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Story: Te hopu tuna – eeling

Para lagoon

Image
Para lagoon

This painting by James Crawford shows Para lagoon (Burnham Water), on the Miramar Peninsula in Wellington in the 1840s. Māori stored eels in the lagoon, which was not connected to the sea. It was later drained to provide land for farming.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-229-003

by James Coutts Crawford

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Basil Keane, Te hopu tuna – eeling – Cooking, preserving and storing eels, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/13991/para-lagoon (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Basil Keane, published 2 March 2009.