It is located near Golden Bay, close to the edge of the Parapara Inlet, between Tākaka and Collingwood.

During the mid-1830s, the iwi's rangatira, Te Pūoho-o-te-rangi, led further migration of his people from Taranaki to what is now the Tasman District and this resulted in tension.

From there, he started a raid against Ngāi Tahu in 1836 down the West Coast, across the Haast Pass into Otago, and into Southland, where he was killed by a party led by Tūhawaiki.

The district surveyor, Charles Lewis, collected half a ton of minerals for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition held in 1886 in London.

Materials collected for this purpose included marble, silver ore, coal, galena, steatite, hematite, sand suitable for making glass, graphite, schorl, and iron pyrite.

Europeans did the same and in the early 1870s, iron ore from Parapara was shipped to Nelson and turned into paint there.

After working for a week or two, the dredge overturned and sank at the mouth of the Parapara River, resulting in a total loss.

A local contractor won the tender in May 1897 to form that part of the road that ran along the Parapara Inlet for NZ£33.

[14] The authors of a local history book, Between the ports : Collingwood to Waitapu, state that Parapara was "liveliest" around 1900.

[4] Premier Richard Seddon and Governor Lord Ranfurly visited Parapara on 18 February 1904, coming over from Collingwood for the day.

The official party included Viscount Northland (the governor's son) and Albert Pitt (Attorney-General).