The Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour (GT48A) 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.
Remember to write down the Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour codeword inside the logbook.
To complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, record the Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour codeword in your GeoTour Passport. Download the GeoTour Passport from Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour Passport. If the passport is unavailable for any reason keep a note of the codeword and try again later.
The starting point for this offset multi is the site of the first Christian mission in the South Island, established by Wesleyan (Methodist) minister James Watkin and his wife Hannah in May 1840.
Otago Māori had traded with and worked with takata pora (boat people) for over 30 years: sealers, whalers and now farming settlers. Otakou chiefs Karetai and Taiaroa were familiar with British ways from their trips to Sydney, and since 1834 had asked for a missionary to be sent to Otago. They were keen for their people to learn new skills to help them adapt successfully to their changing world.
The monument here commemorates the first Christian service in Otago, preached in English on 17 May 1840. It was well attended by whalers and workers from John Jones’ neighbouring whaling station (both Māori and takata pora), the whalers’ Māori wives, farming families (imported by John Jones to work on his nearby Matanaka farm) and no doubt many Māori from surrounding areas. Many Māori from the whaling stations had learnt enough English (and French) to get by, but even so the sermon must have been only partly understandable.
Read the two plaques on the Watkin monument to calculate the coordinates of the final cache.
BOTTOM plaque
A = # letters in last word of third line
B = Third digit in third line
C = 3rd digit in 4th line.
TOP plaque (ignore NHPT logo at top)
D= Second digit of bottom line
E= 3rd digit of last line
F= # letters in 14th word of plaque
The final cache is at S45 38.ABC E170 39.DEF
CHECKSUM A + B + C + D + E + F = 19
You are looking for a 2 litre screwtop container a short walk away. Please make sure it is left completely hidden.
The mission’s graveyard here is the last resting place of people from the mission days onward. This is a private cemetery, but is open to visitors. Please walk respectfully; the earliest headstone date from 1842, but there are many unmarked graves. Overseas visitors note that this urupā is a sacred place and therefore eating, drinking and smoking are not allowed.
See Kiwi Adventures: Reflections of Waitangi at Karitane to find out more about the lives of the people buried here.
The black pillar marks the grave of a remarkable man, the rangitira Rawiri Te Maire (c 1820? – 1899). Te Maire truly walked across two worlds during his lifetime. As a young man he lived a traditional Kai Tahu lifestyle and was an eyewitness to the last armed invasion of the South Island, Te Puoho’s 1836 raid.
Te Maire was the first rangatira to be baptised by James Watkin, on 22 January 1843, and became a Wesleyan lay pastor. When Watkin returned to Sydney in 1844, Te Maire worked closely with his successor Charles Creed. Once the Wesleyan mission closed, Te Maire became an Anglican lay reader, based at Moeraki.
Along with Matiaha Tiramorehu, in 1868 Te Maire established a wharekura at Moeraki to pass on Māori traditional learning.
In 1877, Te Maire joined the prophet Hipa Te Maihāroa in establishing a new settlement called Te Ao Marama (near Omarama), which they believed to be still Māori land. Runholders called in the police, who in 1879 evicted the Kāi Tahu ‘squatters’. Te Maire remained living at Te Maihāroa’s village of Korotuaheka, at the mouth of the Waitaki River, until his death in 1899.
Remember to write down the Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour codeword inside the logbook.
To complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, record the Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour codeword in your GeoTour Passport. Download the GeoTour Passport from Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour Passport. If the passport is unavailable for any reason keep a note of the codeword and try again later.