Wellington Heritage Festival
Building by the Water
Take a closer look at the history of Porirua’s harbourside, from early Māori settlements to cutting edge contemporary engineering developments.
As part of the 2025 Wellington Heritage Festival, Kai Tahi presents a visual exhibition in celebration of Porirua’s unique harbourside heritage.
Building by the Water brings together archival images courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library Collection and recent photographic works by Jason Mann. Seen collectively, this visual record aims to place the Kai Tahi development into the wider history of construction along Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour.
The exhibition traces a history of harbourside settlement from Māori pa sites, to whaling stations, early settler communities, harbour reclamation, big box retail and now, in 2025, the next community-focused iteration of harbourside settlement, as exemplified by Kai Tahi and the reuse of existing industrial forms.
Kai Tahi has a simple but powerful mission: to transform the traditional idea of a food-court into a cultural and creative harbourside hub for the Porirua Community.
Taupō pā
Giles, John West, 1801-1870
1844
Scene depicting Te Rauparaha’s Taupō pā as painted by George Angas in 1844. The pā was behind the beach between the present-day Plimmerton fire station and the pavilion.
On the rise in the right foreground is a wahi tapu, or sacred place serving as a receptacle for goods and property that have become subject to the law of tapu. The wahi tapu is constructed of sticks and contains household utensils, skins, calabashes and dried fish, and a garment suspended beneath flutters in the wind. In the right distance behind the wahi tapu is the bay “about a mile from Porirua”. Several canoes are drawn up on the beach, and there are four palisaded enclosures containing whare on the shore.
Te Rauparaha was captured here soon after dawn on 23 July 1846 by a naval party from HMS Calliope. Held prisoner for two years on the Calliope and then in Auckland, he died not long after being returned to his people at Ōtaki.
A pou (carved post) commemorating Te Rauparaha’s capture stands outside 5 Motuhara Road, Plimmerton.
Giles, John West, 1801-1870. [Angas, George French] 1822-1886 :Taupo pa / George French Angas. J W Giles lithog. 1847.. Angas, George French 1822-1886 :The New Zealanders Illustrated. London, Thomas McLean, 1847..
Ref: PUBL-0014-48.
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Thom’s Whaling Station, Porirua
Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810-1865; Melville, Henry, 1792-1870
1847
Joseph Toms’ whaling station was established next to the Ngāti Te Rā pā at Whitianga (Paremata) during the 1830s when whalers flocked to the Wellington region. In 1847, when this image was engraved, the whaling boom had passed and the once-thriving industry had collapsed.
The engraving shows Māori and Pakeha seated and standing close to barrels in the foreground, a dog, then people engaged in various activities close to buildings at the water’s edge. Washing hanging on a clothes-line to the right, with the harbour and hills beyond.
The accompanying text mentions the long-established nature of the whaling station of Joseph Toms (also known as Geordie Bolts) and the fact that Toms also ran an inn and a ferry service across the harbour from this point. The view shows the house and sheds of Toms and his family.
Engraved by Henry Melville; drawn by S C Brees [London, 1847].
Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810-1865 : Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand. London, John Williams and Co., Library of Arts, 141, Strand, 1847.
Ref: PUBL-0020-05-3.
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Overlooking Porirua Harbour and Paremata
Sydney Charles Smith
circa 1920
Photograph taken by Sydney Charles Smith.
Overlooking Porirua Harbour and Paremata. Smith, Sydney Charles, 1888-1972: Photographs of New Zealand.
Ref: PAColl-3082-05.
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
View of Takapuwahia, Porirua
Aerial photograph taken by Whites Aviation
27 Aug 1958
View of the Porirua suburb of Takapuwahia with Porirua Harbour and Titahi Bay Road in foreground and Elsdon Park to scrub covered hills beyond.
To the left of the image, the New Zealand Broadcasting Service transmission station and towers can be seen. In 1935, the NZBC purchased 40 ha of land at Whitireia for the establishment of an AM radio transmitting station to replace the existing site at Mount Victoria.
View of the Porirua suburb of Takapuwahia with Porirua Harbour and Titahi Bay Road in foreground with Elsdon Park to scrub covered hills beyond, Porirua District, Wellington Region.
Whites Aviation Ltd: Photographs.
Ref: WA-47285-F.
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Aerial view of the Titahi Bay area and Porirua Harbour
Photographer unknown
circa 1950
Aerial view of the Porirua area including Porirua Harbour, Titahi Bay and the western coast. Porirua Hospital can be seen in the foreground.
Aerial view of the Titahi Bay area and Porirua Harbour.
Ref: 1/2-107633-F.
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Porirua
Aerial photograph taken by Whites Aviation
14 Oct 1965
View to the north across Porirua City to Onepoto Arm. Titahi Bay road sweeps around to the left and Porirua Stream can be seen to the right.
This photograph captures Porirua in a phase of rapid development - during the 1950s and 1960s, parts of Porirua harbour and Kenepuru Stream estuary were reclaimed to create land for development.
The new Porirua Shopping Centre (now Cobham Court area) was emerging as the commercial heart of the city, the motorway linking Porirua to Wellington was completed and the Porirua train station had been modernised.
12 days prior to this photograph being taken, Porirua officially became a city, as the population reached 20,000 people (today, the population is 61,800 people).
Porirua. Whites Aviation Ltd: Photographs.
Ref: WA-65307-F.
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
