Updated 18 April, 2025

Rātāpihipihi Scenic Reserve is situated south west of and close to Rotokere / Barrett Lagoon.

A short video of Rātāpihipihi is available here.

The origin of the name ‘Rātāpihipihi’ may refer to a local hunting method … young Māori would hide up in one of the many rata trees in the area and blow through a leaf to make a ‘pihipihi’ sound to attract the birds so they could tap them with a club or a short stick. An alternative is that the name refers both to the predominance of rata trees and the presence of the silvereye bird (Tauhou) also known as ‘pihipihi’.

The broader Rātāpihipihi rohe (area) is of shared cultural, historical and spiritual significance to the Taranaki Iwi and Te Ātiawa, being an area widely occupied by Taranaki Iwi and parts of Te Ātiawa. The rohe is inclusive of several sites of significance: Rātāpihipihi kāinga, Te Rangihinga, Ongaruru, Rotokere/Barrett Domain, Kororako pā and Kaikākāriki, all areas that had been widely occupied by Taranaki and Te Ātiawa (Taranaki Iwi Deed of Settlement: Documents). A part of Rotokere (including Kororako pā) was gifted to Dicky Barrett by his father-in-law, Eruera Te Puke Ki Mahurangi, when he married Wakaiwa Rāwinia in 1828. Post colonisation the land became known as Barrett’s Reserves D and C.

The Rātāpihipihi Māori (Native) Reserve (371 acres) was established when the Omata block was purchased from Māori by the colonial government in 1847. Following designation of the reserve, many people from the Potikitaua and Ngāti Tairi hapū of Taranaki relocated from the home kainga at Omata to Rātāpihipihi. Over the following years Rātāpihipihi became a prominant kainga (Taranaki Deed of Settlement: Documents).

At the start of the Taranaki Land Wars early in 1860 Taranaki, Ngati Ruanui and Ngati Rauru iwi came to the assistance of Wiremu Kingi (Te Ātiawa) with the Rātāpihipihi kainga playing host. On the 4 September 1860 a military, naval and militia force from New Plymouth attacked the Kainga. The pā and surrounding cultivations were levelled and razed by fire (The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume 1 (1845-64) Chapter 19: The Battle of Waireka).

Subsequent actions under the Maori Land Court and Native Land Court divided the native resources into Crown Grants where seperate land titles were allocated to individuals and/or leased. In June 1872, 140 acres of the Native Reserve No. 5, Rātāpihipihi was allocated to four people from the Taranaki Iwi. In 1906 50 acres of that grant was taken under the Public Works Act 1905 and Scenary Preservation Act 1903 for scenic purposes.

The Barrett/Honeyfield interests historically and over time are unclear. However, we do know that Ratapihipihi A East Block was allocated to Rāwinia Barrett (Taranaki Land Court Minute No.7 p 205). However, according to the Maori Land Court (ref 27/1317) the original owners of Rātāpihipihi A East were Renata Kauereia with 1,000 shares and Harata Waikauri with 4,000 shares. In June 1887, under the West Coast Settlement Act 1880, the Native Land Court leased 38 acres of Rātāpihipihi A East until 1971 when it was transferred to James Storey Barrett, farmer of New Plymouth (Janine Ford).

Hoere Parepare (Rāwinia’s nephew) gave his interest in Rātāpihipihi Reserve No. 5 to his wife, Miri Hoera, then to his adopted son Eruera Kipa.

Rātāpihipihi is now administered by the Department of Conservation. Rotokere/Barrett’s Domain was taken under the Reserves and other Land Sale, Disposal, and Enabling and Public Bodies Empowering Act 1901 (Section 19, Schedule 3) and is now administered by the New Plymouth District Council.