It has less than 100 inhabitants today, but in the 1870s was reputed to be the largest Maori village in New Zealand when it was the centre one of the most shameful civil rights incidents in the country's history.
It was there that the Maori Prophet, Te Whiti O Rongomai, became involved in resistance to the confiscation of Maori land by the New Zealand Government. Open warfare had proved unavailing so Te Whiti developed a doctrine of passive resistance such as the removal of survey pegs and the ploughing up of access roads. This put the government in a quandary. It could not use the justice system to stop the Maori obstruction because seizure of the land had itself been illegal.
On November 5, 1880 peaceful Parihaka was invaded by 1600 armed constabulary. Te Whiti and many of his supporters were arrested and held without trial for long periods, some up to 18 years. Many were driven off their lands and out of the area, never to return. The Prime Minister's attempts to defend the government's actions provoked a constitutional crisis. In all, the government illegally confiscated or alienated 777,000 hectares (1,920,000 acres) of Maori land in Taranaki, and reparations were made to the tribes late in the 20th century.
On 27 Novemebr, 2003 the New Zealand Government issued a formal apology to one of the tribes affected by the Parihaka Incident, paid reparations of $NZ31million and returned to the Maori people some 140 hectares of confiscated land that was still in Crown ownership. This was only a small portion of the confiscated land but according to New Zealand Law only Crown Land can be subject to Treaty of Waitangi claims.