Sign In / Register
As subdivisions develop all around Mangawhai, it’s fascinating to look back and consider how this land has been divided historically, again and again.
According to Native Land Court minutes (1869), Kaipara was divided between Manuhiri’s eldest son Kahikatearoa, who was to watch over the western side, and Manuhiri’s daughter, Tūrangi, who was to watch over the east, including Te Mangawhai.
People of the inner Kaipara Harbour were at that time known as Te Uri-o-Kahikatearoa, later as Te Uri o Hau. Both Ngāti Manuhiri and Te Uri o Hau have a connection to Mangawhai through their ancestor Manuhiri, but neither had the same concept of absolute ownership of land that settlers brought with them. As tangata whenua (people of the land), one whānau or hapū might have had the right to catch birds in one area, while another would have held the right to fish part of the harbour very close by.
Before the great battle of Te Ika-a-Ranganui (1825), Mangawhai was home to a number of pā (fortified villages), each with its own name and area. There was Hororoa at Mangawhai Heads and Patukai to the west. What later became the Mangawhai purchase was once Kohekohe (north), Kaparanui (now Tara area), Paparanui (west), Poirota (west), Puke Kohe (north), Waipū (north), Wairaki (north), Uretiti (north), Rauawe (south) and Ngā Rākau-e-whā (south).
After the battle, tangata whenua survivors sought refuge at pā further afield, including Maioro and Pākirikiri, leaving Mangawhai. The land they left behind was deemed tapu (sacred) and was largely uninhabited for around a decade, when Ngāti Whātua and Te Uri o Hau gradually returned.
The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, and the Crown made its Mangawhai land purchase in 1854. When the British Army’s 58th Regiment of Foot was officially disbanded in 1858, many soldiers decided to stay in New Zealand rather than return to Britain, accepting land allocated based on their military rank, established on a European understanding of ownership.
These soldiers laid the foundations of the first European community in the Mangawhai area, with parcels along the Mangawhai River and around Hakaru dedicated to clearing land, farming, extracting timber, building ships and constructing homesteads, boarding houses, trading posts and the breakwater.
Areas around Mangawhai became associated with new names like Wynyard, Moir, Mooney, Ryan, Cullen, Sarah, Leslie and Fraser.
Fast-forward nearly a century, and modern subdivisions began in Mangawhai Heads from around 1950. At the time, Mangawhai was a curious mix of individually owned quarter-acre sections with holiday baches near the beach and contrasting active rural farming properties.
By the 1970s, greater demand for holiday homes, mostly from Aucklanders, triggered the plotting of coastal sections, with Mangawhai Heads and the estuary adopting standardised residential layouts.
From 2018, the division of land has taken a different turn, which we’re still witnessing, with large developments like Mangawhai Central and Mangawhai Hills transforming the area. A place that long ago consisted of shared land resources, and later largely of either holiday homes or farmland, now includes permanent suburban-style communities with varied offerings – from small lots on a cul-de-sac to lifestyle properties without farms on the town’s outskirts.
The Mangawhai Museum History Group is currently seeking descendants of the original 58th Regiment soldiers who settled in Mangawhai after the regiment was disbanded in 1858. If you think this could be you, please email jr59@mail.com
Coming up at Mangawhai Museum?
Sat 05 – Sun 06 Sep | Mates’ Rates for our Rate Mates. Free admission all weekend for Kaipara ratepayers
Sat 10 Oct | Fundraiser: Brooke Lane Spring Long Lunch, book via 021 545 299
Tue 13 Oct | History Group Bus Trip to Matakohe, book via 027 286 0056
Mangawhai Museum Manager
More stories from the author
