Pukerua beach was for centuries an extremely important thoroughfare for people travelling north and south along the Kāpiti Coast. From Paekākāriki, travellers heading south would walk along the rocky shoreline to Pukerua where they would turn inland up the Waimapihi Valley to meet the ancient Taua-Tapu Track to Taupō Pā, at present day Plimmerton. One of the oldest pā in the district occupied the spur overlooking the beach just west of the mouth of the Waimapihi Stream. This was a fortified pā named Waimapihi after an infamous chieftainess of the Ngai Tara people who were amongst the earliest inhabitants of the district. The pā was in possession of Ngāti Ira at the time Ngāti Toa and Ngāpuhi arrived in the area as part of an initial reconnaissance expedition before the main migration from Kawhia. In the wake of their defeat by the northern iwi, Ngāti Ira were unable to hold on to their outposts at Pukerua.
Ngāti Toa subsequently took up occupation of Pukerua and remained in possession of Waimapihi Pā until Te Rauparaha’s seizure from Taupō Pā in 1847 on the order of Governor Grey. Prior to this, Ngāti Toa had effectively controlled access to and from Te Upoko o Te Ika a Maui (the Head of Maui’s Fish) via the Pukerua gateway which provided a strategic access point to Porirua, Wellington and the Hutt Valley. Ngāti Toa continued to occupy the stockaded pā on the hill above Wairaka, known as Wairaka Pā, and remained in possession as late as 1851. This pā represented the last bastion of Ngāti Toa’s resistance to the Crown’s military campaigns of 1846-47 aimed at usurping Ngāti Toa’s mana and lands for Pakeha colonisation.
by Miria Pomare

Pukerua Bay. Photographed by Leslie Adkin 11 February 1920. A.005740 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
Beach houses
The easy access provided by the railway made Pukerua Bay a popular weekend destination. Families carried the necessities to picnic for the day or to camp at the beach for the weekend. In 1922 Charles Gray, a prominent landowner, subdivided part of his Waimapihi Block. This freed up land for 33 sections along Ocean Parade. Families who had been frequent weekend visitors took the opportunity to purchase sections. The Morrells were one of these families and they bought four sections east of the Waimapihi Stream while George Henderson bought five sections west of the stream and built four baches. The same families still own many of the sections. Many of the early baches were built with recycled materials such as timber from the old Thorndon Baths. It was all taken by sled from the railway station and lowered down the slope which is now the zigzag track.

A seaside bach at Pukerua Bay. Photographed by Leslie Adkin 11 February 1920. A.005702 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.