Akura Road and Ngaumutawa Road bound the area of the Bishops Reserve.
Akura is named after an ancestress of the people from the area, known as Kura. A story recorded in the minute books of the Maori Land Court tells of Kura being so shamed by accusations of infidelity that she committed suicide.
Ngaumutawa means ovens of tawa, the native tree. It is possible the name has a more sinister meaning, as it may be Ngaumutaua, which sounds very similar but actually means “ovens of the war party”.
Ngaumutawa Road has had a number of different names. The northern section was sometimes called Whatman Road in local usage, and an attempt was made to change the legal name of the road to this, but it remained Ngaumutawa.
The southern portion of the road was known as Upper Manaia Road from High Street to the railway, and then Railway Road. The names were finally changed to just one, Ngaumutawa Road, in 1985.
Pic: Te Retimana Te Korou, the chief who lived at Akura and Ngaumutawa.