Historic Tauranga

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 12 (Supplement)

Historic Tauranga

POINTS OF INTEREST ASSISTING MOTOR TOURISTS A scheme to foster a greater interest in tho historic recollections of the Tauranga district, suggested by the Automiobile Association, (Auckland has been approved by tho Tauranga County Council. Special signs will be erected indicating various historic points and a leaflet describing tho happenings in these localities aVid other points of special or scenic interest will be pre•pared to supplement the Association's touring literature for the coming summer. Almost everyone who visits Tauranga hears of tho famous battle of Gate Pa in which the Maoris successfully repulsed an attack by British troops, but an inspection of Gate Pa, however, is usually accompanied by a sense of disappointment. It has therefore been arranged that the old Maori trenches, the outlines of which are clearly visible in a clay cutting on the side of tho highway, shall bo excavated and restored to serve as a reminder of the grim fighting in tho early days of colonisation. Almost _ opposite the site of the trenches is a reserve on which muskets. bayonets and shells used in tho battle, have been retrieved. Some of these have been preserved by being mounted in tho concrete pillars of the gatepost and as a matter of- general interest the Automobile Association proposes to place signs indicating these relics.