Maori Pa Sites

Our ceremony took place on Te Pare point, which is the top of the pa site at the south end of Hahei Beach.  You can read about the region by visiting  this website.

In case the site fails, I have reproduced some of the information here:

History of Hahei

There are two pa sites situated at the southern end of Te O-A-Hei or Hahei Beach. These pa sites, known as Hereheretaura and Te Pare, are now held as reserves.

The early settlers bestowed beautiful and appropriate place names on all the prominent features of the landscape. However, these names were not given in a haphazard way. There had to be some significant reason for a name and even then it would only be bestowed after consultation with a tohunga (priest).

The people of Hei commemorated the name of their leader in a number of place names. One of them was the roomy bay near where Hei had settled now known as Te Whanganui O Hei (the Great Bay of Hei).

Ngati Hei enjoyed the wonderful area, with all its natural resources, until around 1820 when the Ngapuhi from the north swept down the east coast armed with muskets, killing and plundering as they went.

Te Pare pa was taken first as it provided a higher vantage point making it easier to shoot down into Hereheretaura pa. These devastating attacks made the two pa tapu (sacred) for many years.

In 1862, the government of the day proclaimed the area wastelands of the Crown. This made it available to the Wigmore family, who farmed it.

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