Purau


Purau is a small town in Canterbury, New Zealand, facing Lyttelton Harbour.

Geography

Purau is located on Banks Peninsula, one of the southern bays forming Lyttelton Harbour.

History

Purau has a long history of Māori settlement. Ngāti Māmoe lived here prior to Ngāi Tahu settling the bay. There are many Māori burial sites in the area.
European occupation started in 1843, when the Greenwood brothers started a farm here. They sold to the Rhodes brothers in 1847. When Robert Heaton Rhodes, another of the Rhodes brothers, came to New Zealand in 1850, he took over Purau.