Large area of the Marlborough region, named after the Wairau River. Characterised by alluvial valley, plains and wetlands by the coast. Some of New Zealand's oldest archaeological artefacts have been discovered on the Wairau Bar. On 17 June 1843, 22 Europeans and four Māori were killed when an armed party of New Zealand Company settlers and Ngāti Toa clashed over the purchase of land in the Wairau valley at Tuamarina - an incident that came to be known as the Wairau Incident.