Tuateawa Timeline.

As you wander around Tuateawa it is difficult to imagine the transformations that it has undergone. Twenty thousand years ago forest would have existed only in this region and the North. The last Ice Age was at it's peak. South of Auckland there would have been scrub, and then tussock. The Tuateawa area would have been more extensive. The sea level was down a good 100m. A single land mass existed from Stewart Is. to Cape Reinga. Moas could have walked from Tuateawa to The Mercuries with dry feet.

Tuateawa would have been part of a seedbank that allowed recolonisation of the south as the Ice Age weakened it's grip on NZ. Not all of the species survived the cold. Today, for example, we have only two members of the Protea family, the Rewa rewa and Toru. Many existed before the ice age. It is thought that the vegetation of Noumea is the closest in composition to that of the preglacial period in NZ.

Warming occured and by 10,000BP Cook Straight was formed. By 3,000BP 95% of the North Is. was forested. Tuateawa would have been full of an incredible variety of life.

New Zealand became the last land mass to be occupied by man. There are many indications of these early Polynesian arrivals in the Coromandel region. All the evidence suggests a date around 1280 AD for the beginning of colonisation. In less than 500 years they would be joined by colonists of European origin. These, first colonists, arrived to a land of plenty. They brought their agricultural skills with them. Fire was a major tool, as it would be for the later European arrivals. East coast bush is particularly susceptible to fire as it is more open and less lush than that on the West coast. Habitat destruction would have been almost immediate. Fire did provide land for planting though, which was the immediate requirement. In the burned land bracken fern and cabbage tree grew particularly well. Both were major carbohydrate sources for the Polynesians. It is of interest that we live on the slopes of Whanake. In Maori the noun whanake refers to the edible portion of the cabbage tree. It does seem reasonable to name a geographical feature after an important resource found there!

Their protein source was found in the bush and on the shore. Sea lions and fur seals were abundant on Tuateawa shores in those times. In the bush and it's fringes there were moa. Some of these weighed in at a quarter tonne. Dressed out they would have produced 90kg. of meat. In Tegal terms that would be a No. 900! Both the hunting and farming practices proved to be unsustainable. A population boom put pressure on resources, and the large protein supply dwindled and then became totally or locally extinct. Soil fertility would have fallen from repeated cropping and new land would need to be burned for horticultural purposes. When the Polynesians arrived it is believed that around 75 to 85% of the country was forested. This dropped to around 53% by the 1500's. A massive habitat destruction in a very short period.

It is at this point that the life style began to change and a distinctly Maori culture developed from its Polynesian origins.

European colonists proved to be just as exploitative. The kauri and its potential for profit were quickly realised. Discovered in 1772 it was being exported as sawn timber to build Melbourne and Sydney by 1820. Today there are 7 000 hectares of Kauri, initially, in Coromandel and Northland there were around 1.7 million hectares. The local story is revealed by this image of a hand written document of 1906. It may not be easy to read. Essentially it says that, in a region stretching from Waikawau to Tuateawa there is little commercial timber left to be harvested.

"young" totara, approx 500mm di.

We like to think of Tuateawa bush as very special. Indeed it is! However it has been through a lot to get where it is. It contains some really big trees, but only of non commercial species. Those species are making a comeback, but they have only had a century to do it so far. A return to the pre 1280 AD bush could be a few years away!