Named for the aromatic shrub held sacred by Maori and used for medicinal purposes. Kawakawa leaves (also known as peppertree) were placed over cuts and boils to speed healing and used for kidney disorders. Tea was made from an infusion of its leaves.
Lying south of Paihia at the confluence of the Waiomio and Waiharakeke streams which flow into the Kawakawa River estuary and out to the Bay of Islands, it is clear why numerous Maori settlements dotted these vales in pre-European times.
A fortified pa at Ruapekapeka (which means 'the bat's nest') was built by Ngati Hine chief, Te Ruki Kawiti. It was bombarded and captured by British troops in 1846 who marvelled at the palisades, trenches and underground shelters when they finally entered the site - to find only a handful of Maori remaining. The rest had strategically withdrawn.
The Kawiti glow worm caves in the Waiomio Valley, just north of Kawakawa, lend their own history to the region. They were discovered in the early 17th century by Roku, who, as the runaway wife of Haumoewarangi of Ngatitu, hid in the caves until she was seen by Hineamaru, the famous chieftains of Ngati Hine. Today the Kawiti Caves are owned and operated by Hineamaru's direct descendants.
In the 19th century Kawakawa was developed as a service town when coal was found in the area in 1861 and is the reason why the rail line was built. At the time, as the centre of the all-important coal mining industry and with a large trade in kauri gum, it became the chief town of the Bay of Islands.
The Kawakawa Railway Station opened in 1884. It consisted of offices, ladies' and
general waiting rooms, cattle and sheep pens and a goods shed. A bi-weekly train used to run between Opua and Kawakawa or 'as occasion requires'. The (now heritage) line runs through the centre of the town and gives Kawakawa one of its two famous attractions.
The heritage train utilises part of the former Opua line and currently reaches Taumarere (one of the intervening stations when the full line was operative. The other was at Te Ake Ake). The goal is to arrive at Opua over the 'long' bridge but even now there are now 14 bridges and one tunnel on the line - making it the longest heritage train line in New Zealand.
Then there is the most unlikely tourist attraction in the world - the public toilets designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The sculptured columns, mosaic tiles, recycled bottles and bricks and the tufted grass adorning the roof have turned these toilets to tourist delight and, quite possibly, define the enterprising spirit of the small and quintessentially Northland town.