Source: Radio New Zealand
The new sign for Kaipātiki Hot Springs. Supplied/Te Poari o Kaipātiki ki Kaipara
As 2025 ticked over into 2026, Parakai Springs near Helensville officially became Kaipātiki Hot Springs, the traditional name for the area which reflects the whakapapa of tangata whenua Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara.
The change comes as Te Poari o Kaipātiki ki Kaipara assumes management of the hot springs. The governors of Te Poari are appointed by Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara and Auckland Council in equal numbers.
Te Poari chairperson Mihi Blair said Kaipātiki literally translates to the abundance of pātiki, flounder, which the Kaipara area is quite famous for.
The area was prized by Ngāti Whātua tūpuna for its abundance of healing, thermal waters, she said.
“The wai was always used for recovery for all our wounded warriors during cold and warm days, and also the abundance across the wetlands and the swamps and tidal areas was always rich with kai, manu, eel tuna, and lots of kuharu and, you know pātiki, of course.”
Te Poari o Kaipātiki ki Kaipara Chairperson Mihi Blair. Supplied/Te Poari o Kaipātiki ki Kaipara
How Kaipātiki became Parakai
Blair said her whānau have a close history with Kaipātiki. In the early 1900s there was some confusion because there were two places called Kaipātiki in Auckland, one in Kaipara and one in Birkenhead, she said.
“So the mail used to get misdelivered quite a bit.”
“There was a community meeting held in the rohe of Kaipara and it was actually my great, great grandmother, Annie Emma Hamilton from Ngāti Maniapoto, who rightly got up and said, why don’t we just change Kaipara and switch it over and turn it to Parakai.
“So that decision itself has had a massive historical impact. It was a decision made on practicality, quite solutions focused she was, but it changed history. So from a whānau point of view, it’s something that we held dearly.”
It was a natural decision to return the name Kaipātiki to the area, she said.
“I was born and raised in the Kaipara area in Hellensville and so from Ngāti Whātua, there was no stories being told in our rohe, within our playgrounds, within our schools and that. So we’re really taking this kōrero really seriously for the Kaipara area and we want to ensure that we bring not only our own uri along, but we also want to bring the community along that journey.”
Blair said since 2011 when Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara and the Crown agreed to a settlement, the iwi has been focussed on sharing the history of the area.
The Parakai Recreation Reserve, which surrounds the springs, had already been renamed Kaipātiki Reserve so it was a natural decision to rename the springs at the conclussion of the previous lease on 31 December 2025, she said.
Blair thanked the previous lease holders Parakai Springs Limited for their contribution to the economic growth of the area over the past three decades.
Te Poari o Kaipātiki ki Kaipara will now assume management of the springs in partnership with Belgravia Leisure, who also work in partnership with Rotorua iwi Ngāti Whakaue running the Wai Ariki Hot Springs, she said.
“[Belgravia] will bring in their expertise and they’ve done a really amazing job of supporting and ensuring that all our kaimahi there have been onboarded successfully and that actually the pools have remained open over this busy summer period. We had a very high, high influx of those who attended in the new year. So, you know, whānau going there to use the pools, having BBQs. So the only difference that actually happened was the name change.”
Blair said Te Poari are looking forward to seeing what can be developed and making sure the community are well involved in the design and the future of the pools.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
