The name means 'how sweet is the penguin' - korora (blue penguin) and reka, meaning sweet. Russell was named after Lord John Russell, Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Kororareka was the first permanent European settlement and sea port in New Zealand. As European and American whaling and sealing ships began to arrive in the very early 1800s, the town benefited from trade between Maori and Pakeha (whom they called tauiwi). It grew into what was known as the 'hell-hole of the South Pacific' housing drunkards, prostitutes and the generally lawless. Even Maori law was seldom enforced, as fighting between Ngapuhi northern and southern iwi on the beach in March 1840 affirms.
Governor Hobson read his Proclamations here on 30th January, 1840. They were the beginnings of the Treaty of Waitangi and declared in the presence of a number of settlers and chief Moka Te Kainga-mataa who was the only Maori signatory. The following week the Treaty proceedings moved across to the western side of the bay to Waitangi. And the rest, as they surely say, is history.
By now the town had developed as a mercantile centre and was a vital resupply depot for those whalers and sealers. Since the Colony of New Zealand had now been established Governor Hobson originally chose Kororareka as his capital. But because of its seedy reputation he purchased land at Okiato for the intended new capital. Neither eventuated and Auckland was instead chosen as the capital, but for a short time only as history shows.
In 1841 Jean Baptiste Pompallier established a Catholic Mission in Kororereka that contained a printing press for the production of Maori language religious texts. The adobe building became known as Pompallier House.
Kororareka was part of the Port of Russell and after Russell (Okiato) became virtually deserted, Kororareka gradually became known as Russell also. In January 1844, Governor Robert FitzRoy officially designated Kororareka as part of the township of Russell. Today the name Russell applies only to Kororareka while the former capital is known either by its original name of Okiato or as Old Russell.
The Flagstaff War, prompted by the repeated felling by Hone Heke in 1845 of the hated symbol of British soveregnty, saw Kororareka/Russell sacked as inhabitants fled aboard British ships which then shelled and destroyed most of the houses. Hone Heke, though, directed his warrior not to interfere with Christ Church and with Pompallier Mission House.
Pompallier House and its printing press still stand today, as does Christ Church, the country's oldest surviving Anglican church, both peacefully resting beside the languid waters of the bay, giving little clue to some of the most tumultuous moments of a fledgling nation's beginnings.