Ōmana Pā

Ō-Manawatere Pā

Omana Pa

Ngai Tai continue to occupy an ancestral marae at nearby Umupuia (Duders Beach) and to maintain kaitiakitanga or spiritual guardianship over the land.

Pā for protection

As the population of New Zealand increased and conflict between iwi (tribal groups) developed, Māori began to build pā (earthwork fortifications). The first pā appeared during the 16th Century, and during the following 300 year period, around 7000 pā were built throughout New Zealand, mostly in the North Island.

Most pā were not permanently inhabited, but were built close to kainga (villages) and maintained as refuges that could be occupied during times of threat. Pā varied considerably in size, depending on the size and number of hapū (family groups) living locally.

You can learn more about pā sites here.

Layout of Ō-Manawatere Pā

Ō-Manawatere is a relatively small pā. The pā has been built to take advantage of the coastal cliff as a natural form of defence on one side. The earthwork defences on the other sides consist of a ditch, with an internal bank that would have once been much higher and topped with a strong palisade of posts.

Archaeologists call pā which rely mainly on ditch and bank defences ring-ditch pā. The depressions inside the pā are pits, once roofed over and used for storing kūmara tubers, but now largely infilled.

Getting there:

The pā is in Ōmana Regional Park. It is located ten minutes walk along the perimeter track from the information centre.