Takapūwāhia, also known as Porirua Pa, was originally built on one of the oldest settlements in the Porirua basin called Te Urukahika, a small hamlet located on the western shore 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 ...

harbour in the lower (southern)

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

of New Zealand. In the 1850s Takapūwāhia had a population of over 250

Māori people The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several ce ...

As the crown acquired more iwi land for Pakeha settlement the wider iwi was invited to settle in Porirua by Ngati Maunu, the senior hapu of Ngati Toa. Families came from Pukerua Bay and Taupo Pa, now known as

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 ...

. Then in 1889 the settlement moved from Te Urukahika (Elsdon) to its current location and became the primary home to

Ngāti Toa Rangatira Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

In 1910 a school was built next to the wharenui. The settlement includes Takapūwāhia Marae, a ''

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

'' (tribal meeting ground) of

. The marae includes a ''

wharenui A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called ''whare'' ( ...

'' (meeting house), known as Toa Rangatira.

Demographics

Takapūwāhia is combined with the neighbouring suburb of Elsdon for statistical purposes. The Elsdon-Takapuwahia statistical area covers and also includes the large rural area of Colonial Knob to the west.

Education

Mana College Mana College is a decile two secondary school in Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand. Mana College celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2007. History In recent years, the college has introduced Pathways a system to help students achieve in areas they ...

is a co-educational state secondary school for Year 9 to 13 students, with a roll of as of . The school was founded in 1957. Mahinawa Specialist School is a co-educational specialist school, with a roll of .

References

{{Porirua Suburbs of Porirua