The Omata stockade was built by local settlers in March 1860 at the start of the First Taranaki War. It stood on the site of an earlier pa atop Ngaturi, a symmetrical grassy mound rising 20 m above the surrounding land. The wooden fort, similar to those of this era in the American West, was a place of refuge for the district’s Pakeha families. Its defensive ditch is still clearly visible.
A replica stockade has been built recently on private land 1 km along Waireka Road East, which runs off State Highway 45 to the right at the Omata church, about 1 km south of Ngaturi.
Directions: 6 km south of central New Plymouth, beside State Highway 45.
