Pauatahanui

This book s a local history of an area which was involved in one of the Maori wars. It was illegally purchased then surveyed for settlement in 1839-1840 by the New Zealand Company, and the first European settlers arrived in 1840-1841 but were unable to take up the land in the area until the end of the 1840s until the local war with Ngati-Toa was over. Plans to turn the harbour into a significant port competing for sailing ships with Wellington was thwarted by the 8.2 earthquake in 1855 which raise the harbour by approximately 1.5 to  2 metres.

Following that it was a major stop on the main route North from Wellington with four hotels and stabling facilities for horse changes, but by the 1930s it was bypassed and stagnated. One virtue of stagnation is that the area is rich in historical features. A grand scheme for a Pauatahanui City complete with 6 suburbs, a  University and Town Hall was  planned in the 1960s but stumbled after the 1973 recession and only the suburb of Whitby was built. Gentrification into lifestyle blocks has almost ended farming in the area. But a 27 km Transmission Gully motorway through the middle will once again bring the area mainstream and it would not be surprising if in another generation Pauatahanui City is completed.

Many elements are common to other provincial towns in early New Zealand but Pauatahanui has its own particular historical accidents which are well recorded in the book.

Details of the book are as follows-

1.  “Pāuatahanui – A local history”, by Helen Reilly, published by Pauatahanui Residents Association [a registered charity  # CC42516]
2. RRP (incl GST): $65.00.
3. ISBN: 9780473254391.
4. Published October 2013.
5. The book tells the story of Pāuatahanui and Whitby from earliest times to 2012.  It documents the area’s occupation by Māori and by British Imperial soldiers, its central role in the transport network of early Wellington, and its land development from native forest to farms to suburbs and lifestyle blocks.  It fills a gap in the recorded history of Pāuatahanui and Whitby, and thus in the wider Porirua area and the Wellington region.  It embeds the story of the place and its people in the context of national and international events.After many years of teaching in Scotland, South Africa and New Zealand, Helen Reilly qualified as a public historian at Victoria University of Wellington, specialising in energy history.  “Pāuatahanui – A local history” is her fourth book.  Helen, who lives in Whitby, is currently working on a history of the operation of New Zealand’s electricity systems.

The book can be purchased at –

Capital Books, Wellington

Unity Bookshop, Wellington

Pataka Museum & Gallery, Porirua

Paper Plus, at North City Plaza, Porirua

P &  Z Decorating Centre, Porirua.

Paper Plus,  at  Lower Hutt

Paper Plus, at Coastlands, Paraparaumu

Or for  enquiries or  purchase online with various methods of payment and delivery see www.pauatahanuihistorybook.co.nz

Or postal address-

Pauatahanui Residents Association

c/-325 Grays road

RD 1

Porirua 5381

Telephone 04-2331148