Heritage sites

Before Flagstaff Hill was used for the flagpole it was occupied by Māori. The hill had a turbulent past with the first four erected flagstaffs cut down in protest.

Paroa Pa within the Harata Historic Reserve was designed before the arrival of guns, which radically changed pa design.

Kahuwera pa on the Paroa Peninsula is a defended headland pa that features strongly in the historically significant Bay of Islands.

The site of Okiato in the Bay of Islands was the home of New Zealand’s first capital from 1840-1841 and an important site in New Zealand’s early formational period.

Tapeka Pa is located on top of a steep coastal headland and has some of the most extensive earthworks in the Bay of Islands. Find out why Tapeka Point is known as 'Lovers Leap'.

Waitata Point Historic Reserve has a coastal battery that operated between 1943-44. The construction of the two gun emplacements make them unique to New Zealand’s military defence structures.