It seems that Cooper was shown only one of the smaller springs, and the ‘quagmire’ discouraged him from exploring further. The area did not appear to be occupied by Maori at this time.

In 1873, Albert Allom described the geothermal area at Te Aroha which he called ‘Waipuia Hot Springs’:

The springs are to be found close under the precipitous ferny spurs which form this part of the mountain base. Numerous irregular bald patches of exposed clay and gravel look down upon you, indicative of water action during winter. Under these the bottom of several little gullies is incrusted with calcareous tufa, over which trickles a warm stream ... But we found three springs only where the water was fairly hot. One, the most utilized, and apparently the best, rises up into a basin 15 to 20 feet long, whose clay walls have been built by Maories. A cold stream also trickles into this and may be dammed back with the greatest ease if the bather wishes to increase the heat of the bath.²³

Allom did not record any Maori settlement in the vicinity of the springs and his small tour party of four, guided by James Nicholls, enjoyed a bath in this pool on their own. Allom did record the Omahu kainga, on the east bank of the Waihou River several kilometres downstream from Te Aroha, where he and his party stayed on their return journey.

Although gold brought Pakeha settlers to Te Aroha in the 1880s, the township evolved as a spa resort in the late nineteenth century. The focus of development was the group of springs in the 20 acres of Crown land named the hot springs reserve (section 16), later known as the Te Aroha Hot Springs Domain. Occasional parties of Pakeha visitors visited in the early 1870s and were received hospitably by the local people, most of whom lived in the kainga at Omahu. As related in section 11.2, in 1874 George Lipsey arrived, and married Ema, daughter of Te Mokena Hou. At this stage, local Maori remained in control of access to the springs, but by the mid-1870s negotiations were under way to sell the large Te Aroha block to the Crown. In August 1878, the Te Aroha block (53,908 acres) was purchased by the Crown (see sec 11.1.2). Certain reserves to be retained for Maori, including the Omahu Reserve (4268 acres) which extended from south of Te Aroha hot springs to the north of the block. It included Omahu kainga, on the eastern bank of the Waihou River. Within this reserve the Crown retained the 20-acre ‘hot springs reserve’. In 1881, subdivisions of Omahu Reserve were defined, when the Mokena whanau were awarded lands around the hot springs reserve. This issue is take up again later in this chapter.

In 1878, Lipsey had built the first Hot Springs Hotel for his father-in-law. The Thames Advertiser commented, ‘The hotel if well conducted will be a great boon for persons seeking these springs for their health-giving properties’. By 1879, the Thames Advertiser recorded three hotels at Te Aroha, ‘the Hot Springs Hotel kept by Mokena, the Waitoa Hotel at the

23.Albert J. Allom, A Holiday Trip to Maungatautari (Grahamstown: Wilkinson and Horton Printers, 1873), p 9