7.3.1 The ancestral landscapes of Tauranga Moana

As we have said, Tauranga was one of the first areas of Aotearoa New Zealand to be settled by Māori. They were greatly attracted by its mild climate, the range and concentration of available resources, and the sheltered anchorage for which Tauranga was named.¹⁴ Both archaeological and traditional evidence suggest a relatively large and densely settled population of Māori persisted in the area.¹⁵

The basic structures of Māori settlement and subsistence in Tauranga Moana are likely to have remained fairly constant, although some elements of the Māori diet changed significantly over time (as happened elsewhere in New Zealand). At all times, Tauranga Māori relied on harvesting resources from the seas (particularly from the rich inshore waters and shores of Tauranga Moana) and the ngāhere (or forests). With access to a varied and reliable range of foods from a diverse range of habitats, Māori flourished. The density of occupation around Rangataua, for example, is suggested by the pēpeha 'ngā pāpaka o Rangataua’ (‘the crabs of Rangataua’), which likens their numbers to the multitudes of crabs on the mudflats.¹⁶ Similarly, Anne Salmond has described Ngāti Kāhu when Pākehā first arrived as among the most affluent people in this country’, having access to a wide range of resources - offshore and harbour fishing grounds, eeling pools in the river, fertile horticultural lands, and forests farther up the river.¹⁷

The dual focus on land and sea shaped traditional patterns of seasonal use and occupation that remained evident until very recently.¹⁸ All hapū were careful to maintain use rights to both domains, as suggested by the whakataukī, ‘He kāinga tahi ka mate, he kāinga rua ka ora’ (loosely meaning, ‘people who have only one dwelling place may not do very well, but with more than one place to live, the people will flourish’).¹⁹ The predominantly coastal hapü maintained rights to areas of forest inland on the flanks of the Kaimai Range. At various times from late summer through to autumn and early winter, they would travel there to harvest essential resources: kererū, for example, were best taken in May and June when they

14. Evelyn Stokes, A History of Tauranga County (Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 1980), p 21

15. For traditional and historical evidence see Evelyn Stokes, A History of Tauranga County, pp 21–22, 45. Archaeology is only recently confirming what has long been known from traditional sources about the antiquity and density of Māori settlement in the region. See Warren Gumbley and Ken Phillips, ‘Papamoa Lowlands Archaeological Survey and Heritage Assessment’, report prepared for Tauranga City Council, 2000 (doc T27), pp 4–5; Richard McGovern-Wilson, brief of evidence, 26 October 2006 (doc T24), pp 8–9.

16. Colin Reeder, brief of evidence, 26 June 2006 (doc R30), pp 7–8

17. Anne Salmond, evidence to the Planning Tribunal, 1993 (doc A37(b), p 40); Antoine Coffin, ‘Changes in a Maori Community: Wairoa River Hapu of Tauranga: Report on social, economic and political conditions of Ngati Kahu, Ngati Rangi, Ngati Pango (Wairoa Hapu) 1830–1997’ (commissioned research report, Wellington: Waitangi Tribunal, 1997) (doc A76), p 19

18. See for example English translation of doc D13, undated (doc D13(a), p 9; Morehu Ngatoko Rahipere, brief of evidence, undated (doc F17), pp 2–3; Tai Taikato, brief of evidence, undated (doc J28), pp 3–4; Lance Hori Waaka, brief of evidence, 22 May 2006 (doc Q5), p 5; doc S16, p 4; Hine Thompson-Rauwhero, brief of evidence, 27 September 2006 (doc S39), p 5.

19. Evelyn Stokes, Ngamanawa: A Study of Conflicts in the Use of Forest Land (Hamilton: University of Waikato, 1983) (doc A11), p 3