HISTORIC MAORI PA

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 21, 18 October 1937, Page 6

HISTORIC MAORI PA

Model for Napier Museum One of the most historic Maori pas m New Zealand, a model of the Popoia pa, made by the Te Karaka Rangers, is to he presented to the Hawke's -Bay Museum authorities to-morrow night. Tlie model was oxhibited m Adelaide during the centenary celebrations. lnteresting traces of Popoia pa are still to be seen on a rise overlooking the Boverty Bay flats, between Kaiteratahi and -Patutahi. The earthworks are still there, and a circular claylined reservoir,- 12 feet in diameter, for holding water in times of Beige, can be seen, although it is noly only half its original deptb. Popoia pa is of historic importance because it was the stronghold of one of the most famous Maori chiefs, Ruapani, paramount chief of the district, who flourished in 1550 A.D. and who subdued all the tribes in Poverty Bay. All jthe Rangatira Maoris in Hawke's Biay and Poverty Bay trace their desCent from Ruapani, and through him cliam him as their ancestor the famous Kahungaru who lived in the early days, eight generations before Ruapani. According to Maori genealogies Popoia pa was abandoned in 1750, because the Waipaoa river, which) formerly flowed beside the pa, had changed its course,. moving a mile beyond its original bed, and because there was less need for a strong fortified pa, the tribes living peacefully and cultivating the ricb lands on the flats. Not shown in the model are the remarkable pit-dwellings, deep holes dug in the ground and roofed over, in which a number of Maoris lived in the winter months. These were situated ]ust inside the outer stockade. The tribal figliting in this district ceased before the arrival of Captain Cook.