The Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour is about having fun discovering the history of Aotearoa New Zealand by finding sites of significance in local communities from early Pacific voyaging and migration, European settlement to present day. The interaction between people, and people and the land have provided a rich history that the GeoTour invites you to explore.
In the summer of 1836 a messenger arrived at Tuhawaiki’s camp on Awarua Bay with news that northerners had seizure a village in the heart of Murihiku.
The Puoho raid was a great display of military strategy. Te Rauparaha sent Puoho, Puoho’s son Paremata, and a party of 50-70 Ngāti Tama warriors and women down the west coast of the south island in a bid to capture Ngai Tahu territory from the rear. After arriving at the Haast river they made their way over Tiori-patea (Haast Pass) and down the Makararoa Valley to Lake Wanaka, through Central Otago and across the plains of Murihiku and arriving in Tuturau in the summer of 1836-37 where they captured the village. They planned on raiding villages around Murihiku, but stopped for a must needed rest after a long and tiring 1,500km journey. This was a fatal decision.
A young man from the village was on the banks of the Mataura eeling when Puoho’s party arrived, remaining hidden before making his way to the coast and Tuhawaiki’s camp. Tuhawaiki made his way back to Ruapuke and gathered his warriors before returning to the main land and travelling up the Matuara Valley to Tuturau. Under the cover of darkness Tuhawaiki and his warriors surrounded the village. At dawn they attacked the unsuspecting northern raiders and overpowering them, Puoho and another northern warrior were shot dead early in the battle and the rest of his warriors captured and in a twist of fate becoming slaves to those they had planned on enslaving themselves.
This was a momentous event in the history of Murihiku and the South island. This was the last war in the south between the southern and northern Maori’s. Had Te Rauparaha and Puoho succeeded in bringing the South under his domain, the land wars of the 1860’s would have been duplicated in the south. The ground was cleared for the peaceful settlement of Otago 10 years later followed by Canterbury and then Southland.
The site of the village was vested as a reserve in 1937. A monument was erected in 1937 at the site of the battle. The inscription reads: 'The last fight between North and South Island Maoris, in which the southerners were victorious, took place in this locality in December 1836.'
***Please note that there are a number of variations to this story***
To be able to complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, remember to take a note of the codeword on the log book of the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded from here. If the passport is unavailable for any reason just keep a note of the codeword and try again later.
This cache placement has been kindly allowed by the Hokonui Runanga and the farmer leasing the paddock. We appreciate been allowed to place this cache here and ask those finding the cache to respect the history, the land and the stock that maybe in the paddock. It is asked that people do not look for this cache at night, please access the cache via the two way points during daylight hours, so not distrubing the neighbours and livestock. If you note anything of concern please contact the CO so they can contact the farmer.
Access is via 2 stys. The first can be quite muddy, so be prepared for wet muddy feet. The second is via Reko Road, please park at the car park and walk up Reko Road to the sty. PLEASE NOTE: there is no parking or turning area available on Reko Road