pair, the disapproving parents sent the girl, Molly Moors, to live with an aunt in Hastings. Without her aunts knowledge, Olsen picked Molly up in his car and it was assumed they were on their way to Hamilton when they met death at the shores of Rotomā. The event was well covered by newspapers of the time and was referred to as the "Rotoma Tragedy". Olsen and Moors are buried next to each other in the Rotorua Cemetery, and their graves were probably originally marked with wooden crosses.^[8] The original crosses disintegrated over time leaving the two graves unmarked for many years before being remarked with new matching wooden crosses in May 2011.

Sunken island

Four buoys in the southern portion of Lake Rotomā mark the location of Motutara, the sunken island, which sits just under the lakes surface. Occasionally the lake level drops low enough to expose the top of the island. There was once a Māori village on the island, and according to the legend, an old Tohunga resided there amongst the other inhabitants. His name was Te Rarau-mai-Waho, and he was very powerful and dangerous. The cloud the old Tohunga cast over the island was lifted only on the occasions where he went to visit some of his relations in Kawerau and around Putauaki, Mount Edgecumbe. One night he returned from such a visit and called out to the people of the island from the lake's edge by Matahi lagoon, ordering them to send him a canoe. Nobody responded to his demands, and in his anger the Tohunga put a curse on the island and its inhabitants. The people of the island heard the angry Tohunga's terrible screams, but did not realise the horrible retribution he would take. The curse caused the island to slowly sink, and by morning it was completely underwater; the only signs of the village being bodies and pieces of wreckage floating on the surface of the lake. Some people had escaped by swimming to the shore of the lake, and these people eventually settled in the South Island.^[9] The Waikato Underwater Club has examined Motutara. Two platforms or terraces were found, and some hāngī stones were found at the peak. It has been suggested that if the Pā had been palisaded it may have still been there today.^[10]

Early settlement

The early road construction crews commented on the lack of Māori settlement in Rotomā and in the neighbouring Lake Rotoehu. However, fortified pā sites, food pits, cultivation areas and burial sites have been discovered around the shoreline of Rotomā and the surrounding hills . The tribe Ngāti Tūwharetoa may not have lived permanently at Rotomā but at least took out a temporary camping existence there to take advantage of the hunting and fishing opportunities on offer. Later, Ngāti Tūāhuriri, a sub-tribe of Ngāti Pikiao took up residence at Rotomā. Māori living at nearby Rotoiti credited the frequent conflict between Māori and Pākehā as the cause of the dispersion of this Māori population, and they had left Lake Rotomā by the time the road construction began in 1895.

A census for the years 1874 to 1891 shows nil for Rotomā. In 1896 a census shows a population of 33, understood to be the occupants of the camp set up for the road workers and their families at the east end of Oneroa beach by the lagoon.

Oxford Road

In 1948, Mr and Mrs T.H. Pilbrow and their children arrived at Lake Rotomā from Oxford in Canterbury. They had purchased the Rotoma Tearooms and Post Office, which was situated on 25 acres of land. In a district of predominantly leasehold land, the Pilbrows realised the value of their 25 acres of freehold land and decided to subdivide it in 1950. Sixty-three sections were surveyed, the majority each a quarter acre, and four of these were taken by the Rotorua County Council for a reserve. Seventeen sections were along the main road, but a new road was required to access the sections to the rear. The Pilbrows named the new road "Oxford Road" as a reminder of their hometown.^[12]