The New Zealand Company, a private company formed in Britain and supported by the British Government, established a colonisation scheme for New Zealand in the 1840's.

The Company wanted to avoid some of the disastrous consequences of European settlement experienced in other countries, for example North America and Australia, and developed a set of principles to guide their dealings with the resident Māori communities.  The Company stated that Māori owned the land in New Zealand and it would have to be purchased from them. They also declared that Māori should retain all the land they used for habitation, cultivation, urupā (burials) and mahinga kai (resource areas). The Company also guaranteed to set aside one-tenth of all land purchased from Māori for the benefit of the Māori vendors (the Tenths Reserves), and promised that because of the Tenths, Māori would grow rich as the settlement developed and prospered, making the Tenths the true payment for the land.

Plan of the town of Nelson, approved by Frederick Tuckett April 1842. [London] : Smith & Elder [for the] New Zealand Company. The Nelson Provincial Museum, Tuckett, Frederick. (1842). Bett Collection, M66.
Click image to enlarge or see zoomable map

The Company’s second settlement, Nelson, would consist of 221,100 acres, divided into 1,100 acres of one-acre town sections, 55,000 acres of fifty-acre accommodation or suburban sections, and 165,000 acres of 150-acre rural blocks. Each investor in the settlement would pay £300 for 201 acres – one 1-acre town section, one 50-acre suburban section, and one 150-acre rural block. The Māori vendors, Ngāti Rarua, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa, would be entitled to one-tenth i.e. 22,110 acres, across town, suburban and rural sections.

The 5,100 acres designated as Tenths were reduced to less than 2,000 acres:

• 47 acres of Nelson Town were taken for the “remodelling” of the Nelson Settlement at the behest of settlers in 1847
• 918 acres at Motueka were taken by Governor Grey and given to the Church of England for an industrial school (Whakarewa) in 1853
• 58 acres were taken for public works
• 27 acres were taken for streets and roads
• 1,308 acres were sold by the Māori Trustee when a 1967 Act allowed lessees to freehold.

Nelson from Auckland Point 1848. From Broad, Lowther (1892) The Jubilee History of Nelson: From 1842 to 1892. Bond, Finney and Co. Part of: New Zealand Text Centre
Click image to enlarge

The income possible from the Reserves was severely limited by legislation favouring lessees from the 1880s onwards, which:

• made leases of Native Reserve land perpetually renewable by lessees, thus alienating the Māori owners forever
• set rent review periods at 21 years, and
• set rents at 4% or 5% of unimproved value regardless of what was happening in the commercial world.

Until 1897 Government appointed administrators used income from the Tenths in whatever manner they believed to "benefit" the owners and their offspring. There was no consultation with the Māori owners.

From the 1890s until 1956 a partial distribution of income from the Tenths was made to those individuals and families who were identified as the owners of the Nelson Settlement district. The Native Land Court identified those owners in its judgment of 1892/3, which recorded the names of all those Rangatira (chiefs) and their families who lived in the Nelson Settlement district in the 1840s who had the authority to agree to the New Zealand Company proposal to settle the area.

The plan for Māori to grow rich, as the settlement developed and prospered, was certainly not realised: many descendants of the vendor chiefs were destitute by the end of the nineteenth century. In 1975 after many years of protest and debate, legislation was passed enabling Māori incorporations or trusts to be formed to administer their own reserves. Wakatū Incorporation was established in 1977 by the descendants of the vendor chiefs of Ngāti Rarua, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa - the original owners of the Tenths Reserves.  At that time, the Crown handed back control of approximately 1,393.72 hectares of land. This land was the remnants of the Tenths Reserves and occupation sites. 

Wakatū Incorporation continues to work to "Make the Tenths Whole" and has brought a case against the Crown following a Supreme Court decision in 2017.

2008 (updated March 2020)

On 7th June 1869 the Nelson Evening Mail carried a notice that the ship Icon from London was carrying one case bound for the Tākaka Public Library(1). Where this library was located is not known but it is thought to have been at the Lower Tākaka School. In 1869 the school committee of the one-roomed schoolhouse was granted permission to erect a reading room on school grounds, now the site of Golden Bay High School. As the committee, 17 years later, in 1886, requested permission to move ‘the library building’ to a new location it is fairly safe to say that this original reading room was the first Tākaka Public Library and it was to here that the shipped box of books was destined. 

1. The building that housed the first library about to be moved from the corner of Reilly and Commercial St. Photo courtesy of Julie Reilly.

In the early days the library, though public, would not have been free to access. It would have been set up and funded by interested subscribers who would pay an annual subscription out of which books would be bought and the library managed. In 1884 the committee of those subscribers were: W Page, J Reilly, J Cann, J Walker, A Robertson, A Sinclair, J A Haldane, G B Hurst and J Haldane Jnr - all names associated with the town and the early settlers. By this time grants from the government were allocated to each of the ‘public’ libraries in a district.(2)

Although permission to move the library was granted in 1886 this does not appear to have happened for many years, for in September 1891 there was yet another request to move the building. The move finally took place sometime between 1891 and 1900 and the small library building was established on the corner of Reilly and Commercial Streets next to the Oddfellows Hall on land that now houses the Pioneer Memorial. When the new Post Office was built nearby in 1900, both the Oddfellows Hall and the library appeared so shabby in comparison that they were both repainted and improved, subscribers to the library putting their hands into their pockets for the occasion.

In 1905 plans were laid to put up a bigger building to include a public reading room but in 1911 this had still not been done. The Colonist of 12 June 1911 recorded that:“a scheme was on foot to provide an entertainment in the evening to find funds for a new library and reading room….if the scheme succeeds it will supply a long felt want in Tākaka. The present library is quite inadequate to the requirements of the place in every way.” (3).

The Tākaka library remained on this portion of land until the mid 1930s but it began to seriously struggle with funding. The Town Board was repeatedly asked for assistance and in July 1938 the Board was asked to take control of the library completely. Nothing appears to have been done bout this until 1947.

2. Takaka Library Clipping. Golden Bay News, 14 June 1937.

In the mid 1930s the small building was bought by the Catholic Church, given the name The Hibernian Hall, and remained on the corner of Commercial St and Reilly St for many years. Residents remember that the building had two small rooms and was painted white with green facing. Above the door the word "LIBRARY" was painted in black. There was a ditch, where the footpath is now, with a small wooden bridge with hand railings leading from the road to the library. In later years Alf Hoare had a hairdressing salon in there and it was also used as a meeting room and a place for Girl Guides to gather. There was also a telephone surreptitiously installed in the back room and here an illicit bookmaking business was carried on in secret!

On 14 June 1937 an advertisement appeared in the Golden Bay Times. Daisy Goodwin, who had a small book-selling and stationery shop next door to the chemist on Commercial St, invited readers to ‘Join our circulating library.’ It would appear that Miss Goodwin stepped into the gap left by the ailing library. Unfortunately, the shop burned down in 1944 leaving the town with no book service at all.

Three years later, in 1947 the matter was raised once more with the Town Board and public meetings were held to discuss the formation of a free public library for Tākaka.

Panel 3 Tākaka's First Library : From Heritage Golden Bay, 2018

The worst shipwreck in New Zealand, during the 20^th century, happened in Cook Strait and was of the regular passenger ship taking people from Picton to Wellington.  

SS Penguin passing through French Pass. Image held by Picton Museum
Click image to enlarge

S.S. Penguin had been built in Glasgow as a topsail schooner and was bought by the Union Steamship Company in 1879.  She was renovated three years later to give more speed, and began on the Cook Strait run in 1902.  Her route was Nelson-Picton-Wellington, and people hopped across to the North Island on her, much the way we do with our ferries today. 

On February 12 1909 she set sail from Picton in reasonable weather for an evening crossing, but ran into storm conditions exiting Tory Channel.  Picton residents today know how often the weather is very different in Cook Strait from what we experience in the Sounds (the day of the Wahine disaster was reportedly a beautiful day in Picton), and this was clearly one of those occasions. 

In heavy rain, big seas and a strong south-easterly wind, and without today’s navigation aids, the Captain was uncertain of his exact position.  At 10pm there was a loud grating noise as the ship hit something – what exactly was never known for sure.  Thom’s Rock was one suggestion, another was a timber-carrier which had been recently lost and may have been floating just below the surface. In any case, Penguin quickly began to sink. 

The lifeboats were launched, but most capsized immediately in the heavy seas, trapping some passengers underneath and tipping most into the sea.  The ship sank within forty minutes. Ironically, the men who waited till last, and had only life rafts to save them, fared better than the women and children they’d put into the boats.  

Captain Naylor was last to leave the ship and managed to grab hold of an upturned lifeboat. Seventy-two people were lost.  Survivors and bodies alike were washed up on to the rough shore near Cape Terawhiti, a long distance from help. 

News of the disaster spread quickly, and newspapers bore photos of the wreckage and survival stories, as well as tales of bravery.  The weekly Free Lance put out a special edition the following Saturday, and there were the elaborate funeral processions usual in Edwardian days.  Many of the victims were buried in Karori cemetery, but some were returned to their home towns, including Picton.   

Mrs Ada Louise Hannam survived, but lost her husband Joseph and four children, although she was able to save another boy.  Mrs Hannam was reported in the Marlborough Express describing how her lifeboat plunged head-first into the ocean, later capsizing.  Some of the occupants were able to hang on to ropes and breathe in the air trapped under the boat before being washed on to the shore. 

There were of course the usual full enquiries and Captain Francis Edwin Naylor, who was among the thirty survivors, was exonerated of blame.  Various surviving pieces of ship fittings and memorial plaques are now in the Wellington Museum, and also in Lyttelton Museum.

This story is a shortened version of one that Loreen Brehaut wrote for the Marlborough Express on behalf of the Picton Historical Society  to mark the centennial of the Penguin sinking in February 2009. 

Updated: April 2020

Chief surveyor, explorer, acting NZ Company resident agent

Frederick Tuckett (1807-1876) The Nelson Provincial Museum, OP 295095
Click to enlarge

Frederick Tuckett trained as a civil engineer and was appointed chief surveyor and second-in-command of the first New Zealand Company expedition ship, the Will Watch  in April 1841.

He came from a prominent Society of Friends (Quaker) family, but in 1839 resigned from the Society. He was variously described as being dogmatic, pious, intelligent, high-minded and humane, Quaker-like in his habits and taste, and resolute in acting to the dictates of his conscience regardless of the consequences. 

On arrival in New Zealand he was soon at loggerheads with Captain Arthur Wakefield  regarding the site of Nelson, as he correctly estimated there would not be enough land to provide the required acreage for Company settlers. 

However, in February 1842, he was enthusiastic about Nelson's potential, writing to friends: "We have a thriving cheerful aspect, and most of the emigrants on arrival are pleased with the place, and the first impression is subsequently sustained." 

He also wrote about rats "they have no cunning or timidity, and are killed in great numbers, but there is no sensible diminution." Tuckett advised prospective settlers to bring good strong terrier dogs and wire traps and gins. 

Tuckett was known for his hospitality. One settler wrote: " The best dinner I have had since I landed was one I ate with Mr Tuckett, the chief surveyor; he overtook me on my road home and insisted upon my going to him - sack trousers and all. We had some New Zealand quail and I thought I had never eaten anything so nice." 

Poignantly, in February 1843, Tuckett wrote to his brother Francis: "Really if I could only meet with a good wife, I should pocket my first mortification of not being one of the founders of a future nation and be content to sojourn here for life." 

In June 1843, at the Wairau Affray, along with fellow Quaker and surveyor, J. W. Barnicoat,  Tuckett refused to bear arms and disregarded Arthur Wakefield's advice to surrender to Ngati Toa.  Following his return to Nelson, he was appointed acting resident agent of the New Zealand Company. 

During his short time as resident agent, Tuckett dealt kindly with the German emigrants from the St Pauli,writing to Colonel William Wakefield, "It is impossible however for many of the Immigrants in the present state of affairs here to obtain employment, I have promoted their entering at once on the cultivation of land....by offering them the lease of one or two Colonial sections in the Moutere District."

However, a month later, he wrote to Nelson's resident agent, William Fox : " I need not remind you that very recently my endeavors to carry into effect the instructions of the New Zealand Company...have been defeated ....an armed mob inflamed with alcohol attended the payment of wages at the Agency office and with threats of committing murder, endeavored to extort money." 

Frederick Tuckett was honest and conscientious and an excellent surveyor, but a poor administrator in the hurly burly of the Colony's early days. In January 1844, he left Nelson to explore and survey a site for the settlement of ‘New Edinburgh' (Otago). 

He returned to London in 1846, leaving his Nelson home to the German Lutheran church. "In his all around love of man, he made no difference between one religion and another," wrote his friend, Lutheran pastor, the Rev J Wohlers. 

This article is paraphrased from a series of columns written by Joy Stephens and published in the Nelson Mail in 2007.

 Updated April 24, 2020

Nelson's early history is a fascinating one, filled with many tales of hardship endured by the early European settlers, who left their homes in England in search of a better life, but with little guarantee of securing one for their families. This story commences with the first ships that left the English port of Gravesend in May 1841.¹

Early Settlers Memorial, Wakefield Quay Nelson. Tony Stones, 2000
Click image to enlarge

During the early 19th Century, life in England was undergoing dramatic changes. To get away from the hardships of working the land many people turned to the cities and factories for work. Industrial centres,  like Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham, continued to expand. A consequence of the rapid growth in city populations was a decline in the quality of local resources, such as clean drinking water, sewerage removal and water drainage.

While there was work in the cities with the industrial revolution, life as an industrial worker was hard. The mills were dingy ill-lit places and wages were  low, with the pay being around 10-12 shillings for a week of 12 to 13 hour days for an adult male. These conditions are somewhat equal to the sweat labour shops in the East that we see to day.²

In 1825, the New Zealand Company had been set up in London to bring out English people to settle the new colony on the other side of the world. The main players in the New Zealand Company were Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Edward Jerningham Wakefield (Edward Gibbon Wakefield's son), Colonel William Wakefield and Captain Arthur Wakefield; these were the leading men in colonising New Zealand in the 1800s.

The New Zealand Company was set up by merchants, bankers and ship owners³ to sell plots of land to eager people in England and then transport them via ships to the new colony of New Zealand. The New Zealand Company established Port Nicholson (Wellington) as its first settlement, but wanted a second settlement in the South Island and had discussions with Governor Hobson about which land they could have.

The New Zealand Company knew there was going to be a place called Nelson and they knew they wanted it to be in the South Island, or Te Wai Pounamu as the Māori called it. In May 1841, the New Zealand Company had three exploration ships ready to sail to New Zealand for this second settlement. The three ships were the Whitby, the Will Watch and the Arrow and they were under the command of Captain Wakefield. The ships arrived in Wellington in late August - early September 1841.

View of Nelson Haven, Tasman Gulf, New Zealand, 1841. Attributed to Charles Heaphy. The Nelson Provincial Museum, Bett Collection: AC 1025Click image to enlarge

In October 1841, Captain Wakefield had successful discussions with the leading chief at Kapiti, regarding land available for settlement.⁴ The ships set out looking for a place suitable for settlement in the top of the South. Boats were sent out every day. The surveyors of the ship had decided upon what is now known as Kaiteriteri, but Wakefield wanted to look further. He sent out men to look in the far South-East corner of the bay and it was there that the site was discovered. The natural harbour which is now Nelson, made it the preferred place for the new settlement. The Arrow entered Nelson on 1 November 1841.⁵

Lack of an actual site for Nelson did not slow The New Zealand Company down in its quest to populate the settlements. In October 1841 it had arranged for the next four ships to set sail for Nelson. These four ships, were the Fireshire, captained by Captain Arnold, Lord Auckland with Captain Jardine as its head, Captain Bolton with the Mary Ann and lastly the Lloyds, with Captain Green. All of these ships ended up in Nelson, the first to arrive being the Fifeshire, on the 1st February 1842. This is celebrated today as the date of the Province's anniversary.

The fate of the Lloyds

When the Lloyds came into Nelson, it brought with it many stories of sickness and death. While travelling the seas between Port Gravesend in England and Port Nicholson in New Zealand, 67 children under the age of 14 died due to an outbreak of whooping cough on board. Many at the time blamed the surgeon on the Lloyds. Shipboard health had been the responsibility of a ship's surgeon since 1803, when the English Parliament passed a law that made every vessel of 50 persons or more to carry with it a surgeon⁶. This Act of Parliament was brought about because too many voyages at that time were ending badly with many illnesses and casualties on board the ships.

Dr George F. Bush was the surgeon aboard the Lloyds. He was 37 at the time and came from Bristol and was well known among the New Zealand Company Directors, which may have been the reason his background check was never completed. Many believe that Dr Bush is the key reason why so many young souls lost their lives on their journey out to New Zealand during the months of 1841 and 1842. He was given 37 responsibilities to uphold during the voyage, the most important being:

1. To give the proper medical care and attention to all emigrants. Also when needed to the crew members.
2. To be responsible in the general moral conduct and manner of living of the emigrants.
3. To ensure that their general living conditions and dress were as clean and as comfortable as they possibly could be.
4. To hold a Sunday religious service, reading the Bible and leading prayers.
5. To settle any quarrels or disputes that arose between the emigrants or passengers.
6. To ensure that all received their fair ration of food and that it was properly cooked and served.
7. To make sure that the captain fully complied with all of the terms of charter between the company and the ship's owners.

It was difficult to keep passengers clean while on a long voyage in the 1840's. There was barely enough water for people to drink, so bathing was not high on the priority list. Dr Bush should have made sure that all of the ship's food requirements went on board. However a comparison between the "Reeves List" (the list made by the Inspector for Shipping in England) and the actual ship's list of food shows that they did not have sufficient quantities of basic provisions.⁸

Arrival in Nelson

Upon landing in Nelson, Captain Arthur Wakefield's first objective was to set up an area where a township could be placed. While Captain Wakefield was making these arrangements, William Blundell was establishing a sawpit not far from the Maitai River. Two sets of barracks had been set up as temporary headquarters for the surveyors, one where Church Hill now stands and another down by the port. Because the prime area for the town was about two miles from the port, tracks were made.⁹

In the first two years of settlement, ships coming into Nelson brought over 2000 people, with still more on the way. As further settlement ships arrived with hopeful immigrants, the New Zealand Company did very well in quickly establishing a functional settlement with wharves, a courthouse, police officers, meat and cattle markets and cemeteries being established.

The people who left England and other parts of Europe in search of a better life certainly had determination to succeed no matter what they had to endure. There is no doubt that their journey from Europe was long and difficult. Upon arrival, life was better, but it still required hard work, stamina and determination to achieve the better life they dreamed of.

Sammy McLoughlin, 2009, Nelson College for Girls

For the story of the voyage of the Lord Auckland, land allocation to the settlers and the Wairau Affray, read the related story from Nelson College for Girls (2009) student Rhona Phillips:  Early Settlers in Nelson (PDF)

Updated: April 2020

The first library in Golden Bay / Mohua appears to have been the Motupipi Library, housed in the original school in the township of Clifton. Although accounts for library shelving date back to the early 1850s, it can be definitely determined that the library was in operation by 1861. This is the date of a publication entitled “The Catalogue of the books belonging to the Motupipi Library, in Massacre Bay, Province of Nelson, being made up to June 30, 1861”. 

1. The Clifton Institute. Photograph taken possibly late 1800s. Courtesy of Golden Bay Museum Ref: 1013838

The library held about 500 books and had about 14 regular members who paid annual subscriptions. Provision seems to have been made in the rules for other casual and short-term subscribers and the library holdings contained a vast range, from popular novelists Zane Grey, Frank L Packard and Jack London to the classics of Dickens as well as the proceedings of the Nelson Provincial Council and early Hansards. Early catalogues and minute books were completed in beautiful copperplate writing. 

The need for a purpose built library became apparent. In 1869 land belonging to Mr Charles Nicoll Snr was offered for a library, reading room and museum. Jabez Marriage Gibson (President of the Clifton Horticultural Society), James Baird (Secretary of the Clifton Public Library) and Arthur Shuckburgh Collins (Member of the House of Representatives) paid 5 shillings for it on the condition that the land was to be used solely for the benefit of the Clifton Literary and Scientific Institute and for the Clifton Horticultural Society. The Provincial Council granted the Motupipi Library Committee £50 for the construction of a building. What became known as the Clifton Institute, a wooden building with sculpted Tuscan portico and four white columns, opened on 24 October 1871. According to a Colonist newspaper article of 31 October 1871 ‘the interior is nicely lined and furnished with ranges of books, shelves, cupboards, &tc, &tc. It is the intention of the managing committee to use the building as a reading-room and give a series of lectures during the winter months. A small museum is also in contemplation.’

2. Photograph of plaque courtesy of Sally Gaffney.

By 1955 the building had fallen into disrepair. A committee attempted to restore the library to its former glory but the upkeep of the building proved too costly. In 1958 it was decided to dismantle the building and sell the contents; the money to go towards a proposed extension of the Tākaka Memorial Library. The building was pulled down on 5 July 1958 and sold to the Scouts who used parts of it to build a new scout den at the recreation grounds.

The old library was situated near the crossroads in Clifton on Boyle Street, a road that leads to The Grove. The site is now well marked with a large plaque.

Panel 2 Motupipi Library : From Heritage Golden Bay 2018.

On 19 September 1893, after submitting a petition with nearly 32,000 signatures, New Zealand became the first self-governing country to grant women the vote. In most other democracies – including Britain and the United States – women did not get that right until after the First World War. New Zealand women voted for the first time in a general election on 28 November 1893.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners Advocate 6 October 1893

In 1892 there were 13,325 people in Marlborough of whom 5,954 were female (including children). 204 women from Marlborough signed the petition.
Despite the short timeframe for voter registration, 109,461 women – about 84% of the adult female population – enrolled to vote in the election. On polling day 90,290 of them cast their votes, a turnout of 82%.

Mary Ann Muller. Marlborough Museum and Archives

Inspired by the writings of Marlborough woman, Mary Ann Muller and suffragette leaders such as Kate Sheppard, the women of Marlborough did their part in changing the history of New Zealand.

Suffrage opponents had warned that delicate ‘lady voters’ would be jostled and harassed in polling booths by ‘boorish and half-drunken men’, but in fact the 1893 election was described as the ‘best-conducted and most orderly’ ever held.¹

The stories of the Marlborough women who signed the Woman's suffrage petition in 1893 have been researched and recorded, and are published on the Prow:

• Mary Mulvey
• Emma and Kate Norgrove
• Emma Litchfield
• Lydia Higgs
• Kate Cullen
• Selina Terrill
• Maggie and Cora Evlyn Mills
• Georgina Penny
• The Fulton sisters

2018

Kitchen midden found on the Wairau Bar

This story is an edited version of an article written by Steve Austin, Chief Executive of the Marlborough Museum and published in Wild Tomato, 2008

Today the Wairau Bar may appear to be a barren land to the casual observer, with few clues to suggest the abundance of life and activity of earlier times.

In March 1942, during the Second World War, 16 year old Jim Eyles was digging an air raid shelter about 40 meters east of his family's house at the end of the Wairau River's Boulder Bank. Air raid shelters were considered essential at that time, as there was a general sense of anxiety about potential Japanese invasion.  While he was digging out the shelter he came across a range of bones, seashells and stones which had been used for cooking food.

Jim Eyles didn't stop digging and the Wairau Bar archaeological site became one of the most important finds of the twentieth century. Later, work on material from the Bar established that the settlers - ancestors of tangata whenua - were Polynesians with strong links to the Society Islands and the Marquesas. New Zealand was the last significant land mass to be settled and the Wairau Bar is one of our earliest settlement sites. It used to be thought that settlement was established by 1100, and the first arrivals may have come several hundred years earlier. However, recent advances in dating have challenged this view and it is now thought that the Wairau Bar was first occupied in the early 13th century.

As well as a range of Polynesian fish hooks and plants, the settlers brought a distinctive stone tool technology. They also had a culture of personal items for body adornment, which included cylindrical ridged reel shaped necklace units of bone and stone, shells, shark teeth and sea mammals.

Welcome home: Rangitane iwi and visitors look on as excavation co-director Chris Jacomb explains the areas of interest on the Wairau Bar burial site.Picture: CLAIRE CONNELL 158731 (Marlborough Express)
Click image to enlarge

Study of the layers of archaeological deposits and sub-surface structures show that the early Māori settlers had an extraordinarily varied diet. The kitchen middens found on the Wairau Bar contained the remains of seals, birds (including moa, giant eagle and large swan), fish, kuri (Polynesian dogs), tuatara, and kiore (Polynesian rats).

Seals were abundant and porpoises were harpooned with stone and bone harpoon points similar to those found on the Marquesas. Large skate, sunfish and sharks would also have been harpooned, while smaller birds (including the now extinct crow) were snared, speared, skewered and roasted.

The Wairau Bar was rich in inanga, eels, flounders and shellfish, with abundant firewood for cooking.

Between 400 and 500 years ago, the large swan and moa associated with the Wairau Bar, and a number of other bird species in the rest of the country, became extinct due to hunting and habitat destruction. With the extinction of moa, the predominant food of the giant eagle was lost, leading to the inevitable extinction of the eagle.

Archaeologists begin Wairau Bar dig 

This article by Claire Connell is reproduced with the permission of the Marlborough Express - first published 06 Jan 2009, p.1 

History was made on the Wairau Bar ... as archaeologists began a three-week excavation to return the contents of graves taken up to 70 years ago.

Digging was due to begin ... after Rangitāne welcomed 80 visitors, including archaeologists, with a powhiri ... The two-hectare site is being prepared for the return of Rangitāne tupuna (ancestors' bones) and artefacts - taken from the site for display and study purposes between 1938 and 1959 by the Canterbury Museum. The excavation is the first stage in the tupuna return.

The project is a partnership between Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau, the museum, the Department of Conservation and the University of Otago. Fifteen archaeologists will camp on the bar in tents, alongside five Rangitāne iwi members.

Rangitāne development manager Richard Bradley welcomed the visitors. He said after the powhiri that "pointing the finger" was not important any more. "We acknowledge the past, but today is a celebration."    He said the project was a Marlborough community effort, not just a Rangitāne one.

Rangitāne chairperson Judith MacDonald said the morning had been fantastic, and it was "another piece of the puzzle to bring our people home". She said her ancestors had worked hard for the tupuna return.

To archaeologists, the Wairau Bar is one of the most important sites in New Zealand because of the age and range of material found there. According to archaeologists, tupuna provided the first conclusive evidence to scientists that New Zealand was originally settled from East Polynesia.

During the powhiri, University of Otago anthropology department associate professor Richard Walter, who will lead the excavation, said his team was focusing on a "low impact, high return" attitude. He encouraged Rangitāne iwi to visit the site, ask questions and welcomed them to visit the tupuna at Otago University until their return to Marlborough in late March or early April.  Dave Hayes, of DOC, said: " It is a privilege to be involved in the project - it is the making of history."

Peter Johns, who was a student biologist on the site in May 1959, said returning to the site had been a personal voyage for him. He said the team did their best in the "conditions of the day".

The Wairau Bar Blog, which documented this event, can be viewed at the Wairau Bar Blog.

Updated: March 31, 2020

John Collins  did a bit of everything to make a living on his Cullensville hill country farm: milking cows, shearing sheep, mustering and mussel harvesting.

John Collins at Linkwater Cemetery. [Lucy Stronach, 2015].

Aged 25, John paid ‘a quid’ an acre for the 706 hectare hill country farm in 1964.   “It was just a block of land. There were no fences, buildings - nothing.  It was tussock country - native grass - danthonia. There were wild sheep, goats and pigs - it was character-building in that rough sort of country.

“You burnt the scrub - you put a match to it in February/March. You didn’t burn the whole place at once, simply because you’d have a rush of feed for the first two years and then nothing. You burnt about one quarter of your property every year and you only farmed that quarter, so you could have fresh grass each year.”

There were a lot of sheep farms in Linkwater  in the 1960's but by 2015, dairying was the main farming activity, with forestry and native bush in the hill country. “In the 1960's, I’d shear about 10,000 sheep a year. You’d be lucky to shear 500 now.”

John met his wife Pam in Linkwater and their two sons went to Linkwater School in the 1980's, which had 24 pupils at the time.  Everybody was involved in school and community projects and John is proud that the Linkwater Hall floor came from his Cullensville farm. 

St Lukes Anglican Church and Hall at Linkwater. Image source Wikimedia, author Mattinbgn.

“The Linkwater Hall was over 100 years old. The floor was kaput and it got to the stage where it was unsafe.  My farm had quite a lot of native timber and I said they could have any amount of timber they wanted to renew the flooring.

“Rimu trees were selected. We took up Jim Shallcrass’s portable sawmill, felled the trees, sawed it into timber, carted it out and strip stacked them to dry for about 18 months.  Then we renewed the hall floor.  We only picked the best timber to make the best floor we could.”

John eventually sold the farm in the mid-1980's to a local farmer who planted it in trees. “It became uneconomic. It was a sound investment but you had to work hard farming it.”  

Māori axe heads and tools found at John Collin's property. [Lucy Stronach, 2015].

He bought a three hectare mixed farming block at the head of the Mahakipawa Arm and has discovered evidence of early Māori settlement  there. “It is an old pa site. I was set to begin building a house shortly after buying the property and we began to dig up Māori axes- they haven’t been dated but some would be very old. The Historic Places Trust decided we can keep the axes as long as they stay on the property. Local iwi have also been informed.”

There are also middens on the farm: “When I arrived there were huge piles of sea shells and blackened stones from fires on every terrace. I presume they (early Maori) must have cooked and eaten them up on the hillside. ”

Marlborough Express, 18 February 1907. Image from PapersPast.

Former Governor General of New Zealand, the late Sir Paul Reeves has roots in the Cullensville- Linkwater area and with an interest in local history, John was able to help him locate the grave of his grandmother.  Sir Paul’s grandfather Frank Sparks was a gold miner at Cullensville and married a Maori woman, Ruka.  In 1907, aged 56, Frank died after he accidentally drank poisoned liquid.¹  “In those days there was only a Maori cemetery at Linkwater and he had to be buried in Havelock. There was no road so they had to come by boat to get his corpse and take it back to Havelock for burial.”

Their daughter Hilda married William Reeves and they had two sons: Paul and Bill:  “The boys grew up in Wellington but apparently loved coming to Linkwater to visit their grandparents.  They were little rascals like typical boys- climbed trees, threw mud at each other, got wet through and played larrikins.”

There is some mystery about the circumstances of Ruka’s death but she is buried at the Māori cemetery at the foot of Red Hill near Linkwater.   About 35 years ago, Paul, then a church minister, visited Linkwater and wanted to see his grandmother’s grave.  “I had been shown the grave by some old timers so we scrambled up through the scrub and found four graves. There were no headstones as we know them but hollows in the ground. One of the graves was Ruka’s and Paul was rapt to see them.”

Fifty years of Rugby

John began his rugby career for the Spring Creek school team in 1948 and played his last game for the Moutere Golden Oldies (Spring Creek) team in 2006.  He played  for six clubs including Pelorus and the Marlborough Golden Oldies in world tournaments in 1999 and 2004. He managed the team which took part in the 2010 tournament  in Sydney and continues to be the manager.

John played two seasons for the Marlborough representative side prior to buying the Linkwater farm in 1964. “It was a toss-up: do I stick with a rugby career or do I turn my back on it and buy a farm?  I stopped playing for several years until I sorted myself out on the farm.” 

John Collins was still playing rugby in 2006. Image supplied by John Collins

The Pelorus rugby sub-union was formed in 1907 and in the 1920's when there were sawmills throughout the district, there were six rugby teams in the sub-union: Ronga, Carluke, Opouri, Canvastown, Havelock, Linkwater.  Once a year, a selection of players from the six teams would play a Marlborough B team.  In 1954, all of the teams were amalgamated under the banner of the Pelorus Rugby Club and played in the Marlborough Rugby Union competition.

John says Havelock’s rugby field was on the site of Havelock School and was 16 feet higher at one end than the other.” It was also only 60 yards wide (instead of regulation 75 yards). The players used to play four quarters instead of two halves because it was too tiring running up and down the hill for the players.  Eventually the Fissenden Brothers from Kaikoura won the contract to fill the site and even it out.”

John Collins was interviewed by Joy Stephens in Havelock in April 2015 (updated July 2020)

First dentists in Nelson

JW Tatton. (Copy Collection, Nelson Provincial Museum, C2643). Source NZETC.
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One hundred and fifty years ago the first dentist arrived in Nelson by ship from England. These dentists to arrive were often jack of all trades, pharmacists, doctors, and blacksmiths, as well as tooth pullers. Before 1880 a dentist mostly needed a strong wrist, as their main activity was to extract teeth. No local anaesthetics were available, and the only drill available was a major problem. A little repair work was carried out by the early dentists, but they also made expensive sets of false teeth, from ivory and gold, extracted human teeth or porcelain. Dentists practising at this time included the very successful John William Tatton ( from 1858) who was also a doctor and chemist, also famous for his connection with the Dun Mountain company and the plaster casts of the Maugatapu murderers' heads.  Herbert Pearson Rawson practised as a dentist in 1880 and went on to become the first president of the New Zealand Dental Association in 1905.

Looking along Hardy Street, Nelson. Showing (on right), Newman Brothers Crown Livery Stables; G F Dodds - dentist;The Wilkins and Field Hardware Company - ironmongers, 1911(?). 'Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 35-R858
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Mãori dental care

Caries and periodontal disease affected the earliest Mãori inhabitants of Nelson. Around 1500 AD, changes in their diet led to their teeth, especially the back teeth, being worn down at an early age. European observers, such as Captain Cook, frequently misjudged the age of Mãoris, as their toothless state made them appear to be much older than was really the case. When the European settlers arrived, Mãori diet changed again. Softer European foods and also sugar, tobacco and alcohol, coupled with a less active and healthy lifestyle, affected the natural health and also the teeth of Mãori. Apart from the chewing of fern roots, which had a natural cleansing effect on the teeth, little is known of early Mãori attempts at oral health measures.

The Mãori did, however, make good use of herbal remedies, using the extracts of bark, leaves and roots of native plants. The kawakawa, or Mãori pepper tree, was used to relive toothache, as was the matipo or mapau, using a liquid made by boiling the leaves. To ease pain, a decoction of manuka or kanuka leaves was used and similar use was made of the inner bark of the Pukatea, which was steeped in hot water and placed over the painful area. The boiled leaves of the Koromiko hebe were used for a mouthwash and gargle.

Kawakawa. Source Wikimedia
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Dentists registered from 1880

Registration for dentists and chemists was required under the first Dentists Act which was passed in 1880.  At this time there were about 50 dentists practising in New Zealand. By the year 1901 there were 282 registered. In the next four years to 1905, when the New Zealand Dental Association was founded, there were 464 registered dentists. Dentistry became a more esteemed, and profitable profession. The Dental Bill of 1904 set standards to protect the public.

unknown, “Dental operating theatre.,” ourheritage.ac.nz | OUR Heritage, accessed July 10, 2015, http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/5948.[1920's second Otago Dental School
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After 1880, major technological innovations revolutionised dentistry throughout the western world. The introduction of the engine-operated foot pedal enabled dentists to drill teeth and fill them on a large scale, and surpassed the old hand held drill. A new adjustable dentist’s chair became available, increasing the range of operations a dentist could perform. Cheaper and improved filling materials, such as gutta percha and various amalgams were introduced, however gold continued to be used. Vulcanite rubber became available as a base for false teeth. Coal gas, which was used for heat and energy, enabled a greater range of metallurgical work using gold and other metals, for the construction of complex bridgework, and nitrous oxide became available for pain relief, allowing an increase in operating possibilities.

Gradually the profession developed, with the formation of the apprenticeship system, the establishment of the dental school and the dental degree, and the setting up of the New Zealand Dental Association.

New Zealand introduced the Bachelor of Dental Surgery in 1907. Prior to that, dentists trained overseas, usually in North America, Ireland or England. A Dental School opened in Dunedin in 1908 and control of dental education came under one centralised body, the University of New Zealand.

Improvement of general dental care

The inspection and repair of the teeth of New Zealand Defence Force volunteers in 1914 highlighted the nation’s poor dental health. The New Zealand Dental Corps (NZDC) was formed in 1915 to provide dental treatment in camps to members of the Defence Force. Their other duties included using dental records to identify disfigured war dead.

The involvement of dentists and dental mechanics in active war service enhanced the prestige of dentistry and demonstrated the value of public dental-health programmes.

The leader of the NZDC, Colonel Thomas Hunter, returned from war in 1918 determined to move the focus of dentistry from extraction to restoration and prevention of decay. As director of the new division of dental hygiene in the Department of Health, he successfully advocated the establishment of the School Dental Service in 1921 to treat primary school children.

In  the 1920’s the Department of Health began an advertising campaign to encourage healthy eating and personal dental care, utilising posters, exhibitions at agricultural shows, health weeks and lectures. The campaigns continued into the 1960’s, increasingly using radio, film and television.

The passing of the Social Security Act 1938 led to general improvements in access to health care, including dental-health care. From 1937 milk was provided free in schools, to supply calcium for teeth as well as improve children’s nutrition generally.

By 1947 dental care was provided free to students up to standard six (year eight), and a government-subsidised scheme staged by new dental graduates was established to treat the teeth of adolescents up to the age of 19. This was later lowered to 16.

The School Dental Service

The School Dental Service commenced in 1921 in response to the large amount of dental decay in New Zealand children’s  teeth. It was a world first and staffed entirely by female dental nurses and free to all primary aged schoolchildren.

New Zealand. Department of Health. New Zealand Department of Health :Preventive filling. The protective filling; why the School Dental Service fills certain second teeth soon after they erupt through the gum. R E Owen, Government Printer, Wellington, New Zealand. 25,000/10/50 -9980 [1950]. Ref: Eph-A-DENTAL-1950-01. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/30120566
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The first intake was of 35 women, who started their training in a building that later became the Prime Minister's house. Twenty five clinics were built across New Zealand and staffed by the 23 graduates of the first training intake. The first clinic opened in July 1923, proving to be popular and efficient. Dental nurses with transportable equipment serviced remote areas. Further training schools were established in the 1950s.

Changes in the 1960s

By the 1960’s the average intake was 270 students per year across three dental nurse training schools in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland.  When Jennifer Lucas, from Nelson, trained to be a dental nurse in the Wellington Dental school in Willis St in 1962, it had become a popular career choice for women.

Jennifer did a two year training followed by a third year out working in clinics but under supervision.  Her job was to examine and clean teeth, do fillings and tooth extractions, apply fluoride treatment to teeth and provide health education.

In 1966 nurses averaged 300 fillings per month compared with 40 per month these days. Jennifer did a range of fillings. “Copper amalgam was used for primary teeth, silver amalgam for secondary teeth and a white filling (silicate) for front teeth.   Copper was heated until beads of mercury came up and then the mixture was mixed with a mortar and pestle and excess mercury squeezed out through gauze. No gloves were worn and there was a real danger of mercury poisoning.”  Zinc oxide powder and Eugenol (oil of cloves) was another filling mixture, but it set very slowly. Children from 2½ to 12 years at primary and intermediate schools were treated by the dental nurse and secondary school pupils were treated by a dentist.

At the clinic visitors were greeted by the distinctive aroma of methylated spirits, dettol and other cleaning fluids. The walls were covered with Department of Health posters encouraging cleaning teeth and healthy diet. The nurse wore a white starched uniform and veil, white seamed stockings and bright red cardigan. Uniforms and laundry service was provided as part of the job.

Jennifer said “ We did everything in the clinic ourselves. Along with providing treatment we did a lot of paperwork, such as setting up appointments and writing reports. Although we didn’t take X-rays we were required to use this information. On the creative side we made many gauze bumble bees for “good children”  to take away as a momento of their visit.”

Extensive coverage by Nelson dental nurses

Marguerite Hill. (2010) Examples of butterflies and bees made out of cotton swabs, paper bibs and dental floss, which decorated School Dental clinics or were given to children to take home visiting the dental nurse for the first time were allowed to take one home.[Source Te Ara]
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The Nelson area extended to Kaikoura and Haast and originally employed 68 dental nurses, or dental therapists as they were later called. Nurses were sent to outlying areas such as the French Pass with transportable equipment to set up a temporary clinic. Jennifer found herself working at Nelson Central School which had a very wide catchment to serve including Hira, Tasman Street and Clifton Terrace schools.  These pupils could be seen in the dental clinic but French Pass children required the setting up a temporary clinic.  In 1964, 1965 and 1967 Jennifer set off on the bus to French Pass with a huge tin trunk containing anaesthetics, a primus to boil water on, a tin steriliser, a spit bowl, dental instruments and other paraphernalia required. The treadle drill broke down to fit in a wooden suitcase, and the folding wooden dental chair fitted into a canvas haversack. Where the dental nurse would visit, who she would see and where she would stay was organised by the School Dental Service.

Jennifer recalls” I got off the bus at French Pass and set up the clinic in the back of the Post office for approximately seven days. Children came in from Durville Island in a launch to be seen.  I stayed in the local guesthouse. The next stop was Okoha.  I stayed with the Redwoods family here who were very friendly and hospitable. I was transported here from French Pass by the Connollys launch, and remember the hair-raising row ashore in a rowboat that made several trips to bring myself and the equipment ashore. As Okoha school was fairly basic, and was set in the middle of a paddock, I set up my gear and worked on the lawn outside the Redwoods house.  Some of the children’s teeth were excellent partly due to their limited access to fizzy drinks and sugary food.”

“ Next stop was the Manaroa School where I was hosted by the Harvey families and I set up my equipment at their homes, boiling the steriliser on the stove.  Next I went overland to Waitaria Bay School and that first year no water was laid on, presenting a number of challenges.  I stayed with the Nott and Godsiff families. Next stop was Portage then over the hill to catch the Mail Boat back to Picton, then the bus back to Nelson.”

Dental health improves

In later years the service to French Pass was discontinued citing risks of cross infection, and children had to travel further to get dental care. The improvement in children’s teeth after the introduction of the school dental service was marked.  In 1925 there were 78.6 teeth requiring extraction for every 100 teeth restored; by 1974 this figure was reduced to two extractions to 100 restorations. Today many retain their teeth through adulthood whereas it was common in the first half of the twentieth century to lose your teeth by your twenties or thirties. 1940s Health posters urged youth to guard their natural teeth for they are the best.  Whilst filling teeth was an important duty of a dental nurse, they were dedicated to dental education to prevent cavities and tooth loss in the first place. Sugary drinks, however, remain a problem. Fluoridation of water is still a contentious issue despite lessened tooth decay in areas that switched to fluoridated water. Flouride toothpaste is recommended in the fight against tooth decay, and mouth guards in sports.

Trained nurses often gave up their careers when they married and Jennifer also had a break when she had children.  Returning to work fulltime in 1983 she was required to retrain, as the use of high speed drills had been introduced, as well as a number of other changes. Improving dental health had resulted in nurses seeing children once yearly rather than twice yearly, so each nurse doubled her number of patients. Jennifer worked at a number of clinics serving many schools including Central, Nelson and Broadgreen Intermediates, Clifton Terrace, Auckland Point, Enner Glynn, and Lower Moutere.

In 1990s the School Dental Service (SDS) changed from a national service, run by Ministry of Health, to a more fragmented service under different governing and funding bodies.  The SDS was rejuvenated and renamed Community Oral health Service, after evidence of worsening decay in pre-schoolers teeth and poor dental health in some areas of the community. It provides treatment and advice for children from birth to age eighteen. 

2015

Jennifer Lucas, of Nelson,  was interviewed by Debbie-Daniell-Smith in 2015

Nelson City Councillor 2007 - 2013 and Deputy Mayor

2010 - 2013

I stood for Council as part of a group called "Hands Up" led by Kerry Marshall who was elected Mayor. All six of us were elected which was quite controversial. Individually we were all very different and spanned the spectrum of political allegiance.  Collectively, we wanted to redress an imbalance, as we saw it and invest in cultural infrastructure and projects that supported economic development.

Nelson City Councillor 2007 - 2013

Eleven years on, it is wonderful to see the three significant cultural institutions of Nelson, the Theatre Royal, Bishop Suter Art Gallery and Nelson School of Music all renovated, made earthquake safe and open to the public once again.

Between 2007-2010 I was joint Chairman of the Community Services Committee and Deputy Mayor from 2010 to 2013. During this time I was also Chair of the Rugby World Cup Leverage Committee in Nelson.

It is fair to say that I enjoyed my time as a Nelson City Councillor far more than I expected would be the case. It is not easy being in a position when you know some people will always disagree (often loudly and publicly) with every decision you make and staying true to yourself is vital. I learnt a lot and continue to encourage people to take an interest in local body politics. A council does not just set the rates. It also sets the tone of a community and can have a very direct and immediate impact on how people develop, behave and interact.

I did not stand in the 2013 elections.

 This was published in: Women Decision-Makers Nelson and Tasman 1944 -2018, p.44. Compiled by Dr Shelley Richardson, Elaine Henry, Gail Collingwood, Hilary Mitchell.

The Anglican Church of St John at Hira, formerly known as Happy Valley, sits on an acre of land donated by Mr. Hugh Martin. The site for St John’s was the choice of Bishop Suter who liked the position on the corner of Cable Bay road and  the road to Whangamoa.  The church was designed by Mr. R. Black and built by Mr. John Scott.  Now restored, the church celebrated 125 years of service in 2013.

St John's church Hira. Artist Katie Sanson
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Mr. Hugh Martin arrived in Nelson in 1844 aged 44. In Early tide to Wakapuaka he is described as a gentleman farmer who owned property in Stoke and Happy Valley.  He initially worked as an agent for absentee Wairau landowner George Freeman. At various times he farmed pigs and traded timber, and must have done well enough to donate the site for the building of St Johns.

Church with the chimney a landmark

Over the years this church with the chimney has become a landmark. It was one of three churches in the Suburban North cure, a 20 mile strip of land stretching north from Nelson on the way to the Rai Valley. The others were at Atawhai and Wakapuaka, where there was a strong Māori congregation.  A wooden building with an iron roof, St John’s claim to fame lies in the fact that it is the only church left in Nelson to have retained its fireplace, which heated the small vestry where the minister could stay the night.  As the outlying churches were generally served by men tutoring at the Bishopdale Theological College, the warmth could have been very welcome.

One of many churches in Nelson and Marlborough

The Nelson landscape was already dotted with churches from a range of denominations when the Hira church was dedicated on 27 December 1888 by Bishop Suter.  Two hundred took part in the service.  Cable Bay was well populated at the time and the church was well supported.  In 2013 St John the Evangelist Church at Hira celebrated 125 years. While attendance at services is relatively small these days, the community in and around Hira have generously supported the care and maintenance of this charming little building.

St John's church Hira. Photographer unknown
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After nearly 100 years of service a project to restore the church to its original condition was started in the early 1980s.  Local families the Stratfords from Gentle Annie and the Stuarts of Rotokura/Cable Bay donated timber. Rotten studs, window sills and the entire north wall were replaced. Parishioners organised fundraising, and donations of materials. A captain of a container ship, who created stained glass objects as a hobby, donated two circular stained glass windows to replace damaged ones under the eaves.  A window preserved from the first St Andrew’s church, which had been demolished after a fire in 1939, was fitted into the porch wall.

A detailed description of the interior and a sketch of the donated windows can be found in Nelson’s Historic Country Churches by Annette Wells, and a drawing of the church with reference to the chimney is on page 53 of Nelson Observed by Christoper Vine.

2014

On 1 August 2014, a number of new or altered geographic names took effect as a result of the following Treaty Claims settlements:

• Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne o Wairau Claims Treaty of Waitangi Settlement 2014
• Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Rarua, Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu and Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui Claims Treaty of Waitangi Settlement 2014
• Ngāti Toa Rangatira Treaty of Waitangi Settlement 2014

More information about, and exact location of, these places can be found on Land Information New Zealand's Gazeteer or the GIS maps produced by Nelson City, Tasman and Marlborough District Councils. History, origin and meaning information about the names has been taken from the LINZ Gazeteer. More complete information about the cultural associations iwi have with places and resources, throughout the top of the south, can be found in the Te Tau Ihu Statutory Acknowledgements, 2014 [PDF] (Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council, Marlborough District Council).  A statutory acknowledgement recognises the particular cultural, spiritual, historical and traditional association of an iwi with an identified site/area and is one form of redress [PDF] required by the Te Tau Ihu Settlement Act(s).

Nelson/ Tasman/ Marlborough Sounds/ Marlborough

Nelson (see also Tohu Whenua - Sites of Significance)

• Pikimai/ Church Hill
  Church Hill, Nelson Cathedral. A Ngāti Kōata pa site. Was also locally known as Church Hill.
  Mabel Annesley, after Barnicoat, John Wallis (1814-1905). Early State of Church Hill, 1842. Pencil drawing on paper, with watercolour wash. The Nelson Provincial Museum, Bett Collection: AC449.
  Click image to enlarge
• Horoirangi / Drumduan
  The highest hill behind Glenduan, sitting east of the settlement at 657m, and approximately 14 km northeast of Nelson City. For Ngāti Kōata, which has cultural associations with the hill, the name refers to the ascending from the heavens.  Peart, in Old Tasman Bay (p. 125), follows Ngāti Kuia tradition and  translates Horoirangi as ‘Washing of the sky.” The name derives from the description of when the clouds envelope Horo-i-rangi, which is a sign of bad weather.
• Rotokura / Cable Bay
  A bay adjacent to Pepin Island between Ataata Point and Fall Cove, approximately 16 km northeast of Nelson City. Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama note that there is an old pā site at the Pepin Island end of the causeway and Rotokura was so named because it provided ethereal reflections of the tall native trees, great solitude and peace of mind.
• Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere
  Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa state the following: this is the name the Bay was known by our tipuna; this name is recorded in historical evidence for the Tribunal; sometimes Te Tai-o-Aorere is called Te Tai Tapu, which is a mistake as Te Tai Tapu is Golden Bay; Te Tai-o-Aorere is the ancient name for Tasman Bay and Manawhenua iwi continue to use the name today. According to Ngāti Kuia history: Ko Maungatapu te maunga Ko Mahitahi te Awa Ko Te Tai-Aorere te Moana Ko Whakatū te Marae Ko Ngāti Kuia te Iwi Ngāti Kuia have lived on the shores of Te Tai-o-Aorere and it forms part of our pepeha and identity.
• Te Punawai Pā
  South east of Haulashore Island. An old Ngāti Koata pā site on the hill side and down to the beach to the left of Richardson Street (i.e. towards the Port).

Tasman

• Golden Bay/ Mohua
• Wharepapa / Arthur Range
  Ngāti Tama notes that Wharepapa is a sacred ancestor, providing a historical and spiritual link to the natural world. Wharepapa is the highest maunga in the takiwa and a vital link to the spirits. Ngāti Rarua history: the highest peak of these ranges is Tū Ao Wharepapa and is one of the two sacred maunga for the manawhenua of Motueka. Its significance is embodied in the pepeha “Ko Tū Ao Wharepapa te maunga, ko Ngāti Rarua te iwi….”. The range is an important source of the plant Nei Nei which was used to manufacture the wet weather capes worn by our tupuna. Also a number of sacred caves or tomo are situated within this maunga.
• Pourangahau / Mount Robert
  A hill at 1421 m adjacent to Lake Rotoiti on Robert Ridge, approximately 4.5 km southwest of St Arnaud. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence says that Pourangahau translates as a standing place for the “posts of research”. From here, Ngāti Apa were able to look over the sacred lake of Rotoiti.
• Mangatāwhai
  Intersection of Tophouse/ Korere Tophouse Road. Ngāti Kuia Tribunal evidence states that Mangatawhai translates as ‘place of many trails’. This area was where many of the trails connecting Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast and Canterbury met.
  Mount Arthur from Tapawera. Tasman District Council
  Click image to enlarge
• Paratītahi Tarns
  Between Mt McRae and Peanter Peak, SE Lake Rotoiti. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence states that the proposed names mean ‘Purpose in life’. Ariki children were taken here in summer time to be washed, before presentation to the people in life.
• Pikikirunga/ Canaan Downs
  Off Tākaka Hill. Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama state that Pikikirunga is named after a taniwha and the traditions of karanga. Wainui Caves say Ngararahuarau gave the first karanga and when he died he exploded and his scales were embedded in the hills. 
• Pukekoikoi Hill                
  Nr Tapu Bay, SW of Kaiteriteri. Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama state that: this is a significant area for Te Ātiawa. The tipuna called the hill by this name (it is recorded in J.D. Peart, 1937, Old Tasman Bay, p. 128). Pukekoikoi was renowned for its use of koikoi (a long spear pointed at both ends) as more practical rākau (weapon) to use when learning the blocks, the attack and the defensive movements of mau rākau.
• Te Araruahinewai
  Confluence of Maitland Creek/ Motueka River. In the headwaters of the Motueka (Te Ara Ruahinewai) the marriages between the hapu were consecrated to enable safe travel. The name e Ara Ruahinewai means "Lead us from the hinterland to Tasman Bay." 
• Hinemoatū / Howard River
  A river flowing from the confluence of Hodgson Stream and Tier Stream into the Buller River, approximately 13 km west-northwest of Lake Rotoiti. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence describes Hinemoatū as a Ngāti Apa ancestress; mother of Tama, a great mokopuna of Tarakaipa.
• Maniniaro / Angelus Peak
  A hill at 2075m at the western end of Angelus Ridge in the Travers Range approximately 7.5km southwest of Lake Rotoiti. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence states that this is the accompanying lake to Roto Maninitua – both are the footpaths of Ngāti Apa’s dead, as they fly back to touch the shores of Hawaikinui, Hawaiki.
• Maungakura / Red Hill
  A hill at 1791 m on Red Hills Ridge near the upper reaches of the Motueka River Right Branch, approximately 26 km northeast of St Arnaud. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence states that Te Huarau was a taniwha, a kaitiaki, and he and she kept the Maungakura safe from harm.
• Motuareronui / Adele Island
  An island north of Fisherman Island separated from Te Waipounamu by Astrolabe Roadstead, approximately 5 km northeast of Marahau. Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa state that whānau kōrero says that Motuareronui is the big island of the swift moving clouds. Ngāti Rarua describes this as a large tongue shaped island.
• Poukirikiri / Travers Saddle
  A saddle approximately 1.5 km south of Mount Travers in St Arnaud Range, between East Branch Sabine River and the upper end of Travers River, approximately 19km southwest of Lake Rotoiti. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence states that this is the pathway to our sacred mountain of Kehu (Kehu Peak) – a guide to our elders and protector of the last swimming place of our spirits before they return to Hawaiki.
• Pukeone / Mount Campbell
  A hill at 1330 m east of Wharepapa / Arthur Range between Riuwaka River South Branch and Pokororo River, approximately 13 km west of Motueka. Te Ātiawa notes that Pukeone (meaning sandy hill) is where Te Ātiawa carried the sand to the top of the hill to signal to whanau. The brown area today marks where the fires used to be. Pukeone is highly significant to Te Ātiawa. Ngāti Rarua history: there is korero regarding the origins of the name Pukeone and one theory advances that it is a tupuna name from early times perhaps belonging to one of Rakaihautu’s party. The translation of Sand Hill however can be related to the practice of carrying sand to the summit of the maunga where signal fires were lit to tell of special occasions. The fires burning on top of Pukeone could be seen as far as away as Whakapuaka. A fire was lit on Pukeone following Wakefield’s acceptance of Nelson as a settlement site.
• Rākauroa / Torrent Bay
  A bay approximately 10 km northeast of Kaiteriteri. The Anchorage is within the bay. Ngāti Tama notes that, as the name implies, the area was wealthy with trees and Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa established ship building operations there after their arrival in the rohe. This name was also recorded in Peart's Old Tasman Bay and other documents. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence translated this as a type of tree. Rakauroa was the name of the bay, with many Ngāti Apa occupation areas.
• Riuwaka River (was Riwaka River – also note Riuwaka River North & South Branches)
  A river flowing generally east from the confluence of Riuwaka River North Branch and Riuwaka River South Branch east of Wharepapa / Arthur Range into Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, approximately 5 km north-northeast of Motueka.
  Te Ātiawa states that this is taonga wairua: Puketapu hapū have tribal accounts of relationships with the river; rivers are tapu; the mouth of the river is named after the tekoteko on top of Te Āwhina, which in turn were named after the tipuna who discovered Antarctica (Hui Te Rangiora). Riwaka is a spelling error and the “u” changes the meaning ; Riuwaka is the place that Hui Te Rangiora landed and was named by him because of its natural features.; Riuwaka is documented in Old Tasman Bay (Peart). 
  Ngāti Rarua history: traditionally named the Riuwaka River – Riu is the name for the bilge of a waka or basin where water would gather. In this instance it is a reference to the puna or pools where the river emerges from within Papatuanuku. There are a series of pools below the Riuwaka resurgence and each pool has specific cultural purpose for the manawhenua iwi.
• Rotomairewhenua / Blue Lake
  A lake west of Franklin Ridge and north of Rotopōhueroa / Lake Constance in the Spenser Mountains, approximately 25km southwest of Lake Rotoiti. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence states that this name means ‘Lake of peaceful lands’. This lake was used for the cleansing of male bones.
• Rotomaninitua / Lake Angelus
  A lake at 1650 m on Robert Ridge in the Travers Range adjacent to Bristol Pass and Hinapouri Tarn, approximately 6km west-southwest of Lake Rotoiti. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence states that: this is the resting place of our spirits. When we depart this life into the next, Roto Maninitua refers to directing our wairua through to be washed, to bathe and to swim inside and underneath the snow, or should it be summertime, inside and underneath the mountain.
• Rotopōhueroa / Lake Constance
  A lake below Franklin Ridge in Spenser Mountains approximately 26km southwest of Lake Rotoiti. Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence translates this name as the ‘long calabash’. This lake was used for the final cleansing of the bones of our female tipuna, before they were entrusted to be stored in and around Ngāti Apa’s sacred places in the Sabine Valley.
• Separation Point / Te Matau
  A coastal point between Whariwharangi Bay and Mutton Cove, extending into Golden Bay / Mohua approximately 18 km northeast of Takaka. Te Matau is an ancestral name and important to Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa, as it is one of the boundary markers between Onetahua and Motueka. The name was changed by D’Urville, but iwi still refer to this name and old title deeds support the name Te Matau. Te Ātiawa Tribunal evidence also recorded this name (see A Riwaka Nga Hekenga p. 117, Tribunal casebook Northern South Island Inquiry). Ngāti Kuia and Ngāti Apa note that Peart in Old Tasman Bay translates the name as meaning the fish hook of Māui. It was the western most point of the tukuwhenua and an occupation area. An older name for this place is Te Matau-a-Māui.  Ngāti Rarua history: This translates as The Hook and represents the Eastern most point of Golden Bay and the Western tip of Tasman Bay. It was an area surrounded by a number of settlements of the local manawhenua iwi.
• Te Horowai / Speargrass Creek
  A stream flowing from Robert Ridge, approximately 1 km northeast of Rotomaninitua / Lake Angelus into the Buller River approximately 8 km northwest of St Arnaud. Rangitāne and Ngāti Apa Tribunal evidence states that Ngāti Apa ancestor, Te Horowai, is buried here.
• Pupu Springs - Karen Stade
  Click image to enlarge
  Te Kauparenui / Gowan River
  A river flowing north from Lake Rotoroa at Rotoroa (locality) into the Buller River, approximately 1 km east of Gowanbridge. Ngāti Apa tribunal evidence translates Te Kauparenui as “The Great Division”.Te Kauparanui refers to the great earth rending that closed and formed the lake we have today and that, in another lifetime, Te Kauparenui shook and shook so hard that it created a huge tidal force that created the river of the Gowan.
• Te Mamaku / Ruby Bay
  Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama note that, as the name implies, the black tree fern was once plentiful and provided resources to the iwi. This was a pa site, an occupational reserve, a kai basket, and there was a waka landing site at McKee Domain. This was also a trading beach.
• Te Waikoropupū River
  A stream flowing from the northern end of Walker Ridge, generally northeast into the Takaka River, approximately 1 km northwest of Takaka. There is a spelling alteration from Waikoropupu River (“Te” and macron added to a recorded name). The English meaning for Te Waikoropupū is the bubbling spring waters. Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama state that the river is in the sacred valley for Te Ātiawa, outlined in evidence in Te Ātiawa Tribunal hearing at Motueka. Ngāti Rarua translates this name as “Bubbling Waters” and notes that this is the home of the kaitiaki Huriawa, who was responsible for keeping the waterways of Mohua clear and pristine. The waters have been utilised for many sacred occasions, such as blessings, cleansing and revitalisation of the unwell. Manawhenua iwi always offer karakia before entering this sacred place.
• Tokangawhā / Split Apple Rock
  A rock just off the coast of Towers Bay adjacent to Tokongawha Point, approximately 2 km north of Kaiteriteri. Ngāti Tama and Te Ātiawa note that the split is one of the boundary markers.

Marlborough Sounds

• Te Aumiti / French Pass
  A strait between Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D’Urville Island and Te Waipounamu, northeast of Current Basin, approximately 1 km northeast of French Pass (Anaru). Ngāti Kōata states that Te Aumiti is of significance to Ngāti Koata, who have many cultural historical stories and korero associated with Te Aumiti. Ngāti Kuia translates Te Aumiti as “The current that is swallowed.” This was the place where the Shag guardian of Kupe drowned. The story of the naming sets up part of the oral map for navigating the waters and the customs behind it. The full name is “Te Aumiro o te Kawau a Toru”.
• Whareātea Bay (Durville Island).
  Misspelled name of bay/area on the north east side of Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D’Urville Island. Was also locally known as Whareata Bay.  
• Tory Channel / Kura Te Au
  A strait separating Arapaoa Island from Te Waipounamu, extending generally east-west from Dieffenbach Point in Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui to West Head and East Head in Cook Strait. Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama note that this: was an important mahinga kai and settlement site for Te Ātiawa; was the Te Ātiawa main highway; Te Ātiawa continually monitor and defend this waterway today in Environment courts; Kura Te Au separates Arapaoa Island from the mainland in the Marlborough Sounds. Kura Te Au is named because of the red colour of the sea imparted by a variety of plankton and the  multitude of the crustacean krill; Kura Te Au is place where Kupe killed the giant wheke and the blood ran through the channel. Kurahaupo and Rangitāne note that this means “the red current”. When Kupe killed Te Wheke o Muturangi, the octopus bled into the current there, turning it red. The name also denotes the red Krill found all around the outer Sounds which is eaten by octopus and whales (hence the whaling presence) and is part of the Kupe oral map.
• Whakakitenga Bay
  A bay adjacent to Wairangi Bay, at the northeast end of Squally Cove in Marlborough Sounds. Ngāti Koata state that the name Whakitenga bay was a misspelling; Whakakitenga Bay is the correct spelling.
• Matapihi Bay 
  Bay Ikm NE  of Okiwi Bay at the foot of Matapehe.
• Meretoto/ Ship Cove (Queen Charlotte Sound)
  
  Webber, John (1751-93). View in Queen Charlotte's Sound. London : Boydell, 1809 (oils from a sketch made on Cook's Third Voyage). Alexander Turnbull Library. B-098-015
  Click image to enlarge
  Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama note that this cove is of significance as it is: of historical importance to previous iwi and Te Ātiawa; Wahi Tapu; a burial site; tauranga waka. This is the original name, with reference to the bloody mere Rangitāne: Meretoto is the place where the first interaction between Cook's crew and Rangitāne Tupuna, such as Te Rangihouhia and Kahura first took place. It was also locally known as Ship Cove and was named Ship Cove (Meretoto) on NZ topographic maps.
• Omhuri
  An isthmus separating Whakitenga Bay and Elaine Bay in Tennyson Inlet. Reported to be where Te Rauparaha and his taua entered into the Nelson region rather than travel around through Te Aumiti (French Pass)
• Arapaoa Island
  An island adjacent to Tory Channel / Kura Te Au and Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui approximately 14 km northeast of Picton. Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama note that this island is the location of traditions of Kupe but highly significant to Te Ātiawa. Kupe finally dispatched whekenui with a massive Arapaoa (downwards blow) to its head. It is the spiritual home of Te Ātiawa, with many Kaimoana sites, many papakaianga, fortified Pa sites, whaling sites, cultivation sites and sites for waka landing, building and repairs. Arapawa is a spelling error. Ngāti Kuia Tribunal evidence notes that Ara means ‘to rise’ and ‘paoa’ is to strike with a weapon. The Island was named after Kupe’s rising stroke which killed the octopus Te Wheke o Muturangi. It features in waiata and stories of the iwi.
• Greville Harbour / Wharariki
  A harbour on Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D’Urville Island extending generally northwest from Wharairiki Bay to between Ragged Point and Two Bay Point. A historical name of cultural association, Wharariki being the name of a particular type of red flax, with minimal fibre, which is an important taonga to Ngāti Koata people.
• Matapara / Pickersgill Island
  An island in Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui adjacent to Arapaoa Island and Blumine Island (Oruawairua). Te Ātiawa’s close association with Matapara / Pickersgill Island is through ancestry, conquest and customary occupation. This motu, like many others in Totaranui, was a strategic point for warfare, occupation and contains wāhi tapu for the iwi. The foreshore surrounding Matapara / Pickersgill Island was utilised for both offshore fishing and for preparation. Matapara / Pickersgill Island was a roosting and nesting place for the little blue penguin and the shag. It was also known for its kohekohe and tawa forest. During the turn of the century the island was used for harvesting of wheat crops, speargrass and cocksfoot. Matapara is the traditional name for the island and has been used by whanau and hapu since the conquest of Totaranui by Te Ātiawa.
• Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere
  Ko Matua Hautere te Tangata, Ko Kaikai-a-waro te taniwha, Ko Te Hoiere te Waka, Ko Ngāti Kuia te Iwi. Ngāti Kuia notes that Insull, in Place Names of Marlborough (p. 55) translates this name as a type of tree, and it was the name of the waka, captained by Matua Hautere, which brought Ngāti Kuia to the area. It was guided here by their two kaitiaki, Kaikaiawaro and Ruamano. It forms a substantial part of Ngāti Kuia identity, history and place of occupation. Ngāti Toa history: Te Hoire is the traditional name given to Pelorus Sound by Ngāti Toa; the sound was renamed by Lieutenant P. Chetwode after the ship he commanded: the HMS Pelorus. Pelorus Sound was an area of concentrated Ngāti Toa occupation and control; the iwi were considered to be the ‘direct owners’ of the Sound, as well as the connected valley and river, in the 1830s and 1840s. Ngāti Toa first came into possession of the region following their conquest during 1829 and 1830. According to historian W.J. Elvy, at the time of Te Rauparaha’s raids, Ngāti Kuia held the Pelorus Sounds and the valley. The invaders, however, “cleaned up the districts pretty thoroughly, reducing the survivors to slaves, or forcing them to hide in the mountainous fastness of the hinterland.” Hopai Pa located in Crail Bay, is one famous battle site at which Ngāti Toa were victorious . Two Ngāti Toa pa, the Canon point pa, and Te Akaroa pa, are located at Port Ligar. Another site of significance was the stream mouth at Clova Bay, which was given the name Totaranui. This was a landing site for waka that crossed from Omere on the Wellington South Coast, and was used extensively during the invasion and conquest of Te Tau Ihu.
• Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui
  Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama state that: Totaranui waterways are the veins of Te Ātiawa, each and every bay is highly significant to Te Ātiawa; Totaranui is the original Te Reo name; Totaranui was bountiful in Totara. Following a series of taua 1827–1830, Ngāti Toa established themselves at a number of locations in the Marlborough Sounds, including Queen Charlotte Sound. There were a number of Ngāti Toa pa sites in Totaranui, including Te Rei o Karaka pa at Karaka Point, and Ngakuta Point Pa. Ana-o-koha, located in the Dieffenbach point area, is the site of an historic battle, at which Ngāti Toa successfully repelled and defeated an attempted ambush. Another site of significance is Ship Cove, an important tapu area where the daughter of Te Pehi Kupe is buried. Colonel Wakefield, while collecting signatures for the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, encountered a large Ngāti Toa group.

Marlborough

• Waikārapi Lagoon
  Was Vernon Lagoon near Blenheim. Waikārapi refers to the series of channels and weirs (Pa-tuna) built around the wider lagoons area to trap the various species of fish and birds that frequented the wetlands. This was specifically identified in the map of the Wairau drawn by Ihaia Kaikoura and copied by Ligar in 1847. 
• Hikurangi/ Goulter Hill
  4km Southwest of Renwick
• Waikārapi Lagoon. Colin Davis, Department of Conservation, South Marlborough Area Office
  Click image to enlarge
  Kahuroa Hill
  11km NE of Havelock, near Pelorus Sound: Ko Kahuroa te Maunga, Ko Te Hoiere te Awa, Ko Ruapaka te Kāinga, Ko Ngāti Kuia te Iwi. The name means the long cloak and comes from the mist which shrouds it. Ngāti Kuia Tribunal evidence states that this maunga has an urupa on it and forms part of waiata and stories. It is above the Ngāti Kuia land at Ruapaka, and forms part of the pepeha for the whanau of that place. The name means the long cloak and comes from the mist which used to shroud it. It is part of the Ngāti Kuia pepeha for the Ruapaka Kāinga. [Notes for Polynesian Society, Smith; and Ngāti Kuia evidence, Moses.]
• Otauira Pā               
  On the shore of Robin Hood Bay, South of Port Underwood. Rangitāne Tribunal evidence records that this site translates as ‘Water rushes.’ This was an occupation and fishing area. Otauira is the Rangitāne Pa site at the mouth of the Waikutakuta stream where Ihaia Kaikoura drew the map of the Wairau for Ligar in 1847.
• Te Ana-o-Rongomaipapa Bay
  Between Rarangi and Whites Bay. Rongomai Papa was the Rangitāne Tupuna who established Pukatea Pa and ambushed and killed the giant flying Taniwha Ngarara Huarau. The cave that he hid in is still visible to the present day - Te Ana o Rongiomai Papa. [Tuiti Macdonald MP wrote this story for S.Percy Smith in 1906.]
• Te Ope-a-Kupe Rock
  A rock near Port Gore. Te-Ope-a-Kupe was named by Kupe and means the group of kupe. It is a tauranga waka what was used by him for his waka Matahourua and succeeding generations of his descendants. Ngāti Kuia korero states that: this was one of the landing places of Matua Hautere and his waka Te Hoiere, Te Whakamana and his waka Te Ara-a-Tawhaki and Tukauae and his waka Tahatu. There is is a rock at the site which our people says has his foot print which shows where he and his crew got of his waka. This place is still used today as a safe anchorage by Ngāti Kuia.
• Te Pokohiwi / Boulder Bank
  Between Wairau River and White Bluffs. According to Insull, Te Pokohiwi translates as the “shoulder” and this name refers to the shape and position of the Bank. Was also locally known as Boulder Bank.
• Ōhinemahuta River
  A stream flowing from Richmond Range near Mount Sunday into Wairau River, approximately 4 km northwest of Renwick. It is the old Rangitāne/Ngāti Mamoe name of place where Tupuna Hine Mahuta lived hence – Ōhinemahuta.
• Ōpaoa River
  A river flowing from the confluence of the Omaka River and Ruakanakana Creek, approximately 2 km northeast of Renwick, generally east into the Wairau River at Wairau Bar. Ngāti Rarua translates this as Smoking River, which can be described as the mist or fog rising off this particular river giving the appearance of smoke hanging over the water. This awa, along with the Wairau, was an important food resource and integral part of day-to-day life for Ngāti Rarua. Rangitāne notes that Insull, in Place Names of Marlborough (p. 54), translates ‘Paoa’ as smoke – ‘smoky river’. There are several different explanations for the name. This place was very swampy and the river became murky with the appearance of smoke. It is also known as the place of the grey teal. The tupuna Paoa had a pa there and the place was named after him.
• Ōraumoa / Fighting Bay
  A bay east of Te Whanganui / Port Underwood, approximately 17km east south-east of Picton. Ngāti Toa history: Fighting Bay, located on the Eastern Coast of Te Tau Ihu was a very important Ngāti Toa tauranga waka. It was located in close proximity to the concentrated Ngāti Toa settlement at Port Underwood, and provided a site from which Ngāti Toa could travel directly across Te Moana o Raukawa to the South Coast of Wellington. It was the site of a battle with Ngai Tahu and hence its name. Rangitāne history: Raumoa was the name of a Rangitāne ancestor who lived in the Wairau and travelled to this place for special seafood hence the name O-Raumoa, - the place of Raumoa.
• Pukatea / Whites Bay
  A bay approximately 1 km northeast of Rarangi, where Pukatea Stream flows into Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay. Ngāti Rarua records that this was the first landing place of the Ngāti Rarua taua in the fight for Wairau. It was also a former fishing reserve of Rarua, Toa and Rangitāne, and a campsite and mahinga kai site. Rangitāne history: Puketea translates as a type of tree. This was where a Kurahaupo tupuna killed a taniwha. It was an occupation and fishing area.  Pukatea was a traditional tauranga waka and was used by Te Rauparaha and his allies during the invasion of Te Tau Ihu in 1827 (Insull). This site was taken as a reserve in the 1950s.
  Southern end of Cook Strait's telegraph cable - Whites Bay 1871, Marlborough Museum, 0000.900.0735
  Click image to enlarge
• Ruakanakana Creek
  A stream flowing near Renwick into Omaka River (was known as Gibsons Creek). Ruakanakana Creek is the place where weirs were dug to trap Lamprey eels (kanakana) on their annual migration – hence Rua Kanakana or pit of the Lampreys.
• Takapōtaka / Attempt Hill
  A hill at 729 m on Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D’Urville Island, approximately 8 km north-northeast of Te Aumiti / French Pass. This was the name of the hill prior to European settlement.
• Te Anamāhanga / Port Gore
  A bay between Cape Lambert and Cape Jackson adjacent to Cook Strait, approximately 3 km northeast of Endeavour Inlet This name translates as ‘Twin bays’. Te Huataki of Rangitāne landed here. Ngāti Kuia and Ngāti Apa also lived here.
• Te Hoiere / Pelorus River (see Pelorus Sound above)
• Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay
  A bay approximately 15.5km north-east of Blenheim extending from Robertson Point to White Bluffs/Te Parinui o Whiti and eastwards into Cook Strait. Ngāti Rarua history: The scoop of Kupe. The place that was scooped out or formed by legendary explorer Kupe. Rangitāne also translates this name as the scoop of Kupe. Kupe’s waka went aground at Wairau (Vernon) Lagoons. Ngāti Toa history: The wider Cloudy Bay region, encompassing both the Wairau and Port Underwood, was an extremely significant area to Ngāti Toa. Ngāti Toa was acknowledged to have possession of this Bay and it was a location of concentrated occupation. Ngāti Toa had both residences and cultivated lands in Cloudy Bay. Cloudy Bay was also an important centre of the thriving whale industry. The population did decrease in the late 1840s, however Ngāti Toa maintained their occupation of Cloudy Bay. Ngāti Rarua history: This name originates from the time of Kupe and his infamous pursuit of the octopus Te Wheke o Muturangi. The name literally translates as the Scoop of Kupe meaning the place or area that was scooped out or formed by Kupe.
• Te Tara-o-Te-Marama / Mount Freeth
  A hill at 625 m, approximately 3 km southwest of Picton. Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Tama note that this was the maunga used for the whanau in the area; Ko Tara o te Marama – meaning ‘it is the peak of the moon’ (‘tara’ as in Taranaki). Rangitāne note that Insull’s Place names of Marlborough (pp. 47 & 51) translates this as ‘Moonlight mountain’. At a certain time of the year the rising moon follows the gradient of the maunga.
• Te Whanganui / Port Underwood
  Ngāti Rarua: Te Whanganui means the large harbour. Ngati Toa: This was the largest and most concentrated area of Ngati Toa settlement in Te Tau Ihu; their interests in Port Underwood were based upon both conquest and effective occupation.According to Dieffenbach there were approximately 400 Ngāti Toa living in the ‘Cloudy Bay’ area. This community was led by Nohorua, Te Kanae and Rawiri Puaha and was centred on the mission and whaling industry. A pa and urupa were located on Horahora Kakahu Island in Te Whanganui. This is a very important historical and cultural site as this was the location at which a number of Ngāti Toa chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi.
• Tokomaru / Mount Robertson
  A hill at 1036 m on the Robertson Range, approximately 6 km southeast of Picton. Ngāti Toa history: Tokomaru is a site of cultural significance. It is recognised as being te maunga o Ngāti Toa ki roto i te Wairau. Ngāti Rarua history: Sacred mountain for Ngāti Rarua within the rohe of Wairau. The name has origins within pre Aotearoa settlement and relates to a peak of the same name in Hawaiki. Translation refers to a toko or pole used within a tuahu or shelter erected on the summit of this peak that gives maru or shelter and protection over the whenua or plains of Wairau. Its significance to iwi is immense and is enshrined within the pepeha “ Ko Tokomaru te pae maunga, ko Ngāti Rarua te iwi…”.
• Tūtūmāpou Hill
  A hill at 319 m, south of Te Hoiere / Pelorus River, approximately 1.5 km west of Canvastown and 10 km west-southwest of Havelock. Ko Tūtūmapou te Maunga Ko Te Hoiere te Awa Ko Te Hora te Pa Ko Ngāti Kuia te Iwi. The Ngāti Kuia translation means the bird snare (Tutu) in the mapou tree. The mountain was a regular food source of kereru for Te Hora Pa, which is still in use today. It is part of the Ngāti Kuia pepeha for Te Hora Marae.
• Waikutakuta / Robin Hood Bay
  A bay southwest of the entrance to Te Whanganui / Port Underwood, approximately 10 km southeast of Picton. Ngāti Rarua describes this as the place of the water rushes. It was a former site of large Māori settlement, and an extensive cultivation site. This was the name used by Ngāti Rarua for Robin Hood Bay. However, the original name may only relate to a feature or natural marker within the Bay. The name Waikutakuta is recorded in a waiata tawhito of Ngāti Rarua titled “Ka kati i te karaka”. Ngāti Toa history: Robin Hood Bay, located in the south of Port Underwood was an area of concentrated Ngāti Toa occupation. The settlements of Cloudy Bay and Port Underwood were predominantly coastal, at locations such as Robin Hood Bay, however inland areas were heavily utilised for various resources. In the 1830s Te Rauparaha had a home in Robin Hood Bay, which he visited and occupied during the whaling season each year. Te Rongo, wife of Te Rangihaeata, is said to be buried at Robin Hood Bay. She was killed at Wairau during the 1843 incident.

2014

Tohu Whenua - sites of significance

A Nelson City Council produced series of videos on landmarks and sites of significance, produced to celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2019

• Te Pepeha o Whakatū (Tribal connections to Nelson)

• Maungatapu/Moketapu (Mt Maungatapu)

• Manukau & Omaio (Monaco & Stoke)

• Matangi Awhio & Aorere (Auckland Point & Tasman Bay)

• Whakatū (Nelson)

• Horoirangi (Glenduan)

• Mahitahi (Maitai River)

Updated April 2020

The South and North Islands were connected by an under-sea telegraph cable across Cook Strait in 1866. Ten years later, the telegraph connection between London and Wakapuaka, Nelson, spanned a fragile 15,757 mile (25,558 km) network via Gibralter, Suez, Bombay, Darwin and Sydney. New Zealand was connected to the rest of the world!  

In the mid-19^th century, New Zealand’s early European colonists had to wait two months or more for mail to arrive by sea from the other side of the world. Meanwhile, an Industrial Revolution was sweeping Europe, with the rapid development of technologies such as the electric telegraph.

The New Zealand Government was keen to see the country connected by telegraph both internally and with the outside world. Australia was linked to Europe in 1872, with messages being sent to Sydney by sea and cabled from there.¹

Southern end of Cook Strait's telegraph cable - Whites Bay 1871, Marlborough Museum,
0000.900.0735
Click image to enlarge

The first Cook Strait communications cable, between Lyall Bay in Wellington and White’s Bay in Marlborough, was completed on 26 August, 1866. The simple copper telegraph cable, laid across the Cook Strait seabed, enabled quick communication between the North and South Islands for the first time.

Whites Bay cable station group, Marlborough Museum, 0000.900.0736
Click image to enlarge

The isolated and often stormy situation of the White’s Bay Cable Station made it an unpopular posting. The staff and equipment were moved to Blenheim in 1873, and the telegraph station finally closed in 1896, after a direct link had been established between Wellington and Christchurch. A building from the cable station is still at White’s Bay.²

On Monday 21 February, 1876, a sub-marine cable was opened between La Perouse (Sydney) and Cable Bay in Nelson. Laid, owned and managed by the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company Ltd, the cable was New Zealand’s sole communication link with the rest of the world until 1902.³

The sub-marine engineering of the day was fraught with difficulties from weather, sea depth and currents. It was most important to keep the copper wire conductors protected and insulated, with gutta percha, a latex coating from Malaya (Malaysia), being used to cover them. The first cable was expected to last 10 years, but continued in use for 41 years.⁴

Cable Bay, the Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection,179078/3
Click image to enlarge

The settlement at Cable Bay grew as the demand for telegraphic services increased. By 1888 there were 14 staff, including a superintendent, cable and telegraph men. A press man had the job of ‘filling out’ the international press briefs and sending them on to newspapers.⁵

Cable Bay, the Nelson Provincial Museum, Copy Collection, C1781 
Click to enlarge

A second cable was laid in 1890, by which time 17 staff and their families lived at Cable Bay. By all accounts, the community enjoyed good relations with nearby neighbours, Hūria and Hemi Mātenga, and there was plenty of on-station fun, with a billiard room, tennis courts and water-related activities.⁶

In the early 1900s other cables were laid, including Vancouver to Doubtless Bay (Northland) in 1901,⁷ and Sydney to Auckland in 1912.⁸

The Cable Bay link was re-routed to Titahi Bay in 1917, with an underground cable to the Eastern Extension Company’s offices in central Wellington. The staff from Cable Bay were relocated to Wellington overnight on 22 August, 1917 and it was the end of an era for the small community. The cable station land was sold by the Crown in 1919.⁹

Various Cook Strait cables have linked the two islands for nearly 150 years, but the route is fractured with fault lines. Telecom laid a new $38 million fibre optic cable between Levin (Horowhenua) and Cable Bay in 2001, to provide additional security should a large earthquake hit the region.¹⁰

McLintock, A.H. (ed) Post Office.In An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

2008 (updated Sep 2020)

About 14km north of Nelson is a picturesque area that one might think of as just farmland. Ngāti Tama settled here around 1825 and have recently signed a Deed of Settlement relating to land claims in the top of the south.

The New Zealand Company acquired a block of land that included Wakapuaka, which allowed settlement to begin in 1842. The land has since become productive farmland, with early settler families among the present day farmers. The area offers a number of features,  facilities and activities.

Thackwood Garden. Wakapuaka. Image supplied by author

Thackwood Cottage Garden, which has been developed by Murray and Karen Gill has been awarded 5 Stars (Garden of National Significance) by New Zealand Gardens Trust. It is nestled in a fourth generation farm. A love of the land led to the development of a 0.8 hectare English Cottage Garden filled with magical fragrances and surprises. They are on the left, a little past the turn off to Glenduan (The Glen) and offer facilities for Weddings and other functions in the garden or inside, and accommodation.

David Haig, chair. Image supplied by author

Up the same drive is the Centre for Fine Woodworking, which is a charitable educational trust with the principal aim of offering high quality tuition in fine woodworking. The Centre opened in 2006 and they now run a wide selection of short courses and a full-time programme. With small classes students quickly gain an extremely high skill base for follow-on courses. They have exhibitions at The Refinery in Halifax Street, Nelson. Principal Tutors are John Shaw and Thorkeld Hansen.  David Haig, Bernie Stokes, Robert Bentley, Katalin Sallai, Mike Hindmarsh, Dave Carson are associate tutors.

Wakapuaka War Memorial Hall. Image supplied by author

The War Memorial Hall, the tennis courts and Country Club are on the right a little past the turnoff to The Glen. The Community Hall is a simple art deco building built in the 1950's in remembrance of WWII. Funds came from the community, and the then Waimea County Council. Nearby is a cairn naming those that died in the War who were residents of Wakapuaka and Whangamoa.

Wakapuaka War Memorial Image supplied by author

Nelson North Country Club is a member of Charter Clubs NZ and provides a venue for the family and the bar is open Wednesday to Sunday from 4pm. It has a hall which can be booked for functions and offers recreational activities such as darts, pool and a bistro.

Tennis has been played since 1970 and, in 2002, the four courts were completely renovated with Decoralt acryic surfacing. The friendly club is busy with social and competitive tennis and members are welcome to join or play at their pleasure. Professional coaches provide both individual and group programs and the Juniors have organised play over the summer. For all there is a barbecue area, children's playground, toilets and a ball machine for members.

Hira Rural Kindergarten  is a unique facility, as the building is community-owned and enjoys a high level of parental involvement.  There is a strong link with the local schools and a carefully planned kindergarten to school transition programme.

Nelson Model Aero Club is located on the Wakapuaka sand flats. They meet regularly at the site to fly their models.

The Wakapuaka River flows from the Bryant Range in a generally northerly direction to reach Delaware Bay, near Cable Bay. It is an attractive river running over a sand and gravel bed, and is a fishing river, but fish numbers are not high. The Wakapuaka Rivercare Group was established in 2000 to monitor the health of the River. Hira School participates by monitoring one site and runs a Tree's for Survival Nursery, offering free plants back to the community. Data collected shows that the river is in above average health.

Planting at Paremata Flats

Paramata Flats Reserve, Māori Pa Road, Cable Bay, is a publicly owned area that includes tidal river and flats which are of highest ecological value, designated by the Council. In the small area of unique lowland forest lives a small population of locally endangered South Island Fernbird and Banded Rail. Forest and Bird are underaking an ecological restoration of the Reserve, which involves many volunteers taking part in  replanting, restoration and predator control, riparian margins restoration and land use controls and threatened species programmes focusing on long-tailed bats and green gecko.

Near to Wakapuaka lies Cable Bay, so named because the London-Wakapuaka cable, 25,326kms in length, was laid there in 1876. The Cable Bay farm has been farmed by Fred and Tess Stuart and family since the early 1930's. Ian's parents took over the Cable Station site after the Second World War and purchased further land when the Wakapuaka 1b block was divided (Ngāti Tama land). In 1965 they purchased the Cain Estate, part of the original Mackay property (the first farm in Nelson).  There is a 2.5 - 3hr walkway through the property from the Glen to Cable Bay, administered by the Department of Conservation. It passes through a large native forest.                              

Delaware Bay, of deep historic and cultural significance to Nelson's Ngāti Tama, became a taiapure-local fishery on 19 March 2002. The goal of their Manawhenua Ki Te Tau Ihu Trust is to protect, manage and enhance an area of historic and cultural importance to Ngāti Tama, so that fish stocks recover.

This article was submitted as part of a Nelson Marlborough Insititute of Technology Creative Writing assignment, 2013. Updated May 2020

Pérrine Moncrieff, 1893-1979, was an important figure in New Zealand’s early conservation movement: a small, dynamic woman who achieved much in her lifetime.

Perrine Moncrieff. Nelson Provincial Museum Reference: Kingsford Collection, 124247/6

She was born in London on 8 February 1893 as Pérrine Millais – the daughter of Mary St Lawrence Hope-Vere and her husband, Everett Millais. Her paternal grandparents were the British painter Sir John Millais and his wife, Euphemia Gray, who had been married to John Ruskin.

Educated in London and Brussels, she became interested in conservation and ornithology at an early age, and was encouraged by her uncle, the naturalist John Guille Millais.

While holidaying in Switzerland, Pérrine met Malcolm Matthew Moncrieff, a retired British Army officer. The couple were married in London on 3 June 1914 and went on to have two sons. After the First World War the family lived in Scotland, but in 1921 they left Britain to settle in Canada, but first visited New Zealand and decided to stay.

They settled in Nelson, attracted by its climate and wildlife. Pérrine was soon travelling and tramping throughout the region observing the native birds. In 1923 she became a foundation member of the New Zealand Native Bird Protection Society and joined the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union (RAOU).

In 1925 Pérrine wroteNew Zealand birds and how to identify them, as there was no good pocket field guide available, with the help of R. A. Falla, W. R. B. Oliver and other ornithologists, but largely from her own observations and ornithological texts.  The guide was intended for amateur bird watchers, but was also well regarded by scientists and it ran to five editions.

Moncrieff, Perrine Millais, 1893-1979. [Moncrieff, Perrine Millais] 1893-1979 :[Woman sitting on beach, drawing. ca 1920]. Ref: A-001-054. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23187961

Moncrieff went on to contribute papers to RAOU's journal, the Emu, and articles to Birds and the Nelson Evening Mail and other newspapers. She also gave public lectures and papers to the Nelson Philosophical Society. For at least 25 years in the Nelson Evening Mail, she summarised the best entries in the annual children's nature diary competition, which she initiated in 1928. One of her most influential papers, 'The destruction of an avian paradise' in the Journal of the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire in 1944, publicised overseas the diminishing habitat of New Zealand native birds. The paper embodied the values she encouraged: an ecological attitude to and love of nature, a wish to preserve the past for the future, and an appreciation of Romantic literature about the natural world.

After the death of their elder son, Alexander, in 1925, the Moncrieffs donated part of Haulashore Island to the people of Nelson. They later purchased a large area of coastal bush at Okiwi Bay and presented it to the Crown. Pérrine was involved in many campaigns to save native bush and bird species, especially as a member of the Nelson Bush and Bird Society, which she established in 1928. Among its achievements, the group helped make Lake Rotoroa a scenic reserve and Farewell Spit a sanctuary.

Pérrine's most notable success was the establishment of the Abel Tasman National Park in 1942. She served on the park board from 1943 to 1974 and published a book on the history of the area, People came later, in 1965. In doing this, she was careful to secure and maintain the support of influential politicians and public servants.

Pérrine became a vice president of the New Zealand Native Bird Protection Society in 1927 and was president of the RAOU in 1932–33: the first woman to hold this office. Her presidential address, 'Birds in relation to women', included a condemnation of the practice of killing native birds to adorn women's dress, advocating instead the use of feathers from birds killed for human consumption. She wore a cap of white hens' feathers dyed sapphire blue to illustrate her point.

Perrine Moncrieff with Jill Blechynden at the ABC Bookshop, December 1976. (Geoffrey C Wood Collection, Nelson Provincial Museum, 2708 Fr7). Nelson Historical Society Journal on NZETC

Pérrine deplored the killing of birds for private or museum collections. She also believed that sufficient habitat should be reserved to allow birds to breed successfully in the wild, rather than in captivity. Convinced that the aims of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand were inconsistent with these beliefs, she resigned her membership in 1942, two years after helping to establish the society. Pérrine was known locally as the 'bird woman', helping anyone who referred sick or injured birds to her.

She was president of the Nelson Institute and of the Nelson Philosophical Society. As well as starting the Girl Guides movement in Nelson, she was a justice of the peace and an honorary ranger for the departments of Internal Affairs and Lands and Survey. She formed the Nelson Spinners' and Weavers' Guild during the Second World War and was a working member of the local arts society. A member of many nature-centred organisations, Pérrine remained an enthusiastic and persistent advocate for conservation. In her 80s she was involved in the campaigns of the Native Forests Action Council and the Friends of Nelson Haven and Tasman Bay.

Pérrine was awarded the Loder Cup in 1953, appointed an officer of the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau in 1974 and was made a CBE in 1975. In the following year, she published The rise and fall of David Riccio, a historical novel set in Scotland.  Pérrine Moncrieff died at Wakapuaka, near Nelson, on 16 December 1979, nine years after her husband Malcolm Moncrieff.

Updated May 20,2020

Isaac Jacobsen, a man described as one of Nelson's early unsung heroes, was the subject of a meeting of the Nelson Historical Society in August 2012.

Jane Baird of Takaka, a descendant of Jacobsen, told his story with photographs and experiences gained while on a genealogical tour of Germany.  Adding to her talk was Bruce Thomas who, with wife Pam, lives in and has restored a Collingwood Street cottage built by Isaac around 1857.

With ancestral seafaring ties to Norway, Johaan Siegmund Martin Jacobsen (known as Isaac) was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1823. As a boy he saved a rich man from drowning when the man lost control of his horse and was tipped into a river.  The man repaid Isaac by funding his education, which set him up in his vocational training.

Isaac Jacobsen surrounded by images of the fire that destroyed his Nelson College building. Photo courtesy Jane Baird. Click image to enlarge

At the age of 19 Isaac joined the German migrant ship St Pauli as a ship's carpenter and sailed to Nelson.  He met his wife, Clara Frank, on board, marrying her eight days before arriving in Nelson in 1843.  Although Isaac was a Lutheran, he developed strong ties to the Catholic Church through his marriage into the Catholic Frank family, and the couple had a Catholic service upon their arrival in the new colony.

However, despite his move away from his Lutheran faith, he was the first schoolteacher at Upper Moutere, teaching in both German and English.

Isaac's parents, Hans and Wilhelmina, and siblings arrived in Nelson in the early 1850s and settled in Shelbourne Street.  Unfortunately Wilhelmina died suddenly in 1853. Hans drowned at Westport when he and two other men rowed ashore in a dinghy to collect water and a freak wave capsized them, throwing the three men into the sea to struggle for their lives.

In the early years the colony suffered various hardships, including food shortages of staple items like flour.  The story goes that Isaac built a boat and sailed to Wellington to bring back supplies of flour for the colonists.

But he is best known in Nelson as a builder.  Jane said that as a contractor he built the house in Manuka Street that went on to become the first Nelson College building before the college moved to its existing location. (The house was later enlarged and was called Newstead.  Now known as Renwick House, it is part of Nelson Central School.¹ ) Working in the same area, he also built the first St Mary's Catholic Church in Manuka Street.  Other building projects included the original wooden Nelson Boys College on Waimea Road which burnt down in 1904, Richmond House on The Cliffs, which was later owned by the conservationists Malcolm and Perrine Moncrieff, numerous shops in Trafalgar Street, various ships and a wharf at Port Nelson. 

Jacobsen Cottage at the time of the 2009 reunion. Photo courtesy Jane Baird
Click image to enlarge

Around 1857 he built what is now known as the Jacobsen Cottage at 190 Collingwood Street.  The cottage was built on the southeastern corner of town acre 482, adjacent to the Hallowell Cemetery and opposite St Mary's Church.  Its current owner, Bruce Thomas, said he and his wife Pam bought the house in 1975 and have been restoring it ever since. 

The two-storey white pine house has been lovingly and painstakingly restored from top to bottom and Bruce said it was a privilege to live in one of the few buildings left of the legacy Isaac left Nelson.

"He is one of Nelson's unsung heroes.  He had done so much and yet there was very little about him in the history books.  He has been incredibly important to the development of the inner city area and was doing the work of (Nelson's leading names) like the Beatsons, the Monros and the Richardsons."

The cottage was the Jacobsen family home until they moved to Christchurch in 1870.  There, Jane said Isaac was involved in designing the city's drainage scheme and helped to rebuild Lyttelton following a devastating fire in 1870.  He also firmly believed in an eight-hour working day and made sure his workers didn't work over this.  It has been suggested he was one of the first people in New Zealand to promote this as a right for workers.

Jane Baird in the Hamburg alley where Jacobsen lived (2009). Photo courtesy Jane Baird
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While searching for minerals inland from Ashburton, Isaac inadvertently sparked a diamond rush.  Mistaking quartz crystals for diamonds, people rushed to the area in the hope of striking it rich. It was only when real diamonds were procured from Cape Town and compared with the quartz crystals that the rush died down.

Back living in the Nelson region, Isaac settled in Takaka, where he designed and built the first Catholic Church, which opened in 1868. He also continued his interest in geology and mining, founding the Hidden Treasure Mining company² in Anatoki, where he thought he had a found a source of gold, and prospecting for marble near Motueka.³

Isaac died aged 84 in 1906 and is buried at the Wakapuaka Cemetery along with Clara and some of their family.

A Jacobsen family reunion was held in Nelson in 2009 and those attending visited the Jacobsen Cottage and Takaka.  Later that year a number of family members went to Germany as part of a genealogical tour and Jane spoke of visiting Hamburg where Isaac was born.  She saw the large port where the St Pauli left from, visited St Michael's Church where he was baptised, and stood in the cobbled narrow alleyway behind the church by the area where he lived.

2012

Updated May 6, 2020

Public pressure and commonsense saved Nelson Haven

A large part of Nelson Haven might have been ‘a place of sprawling ribbon development’ on reclaimed land at Wakapuaka, if a group of Nelson people hadn’t fought the Nelson City Council in the 1970s.¹

Nelson Haven Mudflats at low tide. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

The ecological and economic values of estuaries, like Nelson Haven, were only just being understood and it had only been a few years since they were recognised as crucial spawning and fishing grounds for many commercial inshore fish species.² Environmental lobby groups were almost unknown at this time,³ but the industrial growth of the post-war economy had begun to put pressure on the environment.⁴ From about 1970, environmental groups around the world began to confront the issues of pollution and the negative impact of industrial development.

Reclamation in Nelson Haven. (1885) Note Trafalgar Park at Maitai River mouth. Nelson Provincial Museum, Misc 1/2 47

 In the mid 1970s, largely untreated effluent poured into Tasman Bay. This included waste from the Stoke and Richmond sewage outfalls, the Apple and Pear Board’s cannery, Nelson Freezing Works, Nelson Pine’s chip mill and two piggeries.  An estimated 14 million litres per day was pouring into the Waimea Estuary in 1976.⁵

Nelson Haven is the estuary of the Maitai River and is  largely enclosed by the 13 km Boulder Bank. The tidal land (about 17,280 h) from Glenduan (The Glen) to Ruby Bay was vested in the Nelson Harbour Board for more than 150 years and the development of the Port encroached on hundreds of hectares over the years.⁶

Nelson City Council Planning map showing reclamation proposal, 1969

In 1967, the Nelson City Empowering Act  saw some of this land handed over to the Nelson City Council. The  Council developed a plan to infill 710 hectares of the remaining 1600 hectares of the Haven’s tidal flats  providing housing for 18,000 people, as well as industrial development.⁷ The scheme to develop a marina-type residential area aimed to meet Nelson’s pressing need for more land to house its growing population.⁸

It wasn’t until Truth newspaper published a contentious article in September 1972 about the murky dealings, between some members of the Nelson City Council and a development consortium regarding the infilling of the Haven for housing, that public opposition began to grow.  There were angry letters to the Nelson Evening Mail⁹ and the Wakapuaka Residents Association voted unanimously to oppose the reclamation.¹⁰

On July 9 1973, more than 400 people crowded into the Nelson School of Music for a public meeting to learn about the campaign to save the Nelson Tidal Flats.¹¹ A resolution was signed at this meeting asking that (at least) the area north of Cemetery Point (by Brooklands Road) was declared a reserve under The Reserves and Domains Act 1957.¹²

Notice for Nelson Haven protest meeting, Nelson Evening Mail, 7 July 1973

Next day, July 10, the editorial in the Nelson Evening Mail described a sudden turn around by Mayor, Roy McLellan, who surprised those at the public meeting when he indicated his support for the resolution and announced that the development would not proceed.  The editorial went on to say that several official reports had urged caution as little was known about the effects of the proposals on the ecology of the Haven and wider Tasman Bay.  It was also noted that Council membership and public attitudes had changed since the scheme was first mooted in 1967.¹³ Mr McLennan’s Wikipedia entry notes that he didn’t have Council support at the time and it took some time for the matter to be finally resolved in the objectors’ favour.¹⁴

Through the 1970s and into the 1980s, the Harbour Board continued to pursue its development plans, reclaiming nearly 15 hectares at the mouth of the Maitai River for a boat harbour and dredging dump - this work was completed in 1984. In 1986, Nelson’s Cawthron Institute published a report recommending that any future reclamations be of sub-tidal, rather than inter-tidal areas.¹⁵

Natural infilling caused by sedimentation (accelerated by clearing bush from the hills to the east of the Haven) has been a long continuing process at the northern head of the Haven, with the area of the Haven reduced by about 1400 h. Between Nelson City and Port Nelson, about 100 h of the Haven has been reclaimed by man-made hard and hydraulic fill.¹⁶

The Friends of Nelson Haven were not able to stop reclamations, but were successful in greatly limiting them.¹⁷ When the society began in 1973, there were minimal controls on the infilling of estuaries and the coastal discharge of effluent. While the environmental regime today is very different, it is thanks to groups like the Friends of Nelson Haven that large parts of the Haven and  Waimea Inlet are undeveloped and retain a large part of their natural character.¹⁸ 

However, in 1994 Nelson Haven and, in particular, Wakapuaka Flats faced another challenge, with a proposal for a deepwater port development on the Flats. The project – fronted by a prominent local politician of the day, Owen Jennings and backed by former Cabinet minister and future ACT party leader Richard Prebble and various state and private sector high flyers – became known as Port Kakariki, a deepwater port featuring a one-kilometre-long wharf extending from the Boulder Bank into Tasman Bay, where giant ships could berth and manoeuvre with ease.¹⁹ It was planned as the hub to ship West Coast coal to Asia, as well as handling logs, which would be barged across Tasman Bay from Mapua.

The project garnered a huge amount of opposition, for its environmental impact, with planned construction of enormous sheds on the bank to house cargo, as well as the long wharf, and scepticism about the business model, as rival operators on the West Coast stated their concerns. By 1996, the Nelson Mail, stated that it was  "too grandiose to ever be put into practice", but it was never truly dead and several years later, when the Nelson North marine reserve was proposed, Port Nelson lodged its concerns that a reserve must not be allowed to hinder the possibility that one day, a deep-water port may be built out in Tasman Bay. However, the marine reserve went ahead, ending plans for any port.²⁰

The Friends group was involved in fighting the Port proposal and became involved in a wide range of issues around threats to water quality and threats of infilling and the loss of estuarine habitat.²¹ The group continues to make submissions on a variety of environmental issues throughout the top of the South Island.²²

2017 (updated November 2020)

The Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand's smallest national park, is now a ‘must-walk' for many tourists, but not so long ago, it was well off the beaten track.

On 7 May, 1957, the Nelson Evening Mail described the area as "a stretch of little known coastline.....only a few miles from modern highways and speeding traffic, it is difficult of access except from sea and remains in much the same state as in pre-historic eras."

Abel Tasman National Park [Lindsay Vaughan, 2006]
Click image to enlarge

Abel Tasman sailed past in 1642, James Cook  saw it in a fog in 1770, but  Rear Admiral Dumont d'Urville  was the first known European to anchor in its still waters in 1827 and record his impressions of the ‘majestic scene' surrounding them.

According to John and Hilary Mitchell in Te Tau Ihu o te Waka (Volume 1), when d'Urville anchored in Tasman Bay, the Māori in the area were possibly Ngāti Kuia and/or Ngāti Apa, with Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri  slaves. D'Urville noticed the distinction commenting that "half of these people seemed to be of high rank, judging by their tattooing, and the distinguished appearance of their faces."

Abel Tasman National Park [Lindsay Vaughan, 2006]
Click image to enlarge

Just fourteen years later in 1841, the first European settlers stumbled ashore after their long arduous journey from England on the first ships- the Will Watch, Whitby and Arrow . Between 1854 and 1857, about 26 pioneering European families lived along the coastline, with some palatial homes being built in the bays. The key activities were farming, timber milling and ship-building. With few roads, the sheltered waters of Tasman Bay were a-flutter with schooners, cutters, brigs and barques.

But by the 1930s, the settlers and builders had left this beautiful, but remote area, and only holidaymakers and fishermen remained.

One land owner of the time, Don Brownlie remembered early holidays when trampers were rarities and tracks and conditions were primitive. Fish were so plentiful, they could be caught on demand; dredging just a few hundred metres, produced as many as ten dozen scallops. A craypot set overnight could catch four or five crayfish - "there were always enough for a meal," he commented laconically to the Nelson Evening Mail in 1988.

Mrs Moncrieff signing new book, Dec 1976 The Nelson Provincial Museum, Geoffrey C Wood Collection, 2708 fr7
Click image to enlarge

In 1936, Captain H.M. Moncrieff and his wife Perrine , bought 502 acres at Astrolabe. No sooner was the land bought, than it was gazetted as a private scenic reserve. A crusader, who had formed the Nelson Bush and Bird Society in 1928, Mrs Moncreiff was described as a woman of strong convictions, with an irrepressible sense of humour and an intense interest in people.

In the summer of 1937, Mrs Moncreiff heard of a proposal to mill native timber at Totaranui. She began lobbying Government and persuaded seven local bodies in the district to endorse a petition to declare 38,819 acres of Crown Land and State Forest a National Park.

The petition was granted by Government in November 1942 and the official opening was held at Kaiteriteri on 19 December 1942. Queen Wilhelmina, the late Queen Mother of the Netherlands, was the Park's first Patroness.

A 1957 Nelson Evening Mail article waxed eloquent about the area: "On a summer's day the diaphanous blue veil of the sky hovers over gleaming golden sands and mirrored lagoons which drowse peacefully in the sparkling brilliance of sun."

Written by Joy Stephens and published in Wild Tomato, 2008, with the support of The Nelson Provincial Museum.

The information in this article is from resources available at the Nelson Provincial Museum's Isel Park Research Archives. For more information see http://www.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/

Effie Newbigging Richardson, 1849? - 1928, and Ralphine Zealandia Regina Richardson, 1887-1969.

Euphemia [Effie] Johnstone was born sometime between 1849 and 1859 in Argyllshire, Scotland. Her father had died by the time she was six years old leaving her mother to run the farm. In the early 1860's Effie emigrated to New Zealand with her mother and probably other members of her family. Her mother remarried in 1865 and died near Hokitika in 1883. Effie worked as a barmaid in Hokitika, where her mother moved on remarrying, before her own marriage to Ralph Richardson, barrister, solicitor and owner of the Maitai run-holding, in 1884.¹

Effie Richardson, late 1880's, Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection
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Effie and Ralph Richardson had two children, Effie Louisa and Ralphine (known as Queenie). Ralph died five years after their marriage and his father, Doctor Ralph Richardson, sent for Effie and his grand-daughters. They remained in Southern France, where the girls finished their education, and England for 18 years , before returning to  Nelson.²  

During this time they lived off rent from various landholdings in Nelson. In 1908, Effie and her two grown daughters returned to Nelson and bought a property at the corner of Richardson Street and Princes Drive.  

Effie took control of the Maitai Valley leases, as well as buying adjoining land, which included riparian rights to the Maitai River. She was involved in lengthy battles with lessees, local bodies, adjoining property owners and members of the public,³ who were used to swimming in the river. They were banned, except for one area known as Big Hole. Wandering dogs were shot and trespassers sent fleeing.   Various groups in the community regarded her actions as an infringement of their rights and the Nelson City Council even petitioned Parliament. After many years of battles, land was bought by the Council and became a reserve for the Nelson public.  

While Effie was occupied with protecting their land rights, Ralphine managed the farm. Ralphine had eloped with the family groom a few years after their return to Nelson, but was brought back from Christchurch and immersed herself in farm work. She learnt to muster, hand shear and crutch sheep, and was well respected by her workers. Her visits to Nelson were often made riding astride on horseback in riding breeches, a habit not entirely approved by Nelson matrons.

By the 1950's, Richardson land holdings included the  6500 acre Maitai property, Tonga Island and additional land in the Abel Tasman National Park area.⁴   Effie died in 1928 and Queenie, one of Nelson's largest landowners,  farmed the Maitai run until her death in 1969. 

Although Ralphine never married, she adopted two infant boys from Australia (in 1937 and 1945). Denis and Richard, were brought up with the help of her close friend Miss D.A.Vercoe.

The Nelson French Society, set up to keep the French language alive, saw Ralphine's closest friends Mrs Perrine Moncrieff, Mrs Gladys Bisley and artist Marjorie Naylor gather regularly at her home.

Ralphine was involved in the Nelson Suter Art Society, the Nelson Women's Club, the Nelson Chamber Music Society, the Nelson A&P Society, and Federated Farmers, and she was a life member of the Nelson Scout Association.

Story compiled by Debbie Daniel-Smith from information sourced by the Nelson Genealogical Society, 2009

Updated: March 31, 2020