Taradale is a suburb of the City of Napier, in the Hawke's Bay Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is a predominantly middle-upper class residential suburb, located 10 kilometres southwest of the centre of Napier. The Taradale ward, which includes Greenmeadows, Meeanee, and Poraiti, had a population of 22,809 in the 2018 New Zealand census. For hundreds of years, hills overlooking what is now Taradale were the site of villages occupied by Māori people, latterly of the Ngāti Kahungunu tribe. Europeans started settling at Taradale in the 1850s, and it was officially recognised as a town in 1886. It was a town district from 1886 to 1953, and a borough from 1953 to 1968, when it merged with Napier City. The Taradale area is home to some of New Zealand's oldest and finest vineyards and wineries, with a wine-making heritage dating back to the 1850s. History Early Māori history Several hundred years ago there was a large Māori pā (fortified settlement) on the hills at the southern edge of what is now Taradale. Originally a double pā, the top part was called Hikurangi and the bottom Ōtātara. Occupied by a tribe known as Tini-o-Awa or Ngāti Awa, the pā terraces enclosed about 100 hectares and were home to around 3,000 Māori. The pā was on an excellent defensive site beside the Tutaekuri River, which was navigable by canoe from the sea. Food was plentiful, the hillsides were suitable for kūmara growing and much of the area was a large tidal location with fish, eels and shellfish. The pā was attacked early in the 16th century by the Ngāti Kahungunu tribe under chiefs Taraia and Rakai-hiku-roa. They came from Tūranga, near what is now Gisborne, and defeated the Hikurangi pā. Unable to take Ōtātara at that time, Taraia set up a new pā at Pākōwhai. Some time later he organised another war party and again besieged Ōtātara. Legend has it that Taraia waited until the defenders were short of food. He then left, leaving a small party concealed near a patch of fern. The defenders sent two men out to dig for fern roots. They were ambushed then killed and their places taken by two of Taraia's men. When the defenders saw the men digging they thought them to be from Ōtātara so they opened up the pā and went out to help. Taraia's men attacked and killed