'Of Taniwha, Ngarara and how Paeroa got its name', by Leo Fowler, March 1959
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 th...