Hāwera is the second-largest centre in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, with a population of . It is near the coast of the South Taranaki Bight. The origins of the town lie in a government military base that was established in 1866, and the town of Hāwera grew up around a blockhouse in the early 1870s.
Hāwera is south of New Plymouth on State Highway 3 and 30 minutes' drive from Mount Taranaki. It is located on State Highway 45, known as Surf Highway 45 for its numerous surf beaches. State Highway 45 passes through Manaia, Ōpunake and Oakura en route to New Plymouth. Kaponga is a 20-minute drive to the north-west. The Marton–New Plymouth Line railway passes through Hāwera and has served the town since 1 August 1881, though it has been freight-only since the cancellation of the last railcar passenger service between Wellington and New Plymouth on 30 July 1977.
Etymology
, the namesake of the town, was a kāinga located at Whareroa. The name ("burnt place") refers to the kāinga burning to the ground after an attack. The name was first adopted by European settlers for the name of the Hawera Redoubt, a defensive fort constructed in 1866 during the New Zealand Wars. Spelt "Hawera" for most of its European history, a macron was added to the official name by the New Zealand Geographic Board in June 2019. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui, who represent Ngāti Ruanui, the mana whenua of the area, occasionally use the Taranaki dialect spelling ‘Āwera.
The modern location of central Hāwera was traditionally known as , which was used as a site for gardens and cultivations. or , a pā site located in eastern Hāwera, is named after the patatē, or seven-finger tree Schefflera digitata.
Geography
Hāwera is located on the eastern Waimate Plains, approximately inland from the South Taranaki Bight. The town is built primarily on level or gently sloping land, with Mount Taranaki found to the north-northwest, and the hilly Tarere Range to the northeast. Hāwera is located between the Waingongoro River to the west, and the Tawhiti Stream, a tributary of the Tangahoe River, to the east. Much of the coastline near Hāwera is formed by steep cliffs, such as those found at Ōhawe Beach and Waihi Beach.
The Tangahoe Formation, a geological formation primarily formed by muddy sandstones, is exposed in the cliffs near Hāwera. The formation dates to the Waipipian stage of the mid-Pliocene (between 3.4-3.0 million years ago). Numerous Pliocene fossil species have been found near Hāwera in the formation, including Coluzea spectabilis, Emarginula haweraensis, Penion haweraensis and Saccella waihiana.
Prior to Māori settlement, the Hāwera area was likely covered in dense forest. Until the late 19th century, the Hāwera area was primarily scrubland vegetated with ferns and flax, bordering on a dense forest dominated by rātā and miro trees. In more recent times, farmland surrounds Hāwera, primarily dairy farms and sheep stations.
Towns that are close to Hāwera include Eltham, to the north) and, Pātea, to the southeast. The largest city close to Hāwera is New Plymouth, located approximately to the north, followed by Whanganui, found to the southeast. Hāwera is located on State Highway 3, State Highway 45, and is located on the Marton–New Plymouth Railway Line. Passenger services last operated on the line in 1977.
Climate
History Early Māori history
The Hāwera area has been settled by Māori since the Archaic period of Māori history. The mouth of the Waingongoro River is the location of an early archaeological site dating to the Archaic period, c. 1300, where bones of animals including moa and the North Island takahē have been found in an earthen oven. Māori gradually cleared the forest near the coast for cultivations and gardens, leading to an entirely clear stretch of scrub-land around the coast likely around the 16th century.
The earliest migration canoes attested in oral histories include the Ariki-mai-tai which landed near Waimate, Tahiti near Ōeo, Te Rangi-ua-mutu (also known as Tairea) whuch landed at the mouth of the Waingongoro River, Te Wakaringaringa at Kaupokonui, Panga-toru and Motumotu-ahi. The mana whenua of the Hāwera area is Ngāti Ruanui, whose rohe extends from the Waingongoro River in the west to the Whenuakura River in the south. While related to earlier waka including Te Rangi-ua-mutu, Ngāti Ruanui and the closely related iwi Ngāruahine and Ngā Rauru, primarily trace descent from the ancestors Turi and Rongorongo, voyagers who travelled aboard the Aotea migatory canoe to New Zealand from Mahaʻena at Tahiti and Raʻiātea in the Society Islands. Ngāti Ruanui take their name from Ruanui, a son of Turi and Rongorongo's daughter Tāneroroa, who wed Uenuku-Puanake, of the Tākitimu waka. Several place names in the area refer to Turi, including the Waingongoro River, which refers to the place where Turi snored.
Major resources for early Māori settlement include shellfish collected from the coast, fishing grounds near the mouths of rivers, eel fishing in streams, and forest resources including birds. Hapū of the area would preserve meats in the fat of the animals, which was used as a trading resource with other hapū. The modern location of central Hāwera was traditionally known as Te Ūpoko, which was used as a site for gardens and cultivations. Inter-tribal skirmishes and warfare occurred between hapū caused by issues such as fishing rights. Te Hāwera, the namesake of the town, was a kāinga located at Whareroa that was burnt to the ground in a skirmish, leading to the name "burnt place".
A well preserved pā site, Turuturu-mōkai, is located near Hāwera. Built in the 17th century by Ngāti Rakei, a hapū who later merged with Ngāti Tūpaea. Known as a strongly defended place, a traditional story tells of a feud with Ngāti Taka Ruahine tells of a ploy where members of Ngāti Taka Ruahine encourage the warriors of Turuturu-mōkai to receive tā moko (traditional tattoos) from a visiting tattoo master, then ambushing the pā site while the warriors were weakened due to receiving tattoos. Other historical pā sites include Te Ramanui, a 16th century kāinga and centre of learning centred on the current grounds of Hāwera Hospital, and Taupatatea, a pā site at Gladstone Reserve to the east of the town.
Early European interactions
In 1821 during Te Āmiowhenua, an expedition of the Musket Wars undertaken by Ngāti Whātua and Waikato Tainui, warriors led by Pōtatau Te Wherowhero besieged Te Ruaki pā for three months. Many members of Ngāti Ruanui were forcibly taken elsewhere across the country, with people returning from 1837 after peace was negotiated. Christianity was first introduced to Ngāti Ruanui by Ngātai in 1837, who returned to the area from Hokianga after becoming a Christian. Wesleyan missionaries began to arrive in the area from 1839. The largest settlement in the 1840s near Hāwera was Manawapou, on the coast to the southeast of Hāwera at the mouth of the Tangahoe River.
European settlement of Taranaki began in 1841, with the establishment of New Plymouth. In March 1843, the road from Pātea to Whanganui was completed. Early important industries in the area included flax harvesting, pig rearing, and wheat growing. By the late 1840s, of wheat had been planted at Ōhangai, and many Māori-operated flour mills were established in the area, with the first being constructed at Waitoto near Okaiawa in September 1847. Flax weaving became an important industry at Manawapou in the 1850s, and larger houses had been constructed at Ōhangai by 1852. From 1853, the area became a part of the Taranaki Province.
Land wars
Since 1849, Ngāti Ruanui had opposed land sales in the Hāwera to European settlers, a position solidified during a major hui at Manawapou in April 1854. The first military clash between South Taranaki Māori and the Crown was the Battle of Waireka in March 1860. Ngāti Ruanui sought to unite with norther Taranaki iwi in this conflict, knowing that the Crown's tactics to secure land would later be used against them, and by 1862, had abandoned coastal kāinga abandoned for those at forest margins.
Governor George Grey wanted to humiliate Ngāti Ruanui for their stance opposing land sales. Land confiscations began in Northern Taranaki in 1863, and resistance to invasion was used as a justification for further land confiscations. On 2 September 1865, Grey announced that Ngāti Ruanui lands would be confiscated under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, except for members of the iwi who were loyal to the crown. By the mid-1860s, units of European and kūpapa soldiers under Gustavus von Tempsky began ambushing Ngāti Ruanui using "bush-scouring" tactics, destroying the economy of Ngāti Ruanui.
In 1864, Governor Grey called for the establishments of military settlements between New Plymouth and Whanganui, to open up land for settlement and to create a passable road between the two settlements. At this time, South Taranaki Māori increasingly began adopting the Pai Mārire faith. Adoption of Pai Mārire and the Māori King movement were both seen as ways for Māori to resist European aggression. Adherents of Pai Mārire, commonly referred to as Hauhaus, were seen by European settlers as fanatics, and by 1865 Governor Grey proclaimed that he would attempt to suppress Pai Mārire using any means possible.
From January to April 1865, lieutenant general Duncan Cameron reluctantly led a military campaign against South Taranaki Māori. Cameron established a military redoubt at Ohawe in 1865, and on 2 September 1865, Grey proclaimed that lands held by rebels between Whanganui and New Plymouth would be confiscated. In January 1866, Trevor Chute led a second campaign, adopting a scorched earth tactic, destroying the kāinga of Manawapou, Ōtāpawa, Keteonetea and Puketi, and established a number of military redoubts in the area, including the Waihi Redoubt, the main military base, in September, and a redoubt at Turuturu-mōkai.
Establishment of Hāwera and Tītokowaru's War
On 30 April 1866, Percy Smith began surveying military settlements in the South Taranaki area. Originally Ohawe was intended to be developed as the main town for the area instead of Hāwera. The first references to Hāwera date to 1866, referring to Camp Hawera redoubt. Hāwera is marked as a redoubt located near Whareroa in James Orme Barnard's 1868 map of the coast between the Waingongoro and Whanganui rivers.
Settlers began arriving in the area in 1886, with townships being established at Ohawe, Mokoia, and Kakaramea. Guerilla warfare ambushes by South Taranaki Māori hindered settlement, with an estimation of only 10% of settlers remaining by later 1867. Ngāti Ruahia attempted to seek peace with the Government in 1866, during which Government troops attacked settlements at Pōkaikai in August and Ketemarae in September. In 1867, Taranaki rangatira Tītokowaru began training followers at Te-Ngutu-o-te-Manu, a fortified village close by to Waihi Redoubt, where many South Taranaki Māori regrouped after land confiscations.