Martin Robinson, a descendant of Henry Williams at old site of Mission Village, Paihia.
Photo: Justine Murray

Every year hundreds of people make the annual hikoi to Waitangi to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and the man who translated the Treaty has a bit to do with the naming of the town of Paihia.

This story begins seventeen years before the treaty was signed, when Henry Williams was scouting for a place to set up a mission house.

According to Ngati Kawa Taituha, Chair of Te Tii Marae in Waitangi, the name likely stems from a conversation between Williams and the scouting party from the tribes from Ngāti Kawa or Ngāti Rahiri, who were helping him find a good site.

We talk to Taituha and some Williams’ descendants about the history of the sunny Northland settlement. And we also learn from Taituha about another, original name that pre-dates Paihia.

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