Welcome!

To the website of The Pirongia Heritage and Information Centre

Our name and origins

We are local organisation providing information for locals and visitors since 2003. The organisation also acts as a custodian of local history and associated artefacts (taonga). Te Whare is a general term for a room or storehouse, Rohe is an administrative district while Arekahanara is the Maori name for Alexandria, as Pirongia was originally known.

About the website

The earliest record in the Internet Archive (colloquially known as the Wayback Machine) is January 13th 2015. The site had links to Events and Tours, Membership Services, About the Building, About Us. Information Services and a Gallery. The website appears to have disappeared from the internet sometime between August 10th and November 8th 2018.

Our member Richard Jones made an offer to the committee to restore, support and finance the website in its present form. With Alan Hall the website was further developed to hold the Newsletter Archive where pdf version of every published Newsletter can now be found. In February 2021 a section on publications was added and, at this time, contains the wartime memoirs of Ngaire Phillips.

We would love to hear from locals if they have similar meories or memoirs of life in Pirongia down the years. In the first instance please contact Marilyn Yeates whose contact details are given below.

Contact Us

Marilyn Yeates (President)
Jenny Mortland (Co-Ordinator)
PIRONGIA HERITAGE AND INFORMATION CENTRE
798 Franklin Street, Pirongia
Pirongia.hvc@xtra.co.nz
Phone 07 871 9018

pirongia location map