PA AND EXTERNAL TERRACES WITH STRUCTURES 
AT POOR HILL (SITE P5/227), WAIMATE NORTH 
ANNE LEAHY 
AUCKLAND 
Abstract, In 1967 site P5/227, Poor Hill (Ngaungau pa), near Waimate North, 
inland Bay of Islands was mapped after the ridge had been cleared of scrub. Three 
small excavations were carried out on terraces external to the pa. The lowest 
terrace produced a rectangle of large postholes suggesting that a big structure once 
stood there. The other two excavations also indicated the use of terraces for 
houses and living. Lack of any European artefacts and the traditional evidence 
suggest a late 18th century date for the site. 
In 1967, the presence of an unusual archaeological site P5/227 (N15/43), in the 
inland Bay of Islands near Waimate North, was brought to the attention of Janet 
Davidson, then archaeologist at the Auckland Institute and Museum, by Bob Lawn 
of the New Zealand Forest Service, Kaikohe.The site had been covered in scrub but, 
after clearing, evidence of Maori occupation was clearly visible. Janet Davidson, Bob 
and Betty Lawn and I visited the site in September, 1967. A plane-table map was made 
and a brief test excavation was carried out on one of the terraces where the presence 
of postholes was established. Arrangements were then made for a further investigation 
to be done by Ken Gorbey and Trevor Hanson before the area was disced and brought 
into pasture. This paper describes the site and presents the results of the excavations. 
At the time of our field work the area was known locally as “Poor Hill” (Fig. 1) 
and no Maori name could be found. Subsequent research by Jack Lee (pers. comm.) 
suggests that the site is very probably Ngaungau pa. 
Elsdon Best (1927:228) includes Ngaungau pa in his discussion of a group of pa 
along the plateau edge north of Ohaeawai and associates them with the Ngati Pou and 
the Nga Puhi. He also includes plans of some of the pa (1927:182-190) but there is 
some confusion over the names attributed to each site and their subsequent New 
Zealand Archaeological Association site numbers (the site numbers shown in Fig. 1 
and names given in the caption are an attempt to clarify the relative positions of these 
sites). It has been suggested that site P5/227 was the most eastern of the group of 
complex sites protecting the plateau edge from Ohaeawai east and north of the Titahi 
Stream (F. Barrett, pers. comm.). 
Turton in his Maori Deeds (1882:98/VII) states that about 20 acres were 
purchased by Richard Davis, the missionary, in 1836 and that on “The... . land was 
a pa (fortification) and its name is Ngaungau. Bounded on the west by the the land 
purchased by Mr Davis of Kotahi: on the south by the Waikaramu stream or the land 
Rec. Auckland Inst. Mus.25: 39-47 19 December 1988 
