[3] The first recorded interaction between Māori and Europeans in the area occurred on 29 April 1834, when the ship Harriet was wrecked off the coast.

Among those on board was Captain Guard, a whaler traveling from Sydney to his whaling station at Port Underwood, along with his wife and two young children.

Captain Guard and some of his companions managed to escape, while his wife and children were captured and held as prisoners before eventually being released unharmed.

[4] Before 1880, the land between Ōpunake and Ōkato was closed to overseas visitors, as it was controlled by Chief Tohu Kākahi and Prophet Te Whiti o Rongomai.

The two contingents met near present-day Pungarehu and took possession of Rahotu in 1881 by seizing both Māori pā on either side of the newly established road.

[5] The confiscated land near present-day Rahotu was retained by the government and used as a military base to house armed constabulary during and after the 1881 invasion of Parihaka.

With Parihaka reduced to a smaller village and its leaders imprisoned, the government no longer needed the base and sought funding through land sales.

[6] As late as 1886, cottages were still being built in the area, which had previously served as a tent encampment leading to Parihaka.

[10][11] Established in 1884, the school originally consisted of a single classroom during the town’s early settlement period.