The present and past seemed gathered about us, all the long procession of people who have lived in the Gulf and are gone now.
I thought of the heraldic markings of the Gulf, the pohutukawas, the Norfolk pines, the lovely sculpting of the rocks, the terns beating their fragile wings over the tops of the waves, the gannets diving.
I thought of all the islands of Hauraki, on days when they take fire from the sun and lie light as feathers on the sea.
Or on days when the mist rolls down and they withdraw behind the long grey curtains like castles within their walls.
Forty islands, I said, more if you count the gannet perches, and snug in my mind’s eye, not one of them seems very far away.
PHOTOS SECTION
Captain Fred Ladd, MBE
The causeway between Motutapu and Rangitoto Islands where Mr Marsden and Mr Butler had a difficult passage
Islington Bay, Rangitoto Island, in the mid 1960s
The “snug, green little castle of Brown’s Island”
Approaching the long, long jetty of Motuihe Island
Home Bay, Motutapu Island, in the mid 1960s
Barbara Cotter on her black gelding, Minvik
Sheep muster, Motuihe Island, with Rangitoto in the distance
Old Maori fort, Motutapu Island
World War II fort, Motutapu Island
Netting piper, Rakino Island
Home Bay, Rakino Island, in the mid 1960s
Pied shags at Otata Island in the Noises group
Rosemary at milking time, Rakino Island
Oysters leeched on oysters, Rakino Island
The Three Sisters, Rakino’s attendant islets
“Like some fanciful and long forgotten folly” — the copper mine engine-house, Kawau Island
Cathedral Grove, Kawau Island
Yacht-racing off Kawau in the 1960s. At far right, the veteran gaff-rigged keeler Ariki
A start, Squadron Weekend, Kawau Island, 1965
Early morning, Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island
Pakiri Beach
Pipi gatherers, Pakiri Beach
The Poor Knights and the Hen and Chickens from Pakiri Beach
Dovedale, on the cliffs, Pakiri
Shore road, Tryphena, Great Barrier Island
A pohutukawa, almost waterborne, at Port FitzRoy, Great Barrier Island
“Youngling” kauri, Great Barrier Island
Kauri ricker, Great Barrier Island
The church at Leigh, with Little Barrier Island on the horizon
Leigh Harbour
Pua Mataahu, the sacred grove of pohutukawa at Little Barrier Island
The rocky shore of Little Barrier Island
Day’s end, Little Barrier Island
Port FitzRoy, Great Barrier Island
Al Capone’s black Chrysler Imperial, Port FitzRoy
Kauri dam in the Kaiarara Valley, Great Barrier Island
Landscape, Great Barrier Island
Kaitoki Beach, Great Barrier Island
White bluffs, Tryphena, Great Barrier Island
The first Blackwell homestead, Tryphena, Great Barrier Island
Off by amphibian, Mulberry Grove, Great Barrier Island
Pohutukawa trunks, Mulberry Grove, Great Barrier Island
Captain Jock McKinnon, master of the scow Rahiri
Toby Davies, Katherine Bay, Great Barrier Island
Sister Pia Makiha, Public Health Nurse, Great Barrier Island
Mr and Mrs Walter Menzies, Awana, Great Barrier Island
The concert, Flat Island
Morning at Flat Island
The bone-white tower of Tiri Tiri Matangi
Landing steps, Cuvier Island
Okiwi Beach, Great Barrier Island
Awana Beach, Great Barrier Island
Arid Island from Whangapoua Beach, Great Barrier Island
Islands off the coast of Coromandel, from Tokatea Hill
Ponui Island
Promontory, Waiheke Island, “stretched like the fossilised tail of some long-dead, gilded dinosaur”
Onetangi Beach, Waiheke Island
Communion service in the Days’ garden, Omaru Bay, Waiheke Island
Major R. McCallum at Rotoroa Island in 1965
The great Ponui oak with three young Chamberlins
The Chamberlin homestead, Poroaki, Ponui Island
Donkeys at Ponui Island
Matiatia, Waiheke Island, in the mid 1960s
Tom Dawn, Surfdale, Waiheke Island
Oneroa, Waiheke Island, 1965
Cleaning fish, Little Oneroa, Waiheke Island
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book could not have been produced without the enthusiastic help and kindness of many people, both in the Hauraki Gulf and on its mainland coasts, who welcomed us into their homes and shared their recollections of the Gulf and its history. Our warm thanks go to:
Mr Ted Day, Mr and Mrs Edsel Day, Mr and Mrs Henry Day, Mr and Mrs Bob Burns, Mr and Mrs A.R. Alison, and the Rev. John Powell, all of Waiheke Island; Mr and Mrs Bill Bennett of Mototapu; Mr and Mrs D. Cotter of Motuihe; Dr Maxwell Rickard of Rakino; the Chamberlin families of Ponui; Mr and Mrs Gordon Alington and Mr Alex McNeil of Coromandel; Mr A.M. Isdale of Thames; Mr and Mrs H.J. Keys, Mr Tudor Collins and Mr and Mrs S. Moore of Warkworth; Mrs Sandy Matheson of Leigh; Mr and Mrs E. Wyatt, Mr and Mrs Sam Brown and the late Mr and Mrs W. Greenwood of Pakiri; Mr and Mrs Reg Cooper, Mr and Mrs Tom Blackwell, Mr and Mrs Fred Mabey, all of Great Barrier; Mr and Mrs Rodger Blanshard of Little Barrier; the Walker families of Flat Island; Sister Pia Makiha of the Public Health Nursing Service; Rangers Tony Fuller and Michael Hetherington of the New Zealand Forest Service, Great Barrier; Sir Robert Kerridge.
We travelled many miles by sea, air and land, and for help with transport we are indebted to Mr Harry Julian (Haunui), Mr Maurice Salas (Lady Julie); Mr Richard King (Starita), the RNZVR and Ngapona, members of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron; Captain Fred Ladd MBE, Captain Bruce Packer and the amphibians of Tourist Air Travel Limited; the New Zealand Forest Service; the Department of Lands and Survey.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Banks, Sir Joseph. The Diary of Sir Joseph Banks. Edited by Sir Joseph Hooker. London. McMillan. 1896.
Barber, R.J. Journals and Correspondence of the Rev. John Butler. Masterton. Palamontain and Petherick. 1927.
Brothers, R.N. ‘Geological and archeological interpretation of a Section of Rangitoto Ash on Motutapu Island’. NZ Journal of Geology. Vol. 2 No. 3 August 1959.
Campbell, John Logan. Poenamo. London. Williams and Norgate. 1881.
Carter, Ronald. Little Ships. Wellington. Reed. 1948.
Cook, James. The Journals of Captain Cook. Edited by J.C. Beaglehole. Hakluyt Society. Cambridge University Press. 1955.
Cruise, Richard Alexander. Journal of a Ten Months’ Residence in New Zealand. London. Longmans, Hunt, Reese, Orme and Brown. 1823.
Cuvier lighthouse. Log from the collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Dieffenbach, Ernest. Travels in New Zealand. London. John Murray. 1843.
Downey, John Francis. Gold Mines of the Hauraki. NZ Government Printer. 1935.
Dumont d’Urville. New Zealand 1826. Translated by Olive Wright. Wellington. Wingfield Press.
Eaddy, P.A. ’Neath Swaying Spars. Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd.
Earle, Augustus. Narrative of a Nine Months’ Residence in New Zealand. London. Longmans, Hunt, Reese, Orme and Brown. 1832.
Field, John. Rules and Regulations of the Hauraki Gold Mining District. Auckla
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Froude, James Anthony. Oceana, or England and her Colonies. London. Longmans Green. 1886.
Grainger, John Thomas. The Amazing Thames. Wellington. Reed. 1951.
Grant-Mackie, J.A. Outline Geology of the Inner Islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Proceedings NZ Ecological Society. No. 7. 1960.
Hamilton, W.M. Little Barrier Island. Bulletin 137, New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
Hochstetter, Ferdinand. Geology of New Zealand. Translated by C.A. Fleming. Wellington. Government Printer. 1959.
Isdale, A.M. History of Thames Mining. Thames. 1952.
Keys, H.J. Mahurangi. Warkworth. Cameo Press. 1952.
Maning, F.E. Old New Zealand: a tale of the good old days by a Pakeha Maori. London. John Murray. 1845.
Marsden, Samuel. Letters and Journals of The Rev. Samuel Marsden. Edited by John Rawson Elder. Dunedin. Coulls, Somerville, Wilkie. 1934.
Mathew, Sarah. Letters, and ‘Journal of a Voyage to New Zealand’. Auckland: Manuscript, Auckland Public Library.
Moko Hinau lighthouse. Log from the collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Reed, A.H. The New Story of the Kauri. Wellington. Reed. 1964.
Reischek, Andreas. Yesterdays in Maoriland. Translated and edited by H.E.L. Priday. London. Cape. 1930.
Rutherford, J. The Founding of New Zealand. Wellington. Reed. 1940.
Rutherford, J. Sir George Grey. London. Cassell. 1961.
Sherrin, Richard Arundel Augur. History of New Zealand, from earliest times to 1840.
Stack, James West. Early Maoriland Adventures. Dunedin. A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1935.
Wakefield, E.J. Adventures in New Zealand. London, John Murray. 1845.
Williams, William. Journal. Typescript. Auckland Public Library.
PERIODICALS
New Zealand Graphic
Auckland Weekly News
Southern Cross
Thames Advertiser
Waiheke Resident
As well, the writer was given access to letters, diaries and documents from private sources.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Filmmaker SHIRLEY MADDOCK was the first woman in New Zealand to officially hold the title of ‘Television Producer’. From the late 1960s, while raising three children, she took a step back from television to focus on her writing, going on to publish several books on New Zealand history. She was made an Officer of the Order of New Zealand Merit in 1999 for her services to broadcasting and has been widely celebrated as one of television’s most respected producers.
Photographer DON WHYTE and his friend and partner Harry Reynolds filmed and photographed many of Shirley Maddock’s documentaries in the pioneering days of New Zealand storytelling. His charming photographs seen in this book are likely to be the most complete photographic record of the Hauraki Gulf in the 1960s.
COPYRIGHT
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published 1966 and revised in 1983
This edition published in 2017
by HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
harpercollins.co.nz
Copyright © Shirley Maddock and Don Whyte 1966, 1983
The moral rights of the author and photographer have been asserted. This work is copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand
ISBN 978 1 7755 4116 5 (hardback)
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Cover design by HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover image by Don Whyte
FOOTNOTES
1Taratoia is their rendition of Pakatoa.
2Eaheinomaive would be Ika na Maui or the North Island.
3Captain Herd had either lost his compass or read it poorly — his islands were to the east of Waiheke.
4The Totalisator Agency Board is the off-course betting organisation owned and operated by the N.Z. Government.