All that land estimated to contain two hundred and fourteen thousand acres known as the Tauranga Block. Bounded on the North-east by the sea from Ngakuri-a-whare Point to Wairakei Creek on the South-east by a line from the mouth of the Wairakei Creek to Otara from thence to Otanewainuku from thence to Poutiki on the South-west by a line from Poutiki to the summit of the watershed of the dividing range of hills between the East Coast and the Thames Valley and thence following the said watershed northward to the summit of the Aroha Mountain and on the North-west by a straight line from the summit of the Aroha Mountain to Ngakuri-a-whare Point.
Together with the Island of Tuhua or Mayor Island and such portions of Motiti or Flat Island as shall be adjudged to belong to the Ngaiterangi Tribe or to individual members thereof.106
It is interesting to note that this description of the boundaries was also used in the Tauranga Moana Maori Trust Board Act 1981 which awarded compensation to Tauranga Maori for the confiscation of their lands.107
The above boundary descriptions all refer to the area originally confiscated by Order in Council. Within that area the Crown arranged to keep 50,000 acres as the confiscated block, and the rest of the land would be returned to Maori. However, the land north of the Te Puna Stream was then ‘purchased’ by the Crown, as described in the Huharua section of this report.
The various deeds signed by Maori selling the Katikati and Te Puna blocks also give ‘Nga Kuri a Wharei’ as the name of the northern coastal point of the sale. The Te Puna and Katikati No 3 deed, signed on 3 November 1866, gives the following boundary description:
Ko nga rohe enei o taua whenua ka timata I Nga Kuri-a-whare ka rere Waingaere ka rere Oteotahi ka rere te whareotumapere ka rere te Onepu ka rere Waimata ka rere nga Puketurua ka rere te Wharehakahaka o Rangihau ka rere te Onewhero ka rere Huruhuru ka rere Pukekauri ka rere Mangahokio ka rere Kakarikikaitahi ara ki te Aroha auta katahi ka rere ke te tonga Pukekohatu ka rere Ngatukitukiahikawera ka rere Pukewhakataratara ka rere te Tuahu ka rere Motutapere ka rere Maungakahika ka rere Ngatamahinerua ka rere Haanga ka rere te Aroaro o Paretapu ka rere te Rekerekeokautere ka rere Maungakaiwhiria katahi ka whati mai whaka te moana te Umuokorongaehe ka rere Te Ranga ka rere Pukemanuka ka rere Te Puna katahi ka haere it te tahataha moana a - Ngakuri a Whare te rohe o te timatanga.108
The translation was:
These are the boundaries of the Land commencing at ngakuri a whare thence to Waingaere thence to Oteotahi thence to Te whareotumapere thence to te Onepu thence to Waimata thence to Ngapuketurua thence to Wharehakahaka o Rangihau thence to Onewhero thence to Huruhuru thence to Pukekauri thence to Mangahokio thence to Kakarikikaitahi that is to say to Te Aroha auta thence in a southerly direction to Pukekohatu thence to Ngatukitukiahikawera thence to Pukewhakataratara thence to Te Tuahu thence to Motutapere thence to Mangakahika thence to Ngatamahinerua thence to Haanga thence to te Aroaro o Paretapu thence to te
106 Tauranga District Lands Act, 1868, Schedule
107 Vincent O’Malley, Alan Ward, ‘Draft Historical Report on Tauranga Moana Lands’, Crown/Congress Joint Working Part, 1993, p 4
108 Te Puna and Katikati Block No. 3, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty District, H.H. Turton, Maori Deeds of Land Purchase in the North Island of New Zealand, Wellington, Government Printer, 1877-1878, No 461
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