Motutapu Island is a 1,510 ha (3,700-acre) island in the Hauraki Gulf to the northeast of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. The island is part of the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park. The island can be accessed via regular ferry services departing from Auckland City.
Etymology Motutapu's full name in Māori, rarely used, is Te Motutapu a Taikehu, 'The sacred island of Taikehu', a tohunga (tribal priest) of the Tainui tribe. Motutapu, meaning 'sacred' or 'sanctuary' island, is a term used for various islands in a number of Polynesian cultures.
Geography Approximately 18,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, Motutapu Island was landlocked to the North Island, surrounded by a vast coastal plain where the Hauraki Gulf exists today. Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, after which Motutapu became an island separated from the rest of New Zealand. The island is now linked by an artificial causeway to the much younger volcanic island cone of Rangitoto. Prior to the emergence of the volcano, the island had been extensively occupied by Māori for over 100 years. The eruption, approximately 700 years ago, destroyed their settlements, but there is circumstantial evidence that some of the residents may have escaped the destruction, presumably by waka (canoe). Of the many archaeological sites recorded, one, the Sunde Site (Puharakeke), shows human and dog footprints preserved in solidified ash. These were protected from erosion by a layer of ash from the next eruption. Today the island lacks the forest cover of neighbouring Rangitoto Island and most areas are limited to grass and wet meadows. There are few large trees on the island but a reforestation project has been carried out by the Motutapu Restoration Trust. The project has brought back many indigenous flora to various sections of the island. In March 2013, two shallow earthquakes situated beneath Motutapu Island measuring 3.1 and 3.9 shook the Auckland area. Fears they could be a sign of a looming eruption at nearby Rangitoto Island were allayed by geologists, who said they were caused by fault lines, not volcanic activity.
History Motutapu was one of the earliest places inhabited both by Polynesians, and later by Europeans in the Auckland region. The earliest evidence for occupation of Motutapu dates to before the eruption of Rangitoto, circa 1400 AD. The eruption smothered Motutapu in ash and caused widespread deforestation, but also produced friable soils suitable for gardening. Archaeological deposits bracketing the ash suggest the eruption prompted a shift from broad-spectrum hunting of forest birds to intensive marine exploitation and horticulture. Numerous kumara pits were later found by archeologists. Archaeological surveys of the island undertaken since the 1960s have shown that the island was used as an area to manufacture adze (toki) between AD1400 and AD1500, using the greywacke found on the island. Following the eruption Motutapu is reported to have been visited by both the Arawa and Tainui canoes and was subsequently settled by the Tainui ancestors of the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki. The island's traditional name, Te Motu Tapu a Taikehu ("The Sacred island of Taikehu"), is a reference to a tohunga of the Tainui canoe. Ngāi Tai maintained rights of occupation from that time until its eventual sale with only minor incursions from other groups. The Ngāti Huarere of Arawa descent claimed bird snaring rights over the kākā (native parrot) by right of conquest, and from the 18th century reciprocal fishing rights were negotiated with Ngāti Pāoa on Waiheke Island. In the 1820s many of the islands in the Hauraki Gulf, including Motutapu, were evacuated in response to the threat of Hongi Hika and the Ngāpuhi armed with muskets. Many of the Hauraki tribes retreated south, and the Ngāi Tai are said to have taken refuge at Maungatautari. Occasional ventures were made back to former territories in the gulf, sometimes not without consequence, as with when a local fishing party was attacked at Motutapu by Ngapuhi with several casualties. From 1836 many of the evacuated territories were resettled, and the Ngai Tai remained on Motutapu until the northern part of the island was sold to Tom Maxwell in 1840. Since the 1840s, the island has been worked as a pastoral farm, with farming settlements centred around Emu Bay and Home Bay. Maxwell had lived at Maraetai with the Ngāi Tai and was married to Ngeungeu, the daughter of the principal chief, Tara Te Irirangi. From 1840 to 1845 the northern end was leased out to James Moncur. The southern end was purchased by Williamson and Crummer in 1845, but subsequently granted to politician Robert Graham in 1857, with the island increasingly becoming a trip destination – Home Bay Wharf hosted such attractions as whale boat racing, greased pig chasing and hunting. The Reid brothers purchased the island in 1869–70 and retained ownership until 1943. A series of homesteads and outbuildings have been built at Home Bay, the first between 1840 and 1857, and the present Reid Homestead was built 1901–03. A homestead was built at Emu Bay c. 1869–70, occupied by James Reid and demolished in 1976. Work began on the Motutapu counter-bombardment battery in 1936. In May 1936 roads to battery had been formed, and the battery and observation post completed by June 1937, guns mounted by end of August 1938, and a temporary camp established at Administration Bay in 1937. War broke out in September 1939 and the military population on the island went from 10 to 200, requiring the construction of additional buildings at Administration Bay and at the observation posts. Plotting rooms were constructed in 1941–42, and searchlights installed at Billy Goat point. The US Navy intended to use Auckland as a staging point into the Pacific and this led to the construction of deepwater wharfing facilities, and the construction of 50 ammunition magazines between 1942 and 1943. The war ended in 1945, and within five years the entire complex had been abandoned. The Department of Conservation began a long-term restoration programme on the island in 1992, aiming to revegetate the island with native species by the 2040s.
Landscape
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