Pā on the Kai Kōura Peninsula

Five or six pā, several linked in pairs or groups, show on the edge of the high terrace in this 1942 vertical aerial photograph. They are Ngā Niho, above the township at the top of the photograph; and the various pā (unnamed) above South Bay. Ngā Niho has had its ditch ploughed in and the bank height 'enhanced' in recent times. The pā are all built on various levels of old marine terraces. The two pā to the south-east (bottom right, north-east of the isolated house and hedges) lie adjacent to water (in the gully). The easternmost one has a second ditch and bank which shows faintly. There is a dogleg section of ditch and bank defending the terrace edge at its westernmost extremity. The pā with the largest defended area, one of the largest in the South Island, is on the prominent point at left. It has an interior and exterior defensive line, with the exterior line not fully closed. However, the apparently incomplete defence takes advantage both of the upper slopes of the gully and the proximity of the adjacent pā. The defended area of the large unit is 280 m long by about 50 m (width varies); the prominent section of ditch and bank at left is 90 m long. The defensive form of these pā indicates pre-European occupation, but they were also occupied into the earlier part of the nineteenth century until the raids of Te Rauparaha in the late 1820s.