Tolaga Bay
Encyclopedia
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
's North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
located 45 kilometres northeast of Gisborne
Gisborne, New Zealand
-Economy:The harbour was host to many ships in the past and had developed as a river port to provide a more secure location for shipping compared with the open roadstead of Poverty Bay which can be exposed to southerly swells. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped...
and 30 kilometres south of Tokomaru Bay
Tokomaru Bay
Tokomaru Bay is a small, idyllic beachside community located on the isolated East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island. It is 91 km north of Gisborne, on State Highway 35, and close to Mount Hikurangi. The district was originally known as Toka-a-Namu, which refers to the abundance of sandflies...
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It was named Tolaga Bay by Lt. James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
, but the original Māori name is Uawa Nui A Ruamatua (shortened to Uawa), and some local residents now refer to the area as Hauiti, and themselves as Hauitians from the local iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti
Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti
Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti are an Iwi that occupy land from Gisborne to Tolaga Bay on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand.Many Descendants trace their Whakapapa back to the Arrival of the Canoes Horouta & Takitimu in the Tairawhiti Region and to the famous ancestor Paikea.Titirangi Maunga is...
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The region around the bay is rugged and remote, and for many years the only access to the town was by boat. Because the bay is shallow, a long wharf
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
- the longest in New Zealand (600m) - was built to accommodate visiting vessels. In the 1830s there was a thriving flax trade involving early European traders like Barnet Burns
Barnet Burns
Barnet Burns was an English sailor, trader, and showman who became one of the first Europeans to live as a Pākehā Māori and to receive the full Māori facial tattoo. He travelled to Australia and found employment as a trader of flax in New Zealand in the 1830s...
. This wharf is now in threat and a committee from the township are appealing for funds and technical help to restore and save it.
Two rivers reach the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
at Tolaga Bay - the Waiau
Waiau River, Gisborne
Waiau River is a river in the Gisborne Region of New Zealand. It has its headwaters in the same area of hill country to the east of the Raukumara Range as the Mata River, flowing firstly north, then east to become a tributary of the Hikuwai River....
and the Mangaheia
Mangaheia River
The Mangaheia River is a river of the Gisborne Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows southeast from its origins in rough hill country inland from Tolaga Bay, joining with the Uawa River close to its outflow into the bay.-References:...
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An island in the bay was originally named Spöring Island by Cook, after his expedition's assistant naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and instrument maker, Herman Spöring, a Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
botanist. It is however today again known by its Māori name, Pourewa
Pourewa Island
Pourewa Island lies in Tolaga Bay, just offshore from Cook’s Cove in New Zealand.It was formerly known as Spöring Island, named by Lt. James Cook after the Finnish draughtsman Herman Spöring, a member of the scientific detachment aboard HM Bark Endeavour, and in 1990 a rock was taken from Pourewa...
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The town is a popular holiday spot. Its population is predominantly Māori, a centre of the Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti
Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti
Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti are an Iwi that occupy land from Gisborne to Tolaga Bay on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand.Many Descendants trace their Whakapapa back to the Arrival of the Canoes Horouta & Takitimu in the Tairawhiti Region and to the famous ancestor Paikea.Titirangi Maunga is...
iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
and home of Ariki - Te Kani a Takirau and Tohunga - Rangiuia.