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What may be the oldest landing sites in Aotearoa for waka

From Afternoons 18 February 2015

Researchers have discovered some of what may be the oldest landing sites in Aotearoa for waka as captured by Abel Tasman's artist in 1642. They made several trips to sea to find the exact place from which the original Dutch drawings were made.

Images courtesy of Rudiger Mack and Dr Rosanne Hawarden.

This image from a 1705 Dutch book called Noord en Oost Tartarye by Nicolaes Witsen was one of the first travel guides of its day and as Witsen was the wealthy son of a director of the Dutch East India Company no expense was spared with the etchings. Embedded in the image and all but Invisible to the naked eye are a dozen tiny canoes on three beaches. This is the first printed image of Maori watercraft on land or at anchor. The canoe beaches can be identified in the landscape with two of them, Taupo Point and Takapou in Wainui Bay, Golden Bay in the South Island, being recorded archaeological sites.

Taupo Point in the Witsen image and as it is from the same point at sea

Abel Tasman Point in the Witsen image and as it is from the same point at sea.

Taupo Point which is now part of the Abel Tasman Park, is a historic pa site drawn by an early surveyor John Barnicoat in 1844. This shows canoes on the same rocky beach which has been cleared of large boulders to create several canoe haulages or tauranga waka, which were thought to pre-date European arrival in the area.

Canoe landing site Taupo Point

Menzies Bay canoe landing site.

The images in this gallery are used with permission and are subject to copyright conditions.