Rifle Range Road

Rifle Range Road was formed in 1987. It was so named because it is in the area that was once the Rewarewa Rifle Range. The Crown had much earlier acquired an area of almost 32 hectares under the Public Works Act for use as a rifle range by the Taranaki Rifle Volunteers. In 1887, a Volunteer's military encampment was held on the rifle range. Nearby is the ancient Rewarewa pā on the cliff top near the Waiwhakaiho River mouth.

Rewarewa pā and urupā is on the Katere Reserve, one of 17 that were established when the Crown acquired the Waiwhakaiho Block in 1853. Rewarewa was a large fortified pā with extensive earth works and shows how Māori understood and utilised the natural formation of the land. It is, perhaps, one of the largest Taranaki pā sites and would have been home to many people. In the 1980s the area was included in an assessment of all Crown land in New Zealand.

After the assessment, Rewarewa Rifle Range was put up for sale. In 1984, the New Plymouth Wastewater Treatment Plant was commissioned to be built on the site. In 1986, the Rewarewa pā and urupā were registered with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.