Author(s): Waerenga School Board Trust

Rotorua Books

Originally published 1981. This revised edition tells of the early days of European settlement in the Waerenga Valley, Te Kauwhata. Information is included on pre-European times and the descendants of Chief Tamatea who settled in the area. The name 'Waerenga' applied originally to a very small part of the district. In Maori, the word 'waerenga' means 'a clearing in the bush' and, in this case, the clearing was an oval-shaped area of about one hundred acres. In 1866 it was decided to establish a settlement at Waerenga, and the original sections were selected by war veterans near where the Waerenga Post Office is now situated.