Thames to Paeroa map (34km

Did you know?

Māori occupation of the Thames area goes back hundreds of years. According to the Māori Heritage of Thames co-authored by Taimoana Turoa, a kaumatua of Thames, the area known as Thames was known as Te Kauaeranga which means ‘the stacked row of jawbones’. Early occupants, the Ngati Huarere, gave the name ‘the heaping of whale jaw bones’ after the sperm whales which may have stranded themselves in the area.