Turakina is an old Māori settlement situated southeast of Whanganui city on the North Island of New Zealand. Turakina village derives its name from the Turakina River, which cut its passage to the sea from a spring on Mount Ruapehu. The original inhabitants of the area were the descendants of the Kahui Rere and the Kahui Maunga, later naming themselves Ngā Wairiki. However after the migration of Ngāti Apa from the Bay of Plenty toward Rotoaira then south to the Rangitikei river, they found themselves slowly being taken over by generations of intermarriage with the latter tribe.