Moutoa Gardens - Pakaitore

Moutoa Gardens is the site of a Maori fishing pa which later became a trading market. Historical monuments feature throughout the gardens as well as mature trees and garden beds. On this historical site land sales were made between local Maori Chiefs and European Settlers.

Moutoa Gardens was named after the Battle of Moutoa Island when Whanganui River Maori defended the city against invading warriors. this is commemorated by a monument.

In 1995 Maori protesters occupied the gardens for 79 days to demand the park be returned to local iwi. That protest ended in an outbreak of violence and clashes with police. Some younger Maoris had knocked the head off the statue of John Ballance, a former New Zealand Prime Minister. The statue has now been removed. John Balance has a new statue elsewhere in the town. One outcome of Maori discontent was a change in the spelling of the town's name by Government agencies to Whanganui including the silent h. Such a change had already been applied to the name of the river by the New Zealand Geographic Board in 1991.

Another statue is of Te Rangihiwinui Kepa, better known as Major Kemp. The statue includes accounts of four of the major battles Major Kemp fought in the 1860s with his Native Whanganui Contingent.

A Standard Chain Mark was built at Moutoa Gardens in 1880. There are five Heritage New Zealand sites at the Gardens.