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.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/gs-geo-images/1003e1d2-2036-48bb-b69d-bf112b9408ec.png
Chew Chong first went to Australia from China then was drawn to Otago during the gold rush days but he never got involved with digging for gold. As time went by he moved North and eventually arrived in Taranaki In the Taranaki bush he found the Jew's ear fungus (Auricularia cornea) growing profusely on mahoe, tawa and pukatea trees, especially burnt, decaying specimens. Chong knew this fungus as a gourmet and medicinal food, and he settled in New Plymouth as a storekeeper, buying fungus for export to China and selling imported Chinese goods.
By 1872 European and Chinese merchants and traders were competing with him for the fungus. Nevertheless, Chong acquired a substantial proportion of the trade. The fungus was gathered and dried by Europeans and Maori as a source of cash, usually at 2d. to 3d. per pound; moreover, its collection by women and children allowed men to continue farm work. It was the principal cash income of many Taranaki dairy farmers since they usually bartered their butter to storekeepers. The fungus became known as 'Taranaki wool', and Taranaki as the 'fungus province'. Fungus exceeded butter in annual export value five times between 1874 and 1881, although butter exports greatly increased after that. The greatest decade of fungus collection was the 1880s. Much of the trade was trans-shipped from Sydney to the East.
Meanwhile, Chew Chong established branches of his store at Inglewood (1872) and Eltham (1882), selling the usual merchandise as well as Chinese silk and fancy goods. He was an enterprising storekeeper; for example, he sought commissions for a Chinese artist in Hong Kong who painted portraits from photographs; he sold groceries and meat cheaper than his business rivals; and his Eltham store bought large quantities of cocksfoot seed and marketed it throughout the country, thereby creating a significant source of income for local settlers.
Chew Chong spoke and wrote English fluently. He was a small, conservatively dressed man, who was shrewd but generous, kind, honest and good-humoured. He was naturalised in 1873. On 16 February 1875 at New Plymouth he married Elizabeth Whatton, the daughter of local settlers who were connected with Taranaki ironsand smelting. A quiet woman, she and Chong had 11 children, four of whom died in infancy or childhood.
Inevitably, Chew Chong became involved in butter making because of the barter system for this product. Problems arose, however, as he was 'always buying the settlers' butter, nearly two tons a week, and shipping it to England and Australia, and constantly losing money through bad butter.' Butter factories were the key to higher quality, and the first one in Taranaki opened in 1885. A creamery was erected in 1886. Chew Chong's Jubilee factory at Eltham and two other butter factories were built in 1887. Later, he added four creameries, bought the Mangatoki butter factory in 1891, and was a shareholder in the Egmont Co-operative Box Company. All were in or near Eltham, which undoubtedly owes much of its growth to him.
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 <em><strong><a href="https://www.geocaching.com/play/geotours/new-zealand">here</a>.</strong></em> If the passport is unavailable for any reason just keep a note of the codeword and try again later