Bowentown Heads, Bay of Plenty

Walk #143, 10th December 2024

This Bay of Plenty walk has two ancient pa sites on either side of Anzac Bay. The upper car park is built on a pa site named ‘Te Kura a Maia’ where you can still see the terraces, ditches and an embankment on the landward side. The features of ‘Te Hoa,’ the pa site on the opposite hill are hidden by native bush.

The Bowentown Heads are known to Maori as Otawhiwhi, ‘the entwining’ and relates to a grisly incident where the intestines of a defeated chief were wrapped around a rock on the beach.

The view from pa site at the upper car park is good, you can see the Kaimai ranges, Tauranga estuary, Matakana Island and Mayor Island. An even better view can be had from walking up the other side of the ancient Te Kura a Maia pa site to the trig station where you can look down on Bowentown and Waihi Beach.

Walk: Bay of Plenty 2

Ongare Point artifacts

These two artifacts at Auckland Museum were found across the Tauranga estuary at Ongare Point. They show a definite Polynesian influence. This is the only area where I’ve seen Polynesian type artifacts.

History

Below, from the Western Bay of Plenty District Libraries, “This beautiful aerial photograph of the Bowentown Heads is our Turnback Tuesday feature this week. You can clearly see the terraces of Te Kura a Maia Pa. Te Kura a Maia translates as Training Ground for Young Warriors. The Pa was the scene of many battles as it had such a desirable location, so the name is very apt. The original Tangata Whenua of the region were Ngamarama, and it is they who are thought to have built this Pa.”

Source: Western Bay of Plenty District Libraries

The earliest people known to have lived in the Tauranga area are the Purukupenga, whose name alone survives, and the Ngamarama, who inhabited all the land from the Waimapu Stream to the Kaimai ranges.

So numerous were these people that when the Tainui canoe passed through the Tauranga harbour, she made only a brief stay, leaving as evidence of the visit only “nga pehi o Tainui”, the ballast of Tainui, now known as Ratahi Rock.

Source: Tauranga Local History

Athenree

Athenree Homestead Reserve on the road out is worth a visit.

Related walk:

Orokawa Bay, Waihi Beach

Maunganui Bluff

Walk #131, 4th May 2024

This was a solid grind where we had to climb 450 metres to the summit of the bluff. Getting over an old lava flow was interesting.

The view south along Ripiro Beach to Kai Iwi Lakes is worth the climb but I was hoping to see some standing stones that I know used to be on the summit. Waipoua and it’s stone ruins are just up the coast, less than 25 kms away.

Walk: Northland 27

Links

Stone structures

Alex Nathan is an elder from the local Te Roroa iwi (tribe) who have control or guardianship of the area including the Waipoua forest.

He speaks about Maunganui Bluff and goes on to mention the historical structural formations on the summit.

Alex Nathan: Taputapuātea on Maunganui Bluff

Nathan says; ” … our maunga (mountain), Maunganui Bluff is a place that we know as “Taputapuātea.” There’s very little of the original stonework still intact because during the second world war the American forces bulldozed the summit in order to establish a radar station. Today, all that remains of that facility are concrete foundations.

On the outer edges of the area that was bulldozed there are … in one place the remains of a stone facing and at the other edge, on the other side of that area is a stone alignment that is intact – and that’s all that remains of the original stone structures on that place.”

A listener asks, “So those stones that you are talking about, so they’re quite old, they were put there as (indiscernable) or they were created …”

“No, no, they are constructions, similar to some of the structures that we know about in Waipoua for example.”

-Note, I did a walk in Waipoua Forest in 2020 but I was not able to see the structures he was talking about. My research on the stone ruins is here.

It appears there are stone structures in the area from Maunganui Bluff to Waipoua Forest.

Waitapu Valley (Maunganui Bluff) NZ | astronomical observatory

Stone Cairns in the Waitapu Valley

This is from a book by a local man at Kaihu, “From the Sea we came.”

A SOLITARY CAIRN IN A FARM FIELD,IN THE WAITAPU VALLEY: NEAR THE MAUNGANUI BLUFF WAITAPU VALLEY ANCIENT STANDING STONE CIRCLES AND LAND MAPPING TRIG POSITIONS IN THE WAITAPU VALLEY OF NORTHLAND, AOTEA…That whole region, running from north of the Waipoua Forest Southward to Maunganui Bluff and beyond, is a very rich field of megalithic structures, which litter this Coastline in profusion. This is believed to be a purpose placed, very ancient surveying structure used for precisely marking a position. Many cairns like this, distributed over several square miles between the Maunganui Bluff and Waipoua, are not the result of modern farmers gathering together stones from the land and placing them in heaps.

Source: From the Sea we came, page 106, RIPIRO WEST COAST BETWEEN KAIPARA AND HOKIANGA

Click to access 1-from-the-sea-we-came.pdf

Buried items dug up at Maunganui Bluff

1894; RipiroCoast, North of Maunganui Bluff, about half way to Kawerua: Gum diggers find old relics at a depth of 7 to 9 feet deep. These included adzes and spears. For these to have been buried so deep they must have been owned by some ancient people. Who did they belong to?

Source: National Library: Gang of Dalmatian gum diggers draining the Aranga swamp, Maunganui Bluff, Northland. Creator of collection unknown: Photographs relating to Dalmatian gum diggers, life on the gumfields, and social events. Ref: PAColl-2144-2-03. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23109398

Waipoua Forest, Northland

Rangikapiti Pa

Walk #128, 1st May 2024

This walk is an old pa site not too far from Coopers Beach and the Taumarumaru Reserve.

Walk: Northland 5

< Here’s a better view of the pa from the Mangonui side.

Rangikapiti Pā provides panoramic views over Mangōnui Harbour, Coopers Beach and across Doubtless Bay to the Karikari Peninsula. It is a significant site to Ngati Kahu. Source: DOC, Rangikapiti Pā

Doubtless Bay was where this canoe prow and stern were found:

The object was discovered during swamp draining operations at a depth of 5ft. Papers Past: DISCOVERY AT MANGONUI. MYSTERY AS TO ORIGIN. GIFT MADE- TO THE MUSEUM.

For more info click here, Waitaha Artifacts

Links

Ngāti Kahu, Rangikapiti pa

By Berlin-George – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26151592

Taumarumaru Reserve,Coopers Beach, Northland

Walk #127, 1st May 2024

Taumarumaru Reserve is located on the Taumarumaru Scenic Reserve at the western end of Coopers
Beach, between Mangonui and Cable Bay at the south eastern end of Doubtless Bay.

Taumarumaru consists of Taumarumaru Pa itself and two smaller pa sites named Te Homumu and
Otanenui.

Walk: Northland 4

Links

Taumarumaru Scenic Reserve Walk

History Description
Taumarumaru is said to have been originally built by Ngati Awa people before they left
Northland and moved south to Taranaki, Tamaki and Tauranga around 1600 after having come
under pressure from Ngapuhi and Ngati Whatua; their main chiefs in the north were Kauri and
Awanui-O-Te-Rangi . When Europeans arrived the pa was under mature kanuka, kahika, and
pohutakawa, giving it the name Taumarumaru or ‘shady’ Pa.

Source: Taumarumaru Heritage Assessment

Kerikeri Basin

Walk #124, 30th April 2024

This has everything – history, a river walk and waterfalls. Also a cafe in the historic beekeepers house which is right next door to the oldest house in NZ, the Kemp House. The Kemp house was built in 1822 and the Stone Store was built in 1835. There’s a heritage orchard and cottage garden flowerbeds which the cafe uses. The garden has been in operation for over 200 years.

The Mission (Kemp House) was deliberately established next to Kororipo pa (see below), the home of Hongi Hika. Without his patronage and protection, the mission had little chance of survival. No doubt the people in the pa kept a good eye on the coming and goings of the Pakeha living there and reported back to Hongi.

The heritage park is enchanting, even down to the friendly goose who greeted me waggling his tail feathers. The river walk has a historic power station, rock formations and two waterfalls.

Kerikeri Basin, the old Beekeepers House with Kemp House next door

Link

Kerikeri Mission Station (Kemp House)

Kerikeri stone store

Stone Store

Kerikeri’s Kemp House – the oldest building in NZ – turns 200

Kerikeri’s hidden waterfall trails: The network of tracks linking five spectacular cascades

Kororipo Pa

This site was the pa of Hongi Hika, the paramount chief of the north. From here they could keep an eye on everyone, including the Pakeha at the mission across the inlet.

Walking around Kororipo Pa in the quiet of the Kerikeri Basin, I imagined what it was like in the past. In the early 19th century the Ngapuhi tribe controlled the Bay of Islands, the first point of contact for most Europeans visiting New Zealand.

Looking at the historic Mission (Kemp House) and Stone Store across the inlet, New Zealand’s oldest buildings, I wondered about the two cultures that had existed side by side. How did they do it?

Mount Maunganui,Bay of Plenty

Walk #121, 25th April 2024

Mount Maunganui is a prominent Tauranga landmark rising 232 metres out of the sea at the entrance to Tauranga harbour.

The Patupairahe people gave the Mount the name ‘Mauao’ which means “caught by the dawn.”

Three pa sites have been found on the Mount. Ngati Ranginui held the Mount until around 1700 when they were defeated by Ngāi Te Rangi in the battle of Kokowai.

The Mount has been the site of many battles, the last being in 1820 when Ngapuhi, armed with muskets, took Mauao. The pa was never reoccupied.

This walk is around the track at the base of the Mount. We were running out of daylight so the top track will have to wait.

Walk: Bay of Plenty 6

Links

The Battle of Kōkōwai

The walk features a rock named Te Toka a Tirikawa, a landing site associated with the Takitimu canoe. On our walk in Mahia I learned that the Takitimu waka (canoe) was tapu (sacred) and the waka was not permitted to carry any woman or food on its journey. So the account of the Takitimu appears to be semi-mythological, although I have no doubt there was a real waka captained by a real man named Tamatea.

Wikipedia states Tākitimu was a waka (canoe) with whakapapa (ancestral lineage) throughout the Pacific particularly with Samoa, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand in ancient times. The Tākitumu was an important waka in the Cook Islands with one of the districts on the main island of Rarotonga consequently named after it.

This artwork at Mt Maunganui public library depicts the story of the mountain Mauao (Mt Maunganui).

Te Namu Pa, Opunake, Taranaki

Walk #114, 2nd January 2024

This historic pa site is located at Opunake. The walk begins at Opunake Cemetery.

Te Namu pa is the site of a battle between Taranaki and Waikato. After the defeat and scattering of the Taranaki tribe at Maru in 1826, a large number of them migrated to Kapiti. But still there were a few left—not more than one hundred and fifty fighting men—and these, on the news of the approach of Waikato, gathered into their fortified pa of Te Namu, and stored it with a plentiful supply of provisions and water. There they held off a force of 800 Waikato.

The principal chief of Taranaki, who was appointed to conduct the operations in defence of the pa, was Wi Kingi Mata-katea. There was only one musket in the pa, and that belonged to him. His aim never failed; a man fell each time he discharged his gun—even if half a mile off —so long as he could see his man, he shot him.

Source: NZETC Siege of Te Namu, June 1833

Mata means eye so Mata-katea’s name probably translates as having a keen or accurate eye.

Although the site has a rich history we felt there was more to learn.

Walk: Taranaki 12

Petroglyphs

The history of the pa as known to the writer (Griffin) including finding a partly buried stone on which there was a petroglyph. Who knows where that’s gone. There were petroglyphs along the Taranaki coast. The rock was probably marked by the Waitaha or Te Kahui Maunga people.

Source: Erin M. Griffin, Tales of Te Namu and Hori Teira

Opunake

Opunake – Historical notes collection

Tauwhare Pa, Ohope

Walk #103, 9th January 2023

Tauwhare Pa is one of the oldest pa sites in the Bay of Plenty.. It is actually three pas sites which overlook the western arm of Ōhiwa Harbour at Ohope in the Bay of Plenty. It was built by Te Hapuoneone, a tribe that many of today’s iwi descend from. Elsdon Best ‘Notes on Ancient Polynesian Migrants‘ states the Hapu-oneone were some of the ancient inhabitants of the Bay of Plenty district. They were numerous when the later canoes the Arawa and Mataatua arrived from Hawaiiki. They once occupied the district from Ohiwa across to Ruatoki.

In later times Ohiwa Harbour was between Ngati Awa on the west and Whakatohea in the east. Located on a tribal boundary, Tauwhare Pa saw more then it’s share of conflict.

In 1847, the chief of Tauwhare was Te Keepa Toihau of Ngāti Awa. His daughter, Mere Aira, had a child with neighbouring Whakatōhea chief Kape Tautini. When Whakatōhea laid siege to the pā site, intending to drive Ngāti Awa away before they became too powerful, Mere Aira raised the child Te Pirini Tautini above her head and called out; “This child I am holding in my arms is a symbol of our two tribes and could make peace or war. Unless the killing is stopped now for all time, I shall throw my child on these rocks.”

Whakatohea were so impressed by her courage that a peace deal was immediately arranged on the beach.

History

“Before the arrival of the Mataatua waka (canoe), numerous other waka encountered Ohiwa …”

From the info board:

Te Hapuoneone, led by the peacable Tama-ki-Hikurangi, were the first known residents, however over many years they were assimilated by the descendants of Awanuiarangi who later became Ngati Awa.

In 1847, when the pa was under siege, the rangitira (chief) of Tauwhare was Te Keepa Toihau.

In the 1950s, when the land was in private ownsership, preliminary work was being carried out for a proposed subdivision, destroying sections of the pa.

Walk: Bay of Plenty 18

Links

Te Hapū-oneone

In addition, Tūhoe trace their descent from the confederation of Te Hapū-oneone. These people were descendants of Hape, who came from Hawaiki on the Rangimatoru canoe, landing at Ōhiwa Harbour in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. They occupied territory from Ōhiwa inland to Waimana and over the Taiarahia range to Rūātoki. Te Hapū-oneone consisted of related tribes including Ngāti Raumoa, Ngāi Te Kapo and Ngāi Tūranga. Source: Te Ara, The first peoples

Tauwhare Pā Scenic Reserve

The story of Mere Aira, 1847

Otuataua Stonefields, Auckland

Walk #91, 30th August 2022

Getting in to the site took some doing because the protestors have closed the public road, but we found some people gardening and they let us come in. There is disputed land, Ihumateao, next door to the park, I’ll leave their info about it at the bottom of the page and you can read all about it.

I got the sense walking over the land that the volcanic gardens are ancient and were in use long before the Tainui canoe arrived.

It was very peaceful, probably because we had the whole place to ourselves.

The park is the site of Auckland’s smallest volcano.

Puketaapapa Cone: This is the smallest of the 60-odd extinct volcanic cones of the Auckland area, being less than 10 metres above its lava base and having a saucer-shaped crater only 12 metres wide.

Click to access otautaua-stonefields-historic-reserve-brochure.pdf

I hope people can get access to the park but but there’s no political will in Wellington to resolve the protest. The issue is a hot potato the people in government don’t have the wisdom, negotiating skills or ability to resolve.

Walk: Auckland 38

Ihumatao

Since posting that about Ihumatao in 2019, I did more reading about the iwi in charge of this, the Te Kawerau Iwi. The land was confiscated in the 1860’s but there have been Treaty settlements. The protestors can’t have it both ways and need to listen to the Iwi who have successfully negotiated for land for affordable housing in return for that housing development.

Under the deal, Fletcher Building has committed to returning 8ha of land at the site to the Kiingitanga, and Te Warena Taua said houses would also be set aside for mana whenua.

Here’s what the Te Kawerau Iwi had to say:

“We’ll start off with 40 homes coming back to our people at shared-equity ownership. It’s good for us because it will allow for people and their families who come from our village to come back to the village and bring their children and mokopuna up.”

Ihumātao protest: Kaumātua and rangatahi split over development

The story behind the fight to save Ihumātao

The gate, we drove through after speaking to some people on site

Links

Ihumātao: Heritage NZ proposes bigger Ōtuataua Stonefields area, boosting it to Category 1

Ōtuataua Stonefields walk – Mangere

Ōtuataua stonefields, Māngere

Otuat aua Stonefields, NZ History

Two centuries ago, Māori were still cultivating 8000 ha of volcanic stonefields around Tāmaki-makau-rau, the Auckland isthmus. Now just 160 ha of the stonefields remain. They largely fell into disuse after the early 19th-century inter-tribal Musket Wars and were swallowed up by urban sprawl.

Conservationists had to fight hard even to save Ōtuataua’s 100 ha at Māngere, which was bought by the Manukau City Council with help from DOC, the Lotteries Commision and the Auckland Regional Council.

On 10 February 2001, one of New Zealand’s oldest sites became its newest reserve, the Otuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve. Here you can see Polynesian house sites, storage pits, cooking shelters, terraces, mound gardens, garden plots and garden walls as well as some 19th-century European dry-stone farm walls.

Dave Veart – the Otuataua stonefields

NZ Geographic – Saving Mangere’s agricultural history

New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero Review Report for a Historic Place Ōtuataua Stonefields, AUCKLAND (List No.

Deep History of Ihumātao: The Methodist Connection

Auckland

NZ Geographic – Volcanic Auckland

Te Pa o Kapo, Titahi Bay

Walk #83, 3rd March 2022

We stopped here to eat breakfast on our way home from Wellington after witnessing the end of the protest at Parliament Grounds. We felt shattered.

Eating our food, we watched a couple of divers enter the sparkling water. A man and his dog played fetch with a driftwood stick and two yachts sailed slowly by. In the calm and tranquil peace of the morning we realised life would go on.

This is a stunning part of the lower North Island west coast. Mana Island could be seen in the distance and beyond that, misty and barely disernable, the mountains of the South Island.

History

The place name means the Pa of Kapo. The tribe was Ngati Ira. Te Pa o Kapo may have been occupied for as long as 400 years, but when Te Rauparaha invaded the area in 1819-20 the pa had already been abandoned.

Ethnographer Elsdon Best (who was born at Tawa) visited the pa and was impressed by the superb defences. He noted that at the time the stumps of the totara pallisading were still visible.

I suspect the rock at the site may have been a tuahu. Each canoe and tribe had one, a sacred place marked by a stone.

A plaque in front of the stone reads, “This is the site of a fortified pa occupied by Ngati Ira prior to 1820. The defensive bank and artificially narrowed causeway were once clearly visible. Archaeological evidence suggests there was an extensive settlement in this area.”

Walk: Wellinton 13

Kupe’s anchor

It is said that Kupe’s anchor used to lie on the Porirua foreshore. This is the narrative or korero from Te Ara about Kupe’s anchor: “The Polynesian explorer, Kupe, visited this area and named Porirua Harbour, Mana Island and his landing place, Komanga Point, situated south of Titahi Bay. The anchor stone from Kupe’s canoe, Mātāwhaorua, rested for many years on what is now Ngati Toa Domain. It is now at Te Papa.”

Be aware, this is a classic example of revisionist history about canoes and dates of discovery. Te Ara are wrong on two counts; they haven’t mentioned there were two explorers named Kupe and they failed to point out the stone is actually local greywacke.

Here’s the stone which is NOT from Kupe’s canoe. It used to lie on the beach at Porirua.

Links

Titahi Bay

Porirua City

Ngati Ira: Intermarried with Ngati Tara. In 1819 a war party comprising Taranaki, Atiawa, Ngati Toa, Ngapuhi and Ngati Whatua attacked the Wellington area, destroying the main Ngati Ira fortifications. Most Ngati Ira fled to the Wairarapa where they still live today.

WELLINGTON’S TE ARA O NGA TUPUNA HERITAGE TRAIL

KUPE’S VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND: Kupe and his people discovered people at various places. These people were the Mamoe, the Turehu, the Tahurangi, the Poke-pokewai, the Patupaiarehe, the Turepe and the Hamoamoa. “Such is the story as told me by my elder Tati Wharekawa.”

The Land of Tara and they who settled it, by Elsdon Best : The story of the occupation of Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara) or Port Nicholson by the Maori.