Te Onewa

Te Onewa is the Maori name for the area now known as Northcote Point. From the mid fifteenth century, Te Kawerau a Maki were the dominant iwi on the North Shore, but the earliest known residents of Te Onewa were Ngai Tai, who occupied Te Onewa on and off from around 1650 until the 1840s. During much of this period, Ngai Tai were subject to attacks from Ngati Whatua and Ngati Paoa, and when Ngapuhi came south in 1821 and attacked settlements in the Waitemata and Hauraki districts in retaliation for a Ngati Whatua-led raid in 1793, Te Onewa was largely abandoned. From the 1830s the scattered Ngai Tai gradually returned to the area, but the main settlement was at Takapuna (the Maori name for North Head) rather than Te Onewa. The last resident chief there was Heteraka Takapuna. 

              

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