Photographs of the base of the Maketū Peninsula, taken 38 years apart

Above left. A photograph taken in June 1948, when magnificent pā, now largely destroyed, with complex ditches and banks occurred on the headlands immediately to the north of the estuaries on either side of the peninsula. On the terrace immediately above the coastline are some six pā, very large examples with many platform divisions (close to the Kaituna estuary at left) and Herekaki and Owhara at right above the Waihi estuary entrance. Fort Colville (formerly a pā, Pukemaire) was the principal British base in the fighting against Tai Rāwhiti Kingites in 1864.

Below left. A 1986 photograph covering the same area as that of 1948. Comparison of the two shows that housing or farming has destroyed the pā above both estuaries, with a small amount of the original pā above the Waihi estuary still remaining. On the north-western headland at the entrance, site of the pā, Takaihuahua, houses have crept over an area which had been subject to ploughing in 1948. By 1986 the only pā surviving intact on the peninsula were at its northern tip. The landing-place of Te Arawa is just inside the Kaituna River entrance on the eastern side.