Paorae

Paorae was an important area for cultivating kūmara (sweet potato) and taro for Tāmaki Māori tribes Ngāiwi and Ngāoho, and later Waikato Tainui.

New Zealand geologist Bruce Hayward theorised that Paorae formed from accumulated volcanic material from the Hatepe eruption of the Taupō Volcano, which occurred 1,800 years ago.

[1] Much of what is known of traditional accounts of Paorae comes from historian James Cowan's discussions with Ngāti Mahuta rangatira Pātara Te Tuhi and Honana Maioha in 1898.

[6] By the 18th century, Paorae had almost entirely eroded,[1] except for a small remnant island known as Ngā Toku Rau o Puakirangi, found off the southern coast of the Manukau Heads.

[9][10] Since the 1970s, a 1.5 km strip of sand was added to the coast at Whatipu, with vegetation and freshwater swamps forming inland from the shore.

The sandbanks at Whatipu , which formed in the 1930s from sandy material from Paorae
The Tasman Sea coast along the Āwhitu Peninsula , where Paorae was located