...Naumai, haere mai, welcome to Aoteroa and the Whakatu area of the Nelson Tasman region!
The Whakatu region is rich with history from the early indigenous beginnings of the Maori from 950AD and the many encounters with European explorers and settlers from Abel Tasman in 1642, to Captain James Cook in 1769 and to the many ships of European settlers in the 1840s from England, Germany and the Netherlands.
Maori Culture
More than 3,600 Māori live in the Nelson city area, with the majority originating from other parts of the country. The Nelson Māori population has nearly doubled in the last 10 years, and has been described as the fastest growing Māori community in the country.
Six iwi (tribes) are ‘tangata whenua’, or people of the land, in Whakatū/Nelson city. These are Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Tama, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Koata, and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. Over recent years, iwi and their entities have developed their capacity to invest in a range of Top of the South business and community enterprises.
Outstanding among these is the Wakatu Incorporation, which has an asset base of $250 million, is a major landowner and is involved in fishing, aquaculture, tourism and viticulture. It is also active politically at regional and national levels, trades with other indigenous people and is recognised for innovation and leadership in Māori economic development. Ngāti Koata has diverse business interests; and Ngāti Tama is looking at a visitor development on coastal land north of the city. Treaty settlements have the potential to make Māori entities some of the larger investment enterprises in the region.
Settlement
Legends tell of Uruao, the first of the Polynesian voyaging canoes to land in Nelson. Although the archaeological record is sketchy and the first settlement date debated, carbon dating indicates that, like the rest of New Zealand, Nelson was first settled around the ninth century. Gardens were quickly established throughout the region, including alongside the Waimea River, and in Motueka and Riwaka, Mapua and Parapara. Hunting and gathering, along with cultivation of kūmera (sweet potato), were vital to these early settlers and excavations show that a variety of fish were also consumed. Seabirds, ducks, pukeko, kaka, tui and kakariki were just some of the birds that provided sustenance. The abundance of seafood, birds and favourable gardening conditions for kūmera made this land sought after.
Most villages were on the coast, close to river valleys. The location of each settlement was planned with both transport and food in mind. Waka (canoes) were used around the coast and up river valleys. Information on the traditions of tribes who lived in the region before and up to the 1820s has been difficult to document in detail, in part due to the displacement of tribes. Ngāti Tumatakōkiri were settled over the whole district from Whakapuaka to Karamea by the time Abel Tasman arrived in 1642.
There are many good resources that describe the early Māori settlement and subsequent European colonisation. The information here is from the overview given in ‘Nelson A Regional History’ by Jim McAloon. The book ‘Te tau ihu o te waka: A history of Māori of Marlborough and Nelson. Vol. 1, Te tangata me te whenua’ published by John and Hilary Mitchell in 2005 provides the most in-depth history of pre-European times.
