Hauraki Iwi History

Te Ao Hou, March 1959, Page 12 Here is an unedited version of this text. I have placed some suggested corrections in the text using square brackets [ ]. OF TANIWHA, NGARARA AND HOW PAEROA GOT ITS NAME by LEO FOWLER  I had always thought that the town of Paeroa got its name from the long ridge of hills behind it pae-roa . But I was wrong. I found that there was another and older meaning to the name. There is a very old, old story about the naming of Paeroa. I learned the story first, many years ago, from Hoane [Hoani] Te Huia of Paeroa, and later heard other versions from other old Maoris of my acquaintance.  I don't know what the name of the place was before it was called Paeroa. Some have told me it was Ruawea, [Ruawehea] some Ohinemuri, but these are district names, as far as I know. Anyway, in a cave near the hill now known as Turner's Hill, near the present town of Paeroa there lived a taniwha, or ngarara, named “Urea.” [Ureia] I have no certain knowledge as to what was the

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19961, 12 June 1939, Page 14

Te Karere o Nui Tireni, Pukapuka 1, Nama 12, 1842, 52 

This notice appeared in an 1865 edition of Waka Maori. The notice was issued by Governor George Grey and concerns the extend of the Waikato Lands that were taken by the Government following the Waikato War. The lands that were confiscated included Pūkorokoro in Hauraki. Waka Maori, Volume II, Issue 41, 7 January 1865, Page 1