Abstract:
This is an ethnohistorical study of the Whakarewarewa village tracing the development of its inhabitants, the way
they adjusted to change and their influence on matters affecting the village. Today the people of Whakarewarewa can look back on more than 100 years of village settlement; a period influenced by the perception of its inhabitants and the continual interaction with the world's travellers and tourists.
With the paucity of written material on the village and its inhabitants, this study relied heavily on local oral traditions and personal reminiscences. It is the first
comprehensive study to be made on the Whakarewarewa village and the first to follow the development of the Tuhourangi
and Ngatt Wahiao tribes.