Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Waikaremoana ('sea of rippling waters'), a deep, 55-sq-km crucible of water encircled by
the Lake Waikaremoana Track, one of NZ's Great Walks. Rugged bluffs drop away to reedy
inlets, the lake's mirror surface disturbed only by mountain zephyrs, waterbirds taking to the
skies and the occasional pleasure boat.
The name Te Urewera still has the capacity to make Pakeha New Zealanders feel slightly
uneasy - and not just because it translates as 'The Burnt Penis'. There's something primal
and untamed about this wild woodland, with its rich history of Maori resistance. The local
Tuhoe people - prosaically known as the 'Children of the Mist' - never signed the Treaty of
Waitangi and it was only in June 2013 that the
iwi
(tribe) and the Crown signed a deed of
settlement to provide redress for historical land confiscations.
Remote, rugged, and immense - it's not surprising that Te Urewera became a stronghold
for Maori. Even today it remains a relatively infrequently visited area, with the main road
through it, SH38, largely unsealed as it winds its way through the park's mountainous interi-
or.
History
Maori legend says human settlement in Te Urewera began when Hine-Pokohu-Rangi (the
Mist Maiden) married Te Maunga (a mountain), producing the fierce Tuhoe tribe (the Chil-
dren of the Mist). Genealogical evidence places the arrival of the Tuhoe at around AD 1350.
Tuhoe settled the rugged interior of Te Urewera, but not around Lake Waikaremoana.
That was home to another coastal tribe, Ngati Ruapani.
With life determined by the practical demands of food gathering, Te Urewera nurtured an
industrious, resilient people with links to the land. No part of the forest was left unexplored.
Missionaries were the first Pakeha to explore the area, when Reverend William Williams
travelled through in November 1840 and came across Lake Waikaremoana. Naturally suspi-
cious of any intrusion, Tuhoe closely guarded Te Urewera's isolation and joined other tribes
in the 1860s to war against government troops.
The tribes had just suffered a severe defeat when, in 1868, Tuhoe destiny took a strange
turn. In that year Te Kooti, a charismatic Maori leader, escaped from a Chatham Island pris-
on and sought refuge in Te Urewera. Te Kooti and Tuhoe formed a pact that led to a three-
year running battle with government troops. The soldiers applied a scorched-earth policy in
an effort to eliminate Tuhoe food supplies and flush the tribe from the woods.
Te Kooti used unique military manoeuvres to score victories and to stage successful raids
on towns, including Rotorua. However, Tuhoe, with their limited resources, were no match
