What follows is a personal interpretation not entirely supported by facts! There are many people out there who have had a real part in the history of Tuateawa and carry with them stories from the past that they heard, in their youth or from those no longer with us. Please, if you can inform this conjecture with a little bit of reality it would be most welcome.
The settlement of Tuateawa exists between the bush the sea and the sky.. To the north it is enclosed by the slopes of Whanake. To the south it is limited by the spectacular Kahutara peninsula. It's population exists in dwellings scattered through the regenerating bush. Exposed to the east it suffers from dramatic storms and high winds. To balance this there are long periods of superb weather and some of the most incredible seascapes in New Zealand.
In recent years people have been attracted by the many possibilities for both relaxation and recreation.
It's story is probably not too dissimilar to that of other remote coastal areas. In some ways it is a place out of time. There are traces of its past to be found all about. There are many sites of previous Maori occupation. Many appear to have been defensible. Middens from the past have been exposed by more recent activities. We can see there the shellfish that were eaten and that still exist along the coastline. Artefacts were found by early farmers and these collections still exist. Areas are known as Maori gardens and were probably used well into the 20th. century. Taro plants are still to be found in some stream beds and there are pit areas in some presumably fortified sites where root crops would have been stored. If you are very lucky you may find fragments of obsidian, probably from Mayor Island. The sea was the major means of long distance transport and Tuateawa may have been a convenient stop off point on the way to points north. All the features of the landscape that we know have Maori, not European names. How good it would be to understand how those names came to be. Most of us pass over the Tokatea on the way to Tuateawa and the origin of that name is known. Toka is a rock, just like our Tokaroa, and tea means white. It is related that a white rock was placed on Tokatea when a Colville chief's son heard of his fathers death. Place names tell stories. The next point up the coast from Whanake Point is Titimiri Point. A titi is a muttonbird so we can imagine that those cliffs and slopes were the homes of muttonbirds and that they were harvested for food. Having searched and asked Maori from the Waikato some possible interpretations of some place names have arisen. Tuateawa as "the hidden place" has real appeal. As for Kahutara with its wonderful cliffs, "the beautiful cloak" seems so perfect. This is just conjecture however and the true meanings may only now be in the minds of a few local people. Let us hope so.
Closer to the present our guesses may be more accurate. Until the 1960's Tuateawa seems to have been literally, the end of the road. Farm tracks exist in the bush, some have been obscured by subsequent development. The present bridge over the Tuateawa Stream, near the boat ramp, is dated 1968. It was part of a road that completed a loop through Waikawau to Colville. It probably sparked the process of subdivision. I recall Jim Rabarts mentioning that he had to pay for that nice bit of tarseal just before Waiherire Drive ,when seeking the right to subdivide.
Before this time much of the coastal land became involved in farming. Here and there the remains of burned puriri can be found, left behind by the clearing process. When did this farming start? Certainly land grants to soldiers returning from the second World War would have moved things along. Farming was incredibly profitable after the war. Those areas currently in kanuka bush would have been pasture. Europe needed cheese and butter and New Zealand could provide it. An airstrip then used for aerial topdressing of the pastures now hosts a collection of beehives. Cheese and butter presupposes milking sheds and cream separators. There are no obvious signs today. There are a few indications of previous habitation, the odd clump of naked ladies were a dairy worker may have lived. How would the cream have left the area though with the roading being so bad? Was their a coastal cream trip as in other parts of New Zealand? There are bits of metal cemented in rocks at various coastal locations like Little Bay that might have been suitable sites for small wharves. There is also a building that used to be a dairy factory on a wharf in Whitianga. Did it receive cream from Tuateawa? These are questions that will have answers as the period is within living memory.
The agricultural era is passed for Tuateawa. There are a few dry stock now but much of the grassland is regenerating bush. Farming profitability was in decline when the loop road went in. Fertilizer stopped being applied,stocking levels fell and blackberry started to appear along with the start of regeneration. Goats provided a temporary solution but they are now gone from the pastures and also from the forest park. The regeneration of farmland is now well underway. The completion of the loop road also coincided with a wealthier population. People were looking for a patch of land and Tuateawa was well placed to provide it and enter the next stage of its existence.
Forty years have passed since the loop road was completed. There are a significant number of permanent residents and even greater numbers of people who rest and relax here. The environment has improved. Conservation activities by both residents and D.O.C. started just as the possums arrived here from further down the peninsula. Regeneration is moving apace. Rats and mustelids are being held down and the benefits are beginning to accrue. Wonderful flowerings of pohutakawa, more skinks, more tuis and bellbirds and kakas are always present. It is this way because people in the past have cared and they continue to do so. Long may it continue.
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