The Tuia Mātauranga Pōkai Whenua GeoTour follows the footsteps of early explorers of Aotearoa New Zealand taking you to places where leaders of the past searched for food, resources and ways to adapt and survive in this new land.
Use the Pōkai Whenua GeoTour as your classroom to explore the stories of the past, in the present, to preserve what is unique in Aotearoa New Zealand for the future.
Collect the codewords to get the Geocoin puzzle pieces
To be able to complete this GeoTour and receive your special Geocoin collectable, remember to take a note of the codeword placed in the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded here .
63 of the 150 Pōkai Whenua GeoTour caches will contain a randomly placed special FTF token (a replica of the Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour commemorative coin). This is yours to keep! If you find more than one, you might consider leaving it for the next person who finds the cache.
The view of Lake Wairarapa the day I placed the cache container.
Lake Wairarapa (or Wairarapa Moana) is the third largest lake in the North Island, covering an area of 78 square kilometres. Shallow and low-lying, it drains into Palliser Bay via a much smaller lake, Lake Onoke.
For hundreds of years, it was a food source of immense importance to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua. The lake was rich in whitebait, flounder, kokopu (freshwater fish), waterfowl and, most significantly, eels – of which it yielded 20-30 tonnes a year. The eel fishery depended on two natural phenomena: the annual flood cycle and the blockage of the outlet to the sea. It was this that led to the tension between Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua and the European settlers who established farms there. The settler farmers resented their valuable pastureland being flooded and urged the government to provide for a permanent outlet so the floodwaters could discharge out to sea.
Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. Nevertheless, the Crown’s undertakings to Māori in the Treaty applied to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua. In 1888, the Crown disregarded Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua property rights and rights under te Tiriti o Waitangi when it supported those cutting a channel to Lake Ōnoke, partially draining Wairarapa Moana. To protect Wairarapa Moana and the lakes’ bountiful resources, as well as to end decades of dispute over control of lake levels and the outlet at Onoke, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua made a tuku rangatira (chiefly gift) of their lakes to the Crown in 1896.
The signing over of ownership of Lake Wairarapa from Wairarapa Māori to the Crown, at Pāpāwai Pa. At the centre of the table sits Judge Butler handing a cheque to Purakau. On the judge's right is Sir James Carroll and on his left is Takarangi Meta Kingi with Mr Goffe standing behind him. Tamahau Mahupuku sits on the ground to the left of the table.
This ensured the mana (spiritual power) of the lakes remained with Wairarapa Māori. The Government made many promises to compensate the owners including the provision for other lands in the Wairarapa. In exchange the Crown paid £2000 and, as part of the the tuku rangatira, promised to set aside land for Māori. Many years later the Government forced Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua to accept 10,695 hectares of land, the Pouakani Block, near Mangakino in South Waikato. This land was isolated, unproductive and predominantly covered in bush and scrub. This separated many Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua whānau from their hapū and traditional homes. Much of the land required considerable investment to make it economically viable and the Crown subsequently took the most productive land for public works, the construction of which began before Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua owners were informed or consulted.
Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua continued to suffer land loss throughout the twentieth century, including through public works takings. Today they are virtually landless and much of what they retain lacks legal or practicable access. Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua have also seen their former lands and waterways degraded to fuel economic development.
However in recent years, the transformation in the environment has been accompanied by a reciprocal transformation in attitudes. The wetlands surrounding the lakes, which were only a century ago regarded as an impediment to agricultural progress, are today recognised for their ecological, aesthetic and cultural values. Much of the wetland area is now protected as part of the Wairarapa Moana Wetlands Park, administered by the Department of Conservation, and a number of wetland restoration projects are being undertaken in cooperative arrangements between iwi, NGOs, government and private landowners. Healthy wetlands will in turn help to restore the natural balance in Lake Wairarapa itself, which like many of New Zealand’s lakes, suffers from the cumulative effects of nutrient and other chemical runoff from agricultural, industrial and other human activity.
This is one half of an eel carving at Pāpāwai Pa. The other half is at the Pouakani Marae in Mangakino, a township built on part of the Pouakani Block.
You may be interested finding this cache GC2KPK7 Pāpāwai Pa (Wairarapa) near Greytown, which tells you more about this important and significant Pa. About 150 metres beyond the location of this cache you can see the Pa itself and the tekoteko facing inwards.
For further information:
Wairarapa Moana Wetlands
DOC - Wairarapa Moana Wetlands
Pāpāwai, the Māori capital - roadside stories