Wanganui Hotels

Wanganui pronunciation is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region. Like several New Zealand centres, it was officially designated a city until administrative reorganisation in 1989, and is now run by a District Council. Despite this, it is still regarded as a city by most New Zealanders. There is a recommendation from the New Zealand Geographic Board that the name be changed to "Whanganui", but this has yet to be approved by the Minister for Land Information. The area around the mouth of the Whanganui was a major site of pre-European Māori settlement. In the 1820s coastal tribes in the area assaulted the Kapiti Island of Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha. Te Rauparaha retaliated in 1830 sacking Putiki Pā and slaughtering the inhabitants. The first European traders arrived in 1831, followed in 1840 by missionaries Octavius Hadfield and Henry Williams who collected signatures for the Treaty of Waitangi. After the New Zealand Company had settled in Wellington the company looked for more suitable places for settlers. Edward Wakefield, son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, negotiated the sale of acres in 1840. A town, originally known as Petre was established at the river mouth shortly after.The name was officially changed to Wanganui on 20 January 1854.