ethnic group in the wider Rotomā area is Māori, at 49.9% of the population. This compares to a 27.5% Māori population for the Bay of Plenty Region as a whole. 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. Education Lake Rotomā School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of . The first school was opened on 2 February 1928 in the old tearooms building with Mr. E.G. Sutherland teaching the 8 students. Mr Sutherland stated that it was "probably the worst building in New Zealand. However, when the weather was too bad we just declared a holiday – and