Ohakiri Pa

Ohakiri Pa or St Paul’s Rock, as it is better known as today, is located within the St Paul’s Rock Scenic Reserve which is under the care of the Department of Conservation. The Reserve consists of two blocks, the northern and southern, on a peninsula that projects out into the Whangaroa Harbour on Northland’s east coast. The rock is part of the Maori legend that tells of the formation of the harbour and today it is a significant landmark within the district and commands the inner harbour. Ohakiri is regionally significant as one of the only accessible tangible remains of Whangaroa’s early Maori and European history.

Kauri logs in the booms at Whangaroa underneath St Paul’s Rock, the pa site looking overgrown and un-used. The mill at
this stage was run by the Kauri Timber Company, it was burnt down in 1905. A drawing from the ‘Forest Flora of New Zealand’ by
T Kirk (1889) and drawn from a photograph presented by H.M Roe, Onehunga. 

The site is culturally significant to Te Runanga o Whangaroa, to the descendants of early European settlers and in the Whangaroa region, and to all New Zealanders as part of their early history.
The immigrant ship Lancashire Witch arrived in 1865, and progress commenced in the timber and kauri gum industry. Shipbuilding began in 1872 when Lane and Brown erected yards at Totara North.