Karori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, 4 km from the city centre and is one of New Zealand's most populous suburbs, with a population of in History Origins The name Karori used to be Kaharore and is from te reo Māori. It comes from the Māori phrase 'te kaha o ngā rore' meaning 'the place of many bird snares'. Originally forested, Māori used the Karori area for hunting. It also had tracks crossing it that led to Māori pā on the west coast. No Māori lived in the area when the first European settlers came to Karori in the 1840s, having bought the land from the New Zealand Company. The first settler in Karori, John Yule of Glasgow, cleared 20 acres of forest on his section with his younger brother Moses and advertised its sale in December 1841. By 1845, ten 100-acre sections were being taken up and sub-divided, and Karori recorded 215 inhabitants – 109 of them under the age of 14 years. In 1845 a group of armed police from Wellington constructed a small fortified post that became known as "The Stockade" in response to fears of attacks from nearby Māori insurgents. While there were no attacks, the stockade was used for a church service and to grind grain. The stockade was located on Mr Chapman's land, about halfway along what is now Marsden Avenue. The first mental hospital in Wellington was built in 1854. By 1871 it had 23 inmates and was run by untrained staff, which resulted in the first matron and her husband being dismissed in 1872 because of cruelty. In 1873 the asylum moved from Karori to the site of present-day Government House in central Wellington. Karori School took over the asylum site in 1875. Frederick Mackie in his book Traveller under concern described Karori in the 1850s: "The walk was highly romantic. The road is cut out of the sides of steep hills covered with forest. The ever-winding road, the steep declivities, the forest above and below you, and the continual murmur of streams concealed in the depths below were very pleasing, as every few yards a new scene and fresh objects were brought to view. In one spot I obtained a view of the harbour, which today was like a bright glassy lake, and beyond it were the lofty ranges of