Local Māori acclaimed the therapeutic benefits of the water and bathed for centuries in the acidic pool 'Te Pupunitanga', now called Priest’s Bath.
[1] European thermal bathing history at Polynesian Spa began in 1878 when a Catholic Priest named Father Mahoney bathed regularly in the thermal spring water of hand dug pools where Polynesian Spa is now located on the shores of Lake Rotorua.
Over several months his arthritis was greatly alleviated, initiating an international reputation for the therapeutic properties of the hot mineral spring water.
[5] On 16 March Mother Mary MacKillop wrote "I feel the baths are doing me good.
We have had a priest resident here most of the time..."[6] In 1972, the government of the day leased the Ward Baths to Polynesian Pools Limited and the spa is now known as the Polynesian Spa.