Editing Timaru (section)

=== Māori settlement ===
The origin of the name 'Timaru' is disputed. Some believe that it derives from [[Māori language|Māori]] ''Te Maru'', which can mean a 'place of shelter'. However, other authorities allege that Timaru originates from a literal translation of the combination of ''tī'', a [[Cordyline australis|cabbage tree]] and ''maru'', meaning 'shady'.<ref>{{cite web |title=Timaru |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keyword/timaru |access-date=15 November 2019 |publisher=Research and Publishing Group of the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage}}</ref>

Māori [[Waka (canoe)|waka]] seem to have employed the site of Timaru as a place to rest on journeys up and down the eastern coastline for many years before the arrival of the first Europeans in the 19th century. The area includes over 500 sites with traces of Māori rock art, particularly in the rock overhangs and caves of the Opuha and Ōpihi River valleys, to the west of modern-day Timaru. Archaeologists have suggested that Māori [[iwi]] (tribes) were permanently settled in the district before 1400 AD. During the 17th or 18th century the resident [[Ngāti Mamoe]] were driven southwards into [[Fiordland]] by an invasion of the [[Ngāi Tahu]], who came from the North Island.

Te Runanga o Arowhenua is the [[hapū]] (subtribe) for Aoraki (Timaru District). Their marae is located just outside Temuka.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua Te Runanga o Arowhenua Marae |url=https://arowhenua.org/ |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua |language=en-GB}}</ref>