Waitara is a town in the northern part of the Taranaki region of the North Island of New Zealand. Waitara is located just off State Highway 3, northeast of New Plymouth.
Waitara was the site of the outbreak of the Taranaki Wars in 1860 following the attempted purchase of land for British settlers from its Māori owners. Disputes over land that was subsequently confiscated by the Government continue to this day.
There are several different stories regarding the origin of the name Waitara. One is that it was originally Whai-tara – "path of the dart" – so named because Whare Matangi followed the path of a dart to find his father Ngarue. Another is that Turi named it from his wide stride when crossing the water of the river. Another is that Turi named it Waitarangia because the coldness of the water affected his skin. Yet another is that it means "mountain stream". In 1867 the settlement was named Raleigh, after Sir Walter Raleigh. It reverted to its former name with the establishment of the borough of Waitara in 1904.
History and culture
Early history
Prior to European colonisation, Waitara lay on the main overland route between the Waikato and Taranaki districts. Vestiges of numerous pā on all strategic heights in the district indicate close settlement and closely contested possession, just before and in early European times, by various tribes. Whalers and sealers, who had come from the northern hemisphere, gained help from and formed relationships with local Māori in the early 19th-century, but the area was largely vacated in the 1820s and 1830s following warfare between the resident Te Āti Awa iwi (tribe) and those of iwi from north Auckland down to the Waikato. Some Te Āti Awa were taken to Waikato as prisoners and slaves, but most migrated to the Cook Strait area in pursuit of guns and goods from whalers and traders.
Pākehā settlers who came to New Plymouth (founded in 1841) in the 1840s and 1850s viewed nearby Waitara as the most valuable of Taranaki's coastal lands because of its fertile soil and superior harbour. The New Zealand Company drew up plans for settlement from New Plymouth to beyond Waitara, and sold blocks to immigrants despite a lack of proof that the company's initial purchase of the land had been legitimate. The company claimed that Te Āti Awa had either abandoned the land or lost possession of it, owing to conquest by Waikato Māori.The Taranaki Report: Kaupapa Tuatahi by the Waitangi Tribunal (The Land Claims Commission later upheld this view, but subsequently Governor Robert FitzRoy (in office 1843–1845) rejected it, as did the Waitangi Tribunal in 1996.)
First Taranaki War
Tensions between settlers and local Māori began as early as July 1842, when settlers who had taken up land north of the Waitara River were driven from their farms. A year later 100 men, women and children sat in a surveyors' path to disrupt the surveying of land for sale.
Between March and November 1848 Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke, a Te Āti Awa chief who staunchly opposed the sale of land in the Waitara area, returned to the district from Waikanae with almost 600 men, women and children and some livestock to retake possession of the land. They established substantial cultivations of wheat, oats, maize and potatoes, selling it to settlers and also for export; his followers also laboured on settler farms. The Waitangi Tribunal noted that the group allegedly eventually owned 150 horses and up to 300 head of cattle.
Despite Kingi's opposition however, payments were made by government agents secretly to Maori individuals for prospective sales of land in the Waitara area, prompting spates of violence between those supporting and opposing land sales.
In 1857 the issue came to a head with the offer for sale of land at Waitara and at Turangi, further to the north, by two individuals, Īhāia Te Kirikūmara and a minor chief, Pokikake Te Teira. Teira's 600-acre (240 hectare) Waitara block, located on the west side of the Waitara River and known as the Pekapeka block, became the focal point of a dispute between the colonial government (chiefly representing settlers) and Māori over the right of individuals to sell land that Māori custom regarded as owned by the community.James Cowan, The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume I: 1845–1864, Chapter 17. 1922. The dispute ultimately led to the outbreak of war in Waitara on 17 March 1860, when 500 troops began a bombardment of Kingi's Te Kohia pā, which had been built two days' prior. By the end of March, of the four kāinga in the Pekapeka block (Te Whanga, Kuikui, Hurirapa and Wherohia), only Hurirapa, the community led by Ihaia and Teira, remained. Imperial troops established Camp Waitara to the south of the Pekapeka block, at the former location of Pukekohe pā, which became the base of the 40th Regiment, and was one of the largest redoubts in the country. The war, in which 2,300 Imperial troops fought about 1,400 Māori, ran for 12 months before a ceasefire was negotiated.
Later campaigns during the war included the major British defeat in the Battle of Puketakauere, close to Te Kohia pā, on 27 June 1860 which cost the lives of 32 Imperial troops and of five Māori. A major British sapping operation at the strongly defended Te Arei pā up the Waitara River began in February 1861, but was abandoned when a ceasefire was effected the following month.Cowan, James (1922). The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period, Vol. 1, chapter 20, 1845–1864. As a result of this operation, Colour Sergeant John Lucas was awarded the Victoria Cross.
Second Taranaki War
In May 1863 war resumed in Taranaki.James Cowan, The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Vol I, Chapter 25, 1922 The government immediately renounced the earlier Waitara purchase, abandoning all claims to it, and instead created a plan for the confiscation of greater tracts of land under new laws, supposedly as a reprisal for the Oakura killings. In 1865 the Pekapeka block that had been at the heart of the initial dispute with Kingi was confiscated – therefore finding its way back into government control – on the basis that Kingi was at war, though the Waitangi Tribunal concluded there was no evidence he had engaged in hostilities after 1861.The Taranaki Report: Kaupapa Tuatahi by the Waitangi Tribunal, page 90
In 1884 the Government returned as "Native reserves" 103,000 hectares of the 526,000 hectares of Taranaki land it had confiscated, although the land remained in government control. By 1990 half of the "reserves" had been sold to Pākehā settlers by the Native Trustee without reference to Maori.Puke Ariki website The remainder was leased to settlers with Maori receiving only a "peppercorn" rental return.
The Pekapeka Block – which had been the catalyst of the Taranaki Wars and, by extension, the policy of land confiscation – was divided up and given as endowments, or gifts, to the Waitara Borough Council and Taranaki Harbours Board. In 1989 the land was transferred to the New Plymouth District Council, which in turn voted in March 2004 to sell it to the Government with the intention of it being passed to Te Āti Awa as part of the Waitangi Treaty settlement.Press release from Hon. Margaret Wilson That process was blocked by the High Court in November 2005 after a challenge by the Waitara Leaseholders Association. Association members, each of whom owns a house but leases the (once confiscated) land on which it stands, want to own the land freehold.Puke Ariki information sheet on Waitara leasehold issue
Treaty settlement
In September 1990 the Waitangi Tribunal began hearing 21 Treaty of Waitangi claims concerning the Taranaki district. Much of the tribunal's investigation focused on events around Waitara from 1840 to 1859.
The tribunal presented its report to the Government in June 1996, noting: "The Taranaki claims could be the largest in the country. There may be no others where as many Treaty breaches had equivalent force and effect over a comparable time. For the Taranaki hapu, conflict and struggle have been present since the first European settlement in 1841 ... Taranaki Maori were dispossessed of their land, leadership, means of livelihood, personal freedom, and social structure and values. As Maori, they were denied their rights of autonomy, and as British subjects, their civil rights were removed. For decades, they were subjected to sustained attacks on their property and persons."
In its report, the tribunal observed that to the offence of local Maori, many street names in Waitara honoured the architects of the illegal land confiscation, including chief crown purchasing agent Donald McLean, Land Purchase Commissioner Robert Parris, Governor Thomas Gore Browne and military officers Charles Emilius Gold and Peter Cracroft. It said: "It is our view that name changes are needed. It is when leaders like Kingi, who understood the prerequisites for peace, are similarly memorialised on the land and embedded in public consciousness that those names will cease to stand for conquest and the Waitara war will end."
In November 1999 the New Zealand Government signed a Heads of Agreement with Te Āti Awa to settle its claims, a process that would provide financial compensation and an apology for the confiscation of land.Govt.nz
Marae
Waitara has two marae.
Kairau Marae features Te Hungaririki meeting house, and is a meeting ground for the Pukerangiora hapū of Te Āti Awa. In October 2020, the Government committed $300,080 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade the marae, creating 15 jobs.
Ōwae or Manukorihi Marae features Te Ikaroa a Māui meeting house and is a marae of Te Āti Awa hapū of Manukorihi, Ngāti Rāhiri and Ngāti Te Whiti. In October 2020, the Government committed $360,002 to upgrade the marae and another marae, creating 15 jobs.
Demographics Stats NZ describes Waitara as a small urban area, which covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.
Waitara had a population of 7,509 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 504 people (7.2%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 1,008 people (15.5%) since the 2013 census. There were 3,699 males, 3,777 females, and 30 people of other genders in 2,886 dwellings. 3.4% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 38.0 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 1,485 people (19.8%) aged under 15 years, 1,521 (20.3%) aged 15 to 29, 3,003 (40.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 1,497 (19.9%) aged 65 or older.
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 72.6% European (Pākehā); 45.1% Māori; 4.4% Pasifika; 1.9% Asian; 0.5% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.8% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 97.2%, Māori by 10.8%, Samoan by 0.4%, and other languages by 3.3%. No language could be spoken by 2.0% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.6%. The percentage of people born overseas was 7.8, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 25.9% Christian, 0.2% Hindu, 0.2% Islam, 2.1% Māori religious beliefs, 0.1% Buddhist, 0.6% New Age, and 0.6% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 61.4%, and 9.3% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 471 (7.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 3,474 (57.7%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 2,076 (34.5%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $32,700, compared with $41,500 nationally. 231 people (3.8%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 2,688 (44.6%) full-time, 693 (11.5%) part-time, and 240 (4.0%) unemployed.