[2] In 1839 Colonel William Wakefield persuaded the chiefs to sign deeds that transferred ownership of most of the Te Āti Awa tribal land to the New Zealand Company.
On 31 January 1842 the whole of Northern Taranaki from Cape Egmont northwards to the Tongaporutu River was purchased by the Crown from Te Wherowhero, who later became the first Maori king, and his brother Kati for 150 pounds, 2 horses, 2 saddles, 2 bridles and 100 blankets.
Grey recognised that Te Atiawa's Wiremu Kīngi had been a valued ally in the 1846 war in Wellington where he had sided with the government forces.
[3] In 1859 a minor tribal chief, Teira, who was feuding with Kīngi, made an offer of some land directly to Governor Thomas Gore Browne.
The government accepted the offer despite warnings from many influential missionaries such as Octavius Hadfield and a previous Chief Justice, William Martin, that the purchase was illegal.
The Government pressed ahead and sent in surveyors, declaring that once the survey was complete, the land would be occupied by the military to prevent any Māori occupation.
After the war Kīngi withdrew inland beyond the areas influenced by the Pākehā with the people of Ngati Maru at Manutangihia, in the upper reaches of the Waitara River.
Like many of the leaders he found a reason to leave Rangiriri as the British army, supported by militia and kupapa (loyal) Maori closed in.
In 2004, the New Plymouth District Council resolved to sell 146 ha of land at Waitara to the Crown on condition that it was used in settlement of Te Atiawa claims under the Treaty of Waitangi.