Karehana Bay is a bay and nearby residential area at the western end of

Plimmerton The suburb of Plimmerton lies in the northwest part of the city of Porirua in New Zealand, adjacent to some of the city's more congenial beaches. State Highway 59 and the North Island Main Trunk railway line pass just east of the main shopping an ...

, a northern coastal locality of

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...

. It is located near the entrance to the

Porirua Harbour Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour, commonly known as Porirua Harbour, is a natural inlet in the south-western coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The harbour is within the main urban area of the Wellington Region, and is surrounded by the city of ...

, to the south-east of

Hongoeka Hongoeka is a community in the city of Porirua in New Zealand. It is northwest of Plimmerton and adjacent to Hongoeka Bay. It extends from an urupā (cemetery) boundary at the end of Moana Road, to Haukōpua (commonly known as Big Bay). A resid ...

. It is about 5 minutes drive to Karehana Bay from the State Highway 59 turnoff to Plimmerton. The area looks out towards Mana Island and across

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A H, ...

to the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. Karehana Bay is the site of a fine sediment beach, the Plimmerton Boating Club (since 1925), Karehana Park and the Karehana Bay Scenic Reserve.

Name

The bay and the adjacent residential area are named after Whakataki Karehana, a

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 N ...

chief who lived in the area up until the 1890s.Porirua City Council, Karehana Bay Scenic Reserve Management Plan, December 2001, https://web.archive.org/web/20170509111757/http://pcc.govt.nz/DownloadFile/Publications/Leisure-and-Recreation-Plans/GetImage.aspx?imageid=a39f94fe-ad74-4498-948e-6c175d181b70&downloadnow=true The name was assigned to the area by the Hutt County Council in 1923. The name Karehana Bay has been depicted in maps and survey plans since 1952 and Karehana Bay (suburb) was first named as a separate suburb from Plimmerton in Department of Lands and Survey maps in 1965. It continues to appear in Land Information New Zealand topographical maps, along with the bay. However, in 2011 the New Zealand Geographic Board accepted a Porirua City Council proposal to amalgamate the recorded names of "Karehana Bay" and "Plimmerton" under the official name "Plimmerton".

History

Karehana Bay was the site of Motuhara Pā, which may have predated the arrival of

in the 1820s.Bob Maysmor, Plimmerton: A colourful history Archaeological finds suggest that prior to the Ngäti Toa occupation it was a small

kāinga A kāinga ( Southern Māori ''kaika'' or ''kaik'') is the traditional form of village habitation of pre-European Māori in New Zealand. It was unfortified or only lightly fortified, and over time became less important to the well-defended pā. D ...

with associated urupā (burial ground). Te Rauparaha's canoe, ''Te Ahu a Tūranga'', landed at Motuhara. When Te Rauparaha was seized from Taupo Village in 1846, Motuhara, along with Hongoeka, was also searched. And when he was being taken to HMS Driver, he called out for help from Motuhara. Ownership of the surrounding Motuhara Block was investigated by the Native Land Court of New Zealand in 1871 and resulted in individual title over the block being issued to a group of Ngāti Toa: Ropata Hurumutu, Te Karehana Te Weta, Te Horo Hawea, Piripi Poutini, Te Karina Tuhaia, Hoani Warena, Pene Koti Te Teka, Wiremu Nera Te Kauae and Wi Parata. Te Karira Tuhaia died around 1875, and ownership passed to Raiha Prosser. By the 1890s, Te Karehana Whakataki was described as living alone at Motuhara, and by 1894 he had moved to Takapūwāhia.Pat Stodart, “Pā in Porirua: social settlements”, ''Tuhinga'' 26: 1–19, https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/sites/default/files/tuhinga.26.2015.pt1_.p1-19.stodart.lowres.pdf The coastal area around Plimmerton, including Karehana Bay, began to be developed in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1905 George Troup purchased 365 acres of the Motuhara Block. In the following years, Troup subdivided a large area of Karehana Bay and laid out several of its roads, including Cluny, Gordon, Airlie and Ogilvie roads. At that time the subdivision was known as the Plimmerton Extension, with the first auction of the land held on 26 January 1909. A further auction of 100 properties was held on 6 March 1912. Early baches were owned by Ernest Gyton and Frederick Bilton. After World War I, sales increased and the Plimmerton Extension developed rapidly. By the 1920s and 1930s, Karehana Bay was a separate community from Plimmerton, with a popular beach. St Paul's Presbyterian Church opened in 1924, and held its final service in 2007. A sea wall was completed along the foreshore in 1938. During the 1980s and 1990s the area experienced a considerable change in its socioeconomic landscape as many affluent Wellingtonians became aware of its natural beauty, resulting in many small coastal batches and cottages being replaced with larger family homes and infill housing. Many retired residents still remain in their older batches and cottages, allowing the area to retain something of its character.

Notable references and events

The bay features in the poem by

Denis Glover Denis James Matthews Glover (9 December 19129 August 1980) was a New Zealand poet and publisher. Born in Dunedin, he attended the University of Canterbury where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts, and subsequently lectured. He worked as a reporte ...

, Threnody: "In Plimmerton, in Plimmerton, the little

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

s play, and one dead

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

was found at Karehana Bay" Karehana Bay has hosted Plimmerton Kindergarten's annual Plimmerton Mid-Winter Dip fund raiser since 1997.

References

{{coord, 41, 4, S, 174, 51, E, region:NZ_type:city, display=title Bays of the Wellington Region