Papanui is a major suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated five kilometers to the northwest of the city centre. Papanui is a middle socio-economic area with a population of 3,645 consisting predominantly of Pākehā (NZ European & Others) 86.9%, Asian 7.6%, Māori 5.3%, Pacific peoples 3.1%, Middle Eastern/Latin American/African 0.7% (2013 census). The suburb is located at the junction of three busy thoroughfares; Papanui Road leading to the City, the Main North Road that leads to North Canterbury and Harewood Road that leads to Christchurch International Airport. However, as with most Christchurch suburbs, Papanui has no defined borders. Over the last 160 years Papanui has developed into a major suburban centre and is a satellite centre for Government and City Council services. These include the central government 'Super Centre' in Winstone Avenue, Housing New Zealand in Restell Street and the Council Service Centre and Library on Langdons Road. The area has two high schools and five primary schools. There is little farm land left in the suburb with most of it having been developed into residential and commercial properties. Etymology The Māori name Papanui literally translated means 'Big plain' (papa means flat and nui means big), a name which would aptly suit most of central Christchurch, which is one of New Zealand's flattest cities. Another meaning, equally applicable to the district in the early days, is a platform set in the branches of a tree to accommodate a bird-spearer. A third meaning for the word Papanui comes from a Māori Legend and refers to a large funeral pyre. According to the legend, Tuhaitara, a Ngāi Tahu princess, sent her eldest son, Tamarairoa to Papanui to kill her former husband Marukore. But Marukore was aware of his son's intentions and when Tamarairoa and his younger brother arrived, Marukore killed them both and burnt their bodies on a huge pyre. History Pre-European Before European settlement Papanui, like much of Christchurch, was mostly marshy ground covered with native flax, toetoe and raupō brush. There was an abundance of forest birds which were hunted for food by the area's Māori inhabitants. It is believed in 1800 possibly as many as 5000 Māori lived in Canterbury, but from disease like measles and influenza, introduced through the early whaling settlements on Banks Peninsula, and through tribal wars the number had fallen to around 500 in 1840. While most of the plains in the South