William Colenso established an Anglican mission station near Clive in 1844. The land was swampy and, as Colenso had the misfortune to experience on a number of occasions, prone to flooding – as the bottom photograph of the nearby Ngaruroro River in 2009 suggests. In 1847 his house was inundated by floodwaters which left a layer of silt 15 centimetres thick when they receded. Local chief Tāreha Te Moananui told Colenso, ‘[N]o one ever lived on this spot before you; it has only been the dwelling place of the eel’. (Quoted in Waitangi Tribunal, Mohaka ki Ahuriri Report. Wellington: Legislation Direct, 2004, p. 34.)