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 Tuia Mātauranga - Pōkai Whenua GeoTour: Tahi 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 piece.
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.
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What’s in a name? TAIPĀ
Tai(a) – fence/boundary; Pā – fortified village
According to one account of the origin of the name, a dispute between two chiefs arose over possession of shellfish beds. They arrived at a compromise whereby a fence was erected between the pā, each iwi to keep to its allotted area. The place was then called Taiapā (dividing fence or boundary), eventually shortened to Taipā.
Before European arrival
According to some Māori , the great Polynesian explorer and navigator Kupe sailed from Hawaiiki in his canoe named Matahourua and landed at Taipā Bay. Others believe that he landed in the Hokianga Harbour around AD 900.
Centuries after Kupe’s landing, the chiefs Te Parata and Tu-moana, descendants of Kupe, were said to have brought the ancestors of the Ngāti Kahu tribe to the Mangonui area around AD 1350, returning on the same canoe. They found insufficientfresh water at Otengi Bay and travelled up to the mouth of the Taipā River to land. There they settled and married into the local tribes.
Another canoe led by Moehuri is said to have been guided by a large shark into the Mangōnui Harbour to a landing spot opposite the old post office. He made the shark tapu and called the harbour Mangōnui, meaning 'big shark'.. In the 19th century, the spelling Mongonui was more common, and the Mongonui electorate filled one seat in Parliament between 1861 and 1881. Moehuri settled in Mangōnui and married into the local people – remnants of the Ngāti Awa and branch tribes of the Ngāti Whātua. Pā were located all around the area, including one at Mill Bay, called Rangikapiti by Moehuri.
Taumarumaru pā was located on the headland between Mangōnui and Coopers Beach while at the western end of Coopers Beach was Ohumuhumu pā, surrounded at one time by a large village.
Since European arrival
In 1769 James Cook sailed past and noted that it was "doubtless a bay ...", hence the modern name of Doubtless Bay. Eight days later the first Europeans to land were Jean De Surville and his crew aboard St Jean Baptiste. They landed at what he named Lauriston Bay to get fresh vegetables to combat scurvy. Around twenty years later, whalers and sealers from all over the western world arrived, and called the area Coopers Beach – thought to have come from the coopers on the whaleships. A cooper is a person trained to make wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs and other similar containers from timber staves that were usually heated or steamed to make them pliable.
The first European settler is considered to be James David Berghan from Ireland, who arrived in Mangōnui in 1831. By the latter half of the 19th century, flax and timber industries were flourishing in the area. Other settlers developed farms and businesses in the area while some married into the native population. The dynamic mix of settlers coming from various parts of Europe and the Māori population provided Mangōnui with a rich heritage.
Increasing loss of land and the failure to uphold the Treaty terms saw rising tension. The flagstff was cut for a fourth time. Women and children were evacuated. There were 40 to 50 ships in the Mangonui Harbour. Fighting broke out. Lieutenant g. Philpotts order the bombardment of Kororāreka. Hōne Heke destroyed Kororāreka (Russell), leaving the British scrambling to explain their defeat. The town assumed new importance and was considered the country’s second capital. The last whaling ship visited Mangonui in 1885.