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Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park site
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The land on which Waiwhakareke now stands has a rich history. In pre-European times the land was a popular transport corridor for Maori seeking stone or taking their goods to trade across the Tasman Sea. From the 1820s European settlers began arriving in the area paving the way for the famous land clearances of the 1860s. It was clearing and draining of the land that gave the region much of the open pasture land we are renowned for today. But it also destroyed all but 1% of the wetland once widespread in the region. The journey to restore it at Waiwhakareke began in 1975 when Hamilton City Council purchased the land surrounding Horseshoe Lake. Some 20 years later the wheels are well in motion with volunteers turning more and more of the park's 60 hectares back to wetland each year. Find out more
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