Battle Hill Farm Forest Park is a regional park near Paekākāriki, in the Kāpiti Coast District and

Wellington Region Greater Wellington, also known as the Wellington Region (Māori: ''Te Upoko o te Ika''), is a non-unitary region of New Zealand that occupies the southernmost part of the North Island. The region covers an area of , and has a population of T ...

of New Zealand's lower North Island. The park is a dedicated farm park, administered by

Wellington Regional Council Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for public transport under the brand Metlink, environm ...

. Transmission Gully runs through the park.

Geography

The reserve covers a stream valley, between Paekākāriki Hill and Horokiri stream to the west, and hills to the east. It includes steep hill slopes of

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...

with limits vegetation. The vegetation in the valley includes pukatea (Laurelia novaezelandiae), along with some rewarewa (Knightia excelsa), tawa (Beilschmeidia tawa), and

kahikatea ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60 m and a life span of 600 years. It was fi ...

(Dacrydium dacrydioides). The understory includes mahoe (Melicytus ramiflorus), kaikomako (Pennantia corymbosa),

nikau ''Rhopalostylis sapida'', commonly known as nīkau ( mi, nīkau), is a palm tree endemic to New Zealand, and the only palm native to mainland New Zealand. Etymology is a Māori word; in the closely related Eastern Polynesian languages of the ...

(Rhopalostylis sapida),

coprosma ''Coprosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is found in New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Borneo, Java, New Guinea, islands of the Pacific Ocean to Australia and the Juan Fernández Islands. Description The name ''Copros ...

, and other small trees and shrubs.

History

Battle Hill Farm Forest Park was the site of Battle of Battle Hill in 1846. Relations between the Government and local Māori had been souring for many years, due to the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

trying to buy large tracts of land for

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...

settlers. It culminated with a clash between about 300

Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori '' iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its '' rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmerston ...

, under the leadership of

Te Rangihaeata Te Rangihaeata ( 1780s – 18 November 1855), was a Ngāti Toa chief, nephew of Te Rauparaha. He had a leading part in the Wairau Affray and the Hutt Valley Campaign. Early life A member of the Ngāti Toa, he was born at Kawhia around 1780. Hi ...

, and British troops. Te Rangihaeata was captured and relinquished the land in return for his release. He spent the rest of his life in exile at Poroutawhao, north of Levin. In 1860 the bush was covered to the Abbott family, who cleared it and farmed it until 1975. Members of the family, and two of the three militiamen killed in the battle of 1946, are buried in a graveyard on the site. Wellington Regional Council purchased the land for a park in 1987. Access routes into the park were changed, during construction of Transmission Gully between 2016 and 2021. The council consulted on the future of the park in 2020. Later that year, the council announced plans to reduce stock grazing and increase native bush and wetlands in its regional parks. However, it excluded Battle Hill Farm Forest Park from the plan, opting to keep it as a dedicated farm park.

Recreation

The park contains a working farm near the entrance at Paekākāriki Hill Road and extends over the surrounding hills and into a plantation forest that merges with the Akatarawa Forest. It contains several loop walkways, some suitable for mountain biking and horse riding. Parts of the park are closed during August for lambing season. The park is open to camping and campervans. However, there is no powered camping sites or dump stations. Wellington Riding for the Disabled, a community group providing horse therapy for people with disabilities, has been operating in the park since 2016. The park is a ten minute drive from parts of Porirua.

References

External links

Battle Hill Map

Battle Hill Front Paddocks Map
{{Authority control Paekākāriki Parks in the Wellington Region Regional parks of New Zealand