many of the local Māori. The pā then collapsed and was abandoned. Over the years marriages took place between local Māori and Ngāti Kahungunu and peace was restored. Today the Ōtātara pā site has become a memorial to the Māori who were so prevalent in the area many years ago. Early European history Taradale has a rich heritage stemming from its key role as the original gateway to the inland routes (including Taupō, Auckland and Taihape) and to the farms and settlements of its hinterland. In 1851 Donald McLean purchased, on behalf of the Crown, the Ahuriri Block, which included present-day Taradale and Greenmeadows. By the mid-1850s settlers began flocking to the province. The census held in 1856 showed that in Hawke's Bay there were 1057 males and 458 females. The government purchased the Tutaekuri Block in 1856, which was subdivided, with Ahuriri Block, as the river Meeanee District and released for sale in April 1857. William Colenso purchased several blocks of land, a large block in Puketapu, Meeanee and 364 near Ōtātara. This block stretched from Guppy Road to the Puketapu hills and was bounded by the Great North Road (now Meeanee/Puketapu Roads) and the Tutaekuri River. Henry Stokes Tiffen bought most of the land north of the road to Puketapu and west of Guppy Road and named it Green Meadows after the native danthonia grass that covered the region. Henry Alley came to the area and leased land from Colenso in 1858, naming the area Taradale. Naming of Taradale It was once thought that Alley called the area Taradale after the hill of Tara, County Meath, Ireland, where he was supposed to have been born. However, death records show that Henry Alley was not born in County Meath but in Queen's County, Ireland. He emigrated to South Australia and then Victoria, Australia, where he lived in the Victorian township of Taradale until circa 1855, where he and his sister purchased a number of blocks of land. Henry Alley built what was reputed to be the first house, somewhere in the vicinity of Alley Place and Lowther Place. Taradale High School retains a link with the early days of Taradale, its emblem incorporating the Tara Brooch. Town board and borough council In 1886 a petition was sent to the Governor of New Zealand, Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois, asking him to proclaim the district of Taradale as a dependent