Archaeologists have conventionally divided New Zealand prehistory into two chronological phases: “Archaic Maori” and “Classic Maori”. These phases are defined by the distinctive assemblages of artefacts (such as adzes, fishing implements and ornaments) that are associated with each phase. But they also largely coincide with the centrality of big game to Maori subsistence. During the earlier phase, moa and seals were central to people’s diet. However, as moa became extinct (by around 1500 AD), and seal populations seriously depleted, Maori had to rely more heavily on other sources of food. (more…)
January 21, 2012
Did tsunami cause resource wars in prehistoric New Zealand?
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Environmental History, Maori, moa, archaeology, tsunami, natural disasters, prehistoric New Zealand, moa-hunters, seals, pa sites, prehistoric resource scarcity, coastal settlements, Hostile Shores, Dr Bruce McFadgen, pa, Maori settlement patterns, Parihaka Pa, Maori warfare |Leave a Comment
January 5, 2012
Lichen-covered fences and other miscellaneous ramblings
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Akatawara Road, cow and calf, goat, lichen, Parata, Reikorangi, St Andrews church |Leave a Comment
This post makes no pretensions of being a serious essay about environmental history; it is more an excuse to post a few pictures from the little Reikorangi expedition my son undertook a few days ago (see: Views of Kapiti 8: the kahikatea of Ngatiawa and The bridge between two counties: Ngatiawa Bridge).
This first picture was taken on Rangiora Road (click here to view map). The fence literally dripping with lichen was extremely enticing, and the horse peeking through the slats was an added bonus. (more…)
January 2, 2012
The bridge between two counties: Ngatiawa Bridge
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: historic bridge, Mangaone South Road, Mangaone Valley, Ngatiawa River, Norman Campbell, Reikorangi, sawmilling, Waikanae, Waikanae River |Leave a Comment
After our first excursion to Reikorangi on the last day of 2011 [see: Views of Kapiti 8: the kahikatea of Ngatiawa], I couldn’t resist another outing there with my son the next day.
I find the landscapes of Reikorangi so alluring; the natural environment itself is varied and interesting, both in its contours and mix of indigenous and exotic vegetation, but I also like the fact that its history is so palpable in the landscape. Even from the road, an observant visitor will spot old buildings, lichen-covered fences, abandoned machinery and other infrastructure. (more…)
January 1, 2012
Welcome to Year of the Dragon: a New Zealand “dragon” story
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Cook Strait, Environmental History, living fossils, New Zealand, New Zealand dragon, Nga Manu Nature Reserve, predation, rats, Stephen's Island, tuatara, University of Victoria, Year of the Dragon |Leave a Comment
Not being an avid follower of the Chinese zodiac, I was not aware that 2012 was the Year of the Dragon until yesterday, when I read a post of a favourite blogsite of mine. So, I thought it would be an opportune time to write about a New Zealand “dragon”.
The tuatara represents 225 million years of history on four scaly (and rather wrinkly) legs; it is the only survivor of an ancient group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the same time as dinosaurs. Its relatives became extinct 60 million years ago – and for this reason it is often referred to as a ‘living fossil’. (more…)
December 31, 2011
Views of Kapiti 8: the kahikatea of Ngatiawa
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: kahikatea, Kapiti, Ngatiawa River, Reikorangi, Reikorangi School, sawmilling, Waikanae |Leave a Comment
It was a rainy afternoon on the last day of 2011, so the family and I went out on a drive into the countryside to get out of the house. We ventured into the Reikorangi hills to the east of Waikanae, and just at the junction of Ngatiawa and Kents Road [click here to view map], came across this paddock with a few scattered kahikatea in it. The trees are too small to be original, but are likely to have spontaneously regenerated after the forest that clothed the hills here was cleared. (more…)
December 30, 2011
What is cute, furry and ecologically devastating?
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Environmental History, fur trade, pests, possums, Tararua Ranges, Tokomaru |1 Comment
Answer: a possum.
Even this little fellow, still not fully grown, would wreak havoc on vegetables and fruit trees, and in an indigenous forest environment, shrubs, trees, bird young and eggs.
Recently, we stayed at our friends’ lifestyle block near Tokomaru, nestled in the foothills of the Tararua Ranges [click here to view map]. (more…)
December 25, 2011
Omarupapaku “Old Mother Parker”: the forest that was
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Alan Esler, E. J. Wakefield, Environmental History, Erica Jones, Foxton, Foxton Port, H. M. Holcroft, Himatangi, James Wilson, kahikatea, kiekie, Manawatu, Omarupapaku, Round Bush Reserve, white pine |[5] Comments
“Round Bush”, an unassuming reserve near the coastal town of Foxton, Manawatu, is a place of great significance – though a casual passer-by would barely notice it, let alone have any sense of this significance.
A description of this remnant swamp forest is thought to be the first recorded account of the botany of the Manawatu. The account was made by E. J. Wakefield, when he passed the mouth of the Manawatu River by ship in February 1840.
He wrote: “As we ran along within two miles of the shore I saw a remarkable grove of high pine trees, near the mouth of a river called Manawatu, or ‘hold breath’, which flows into the sea about twenty-five miles from Kapiti.” (more…)
December 24, 2011
Kirkin’ of the Tartan: the Scottish diaspora of Turakina
Posted by envirohistorynz under reader contributions, short essay | Tags: Coast, David Young, Highland Clearances, Kirkin' of the Tartan, New Zealand, Scottish, Scottish diaspora, tartan, Turakina, Turakina Maori Girls College |1 Comment
By David Carnegie Young
All my life I had driven through the village, the great iron gates to its cemetery and spreading oaks speaking of a larger, lost past. From the 1950s I’d watched the gradual decline of a place that, long before my life, had been so much more. There was the smithy, whose hanging door I recall one day remained shut, the shops with their arthritic verandas, old houses that became hidden behind brambles as they staggered under the weight of vegetation and age. The village’s human edges greened and frayed until it was little more than a hamlet. Yet its centre survived.
There was still the Ben Nevis pub, Harry Stirling’s old garage, two churches, a graveyard on the hill and a broken necklace of 1860s wayside architecture where wayfarers might stop for a pie or sandwich and even a browse. (more…)
December 18, 2011
When is a road a “line”? The curious case of Kairanga County
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Environmental History, Kairanga County, lines, M. H. Holcroft, Manawatu County Council, Manawatu history, roads, surveying, The Line of the Road |Leave a Comment
In keeping with the roading theme [see the last post], I have just finished reading The Line of the Road by M.H. Holcroft, a history of the Manawatu County from 1876 to 1976, published in 1977.
The book was published to commemorate 100 years of the Manawatu County Council (as it was at the time). One of the themes which is reflected strongly both in the book and its title, is the importance of roads and roading (and bridges) in the development of the fledgling county – they were critical to the linking of communities, the distribution of goods, food and building and construction materials, and to get people to schools, hospitals and other facilities (where they existed). (more…)
January 26, 2012
Kimbolton and Kiwitea – “putting the small man on the land”
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Amos Burr, Beaconsfield, Cheltenham, Environmental History, Kimbolton, Land Act 1877, Manawatu, Oroua River, Special Settlement Scheme, surveyors |Leave a Comment
The area, once part of the Kiwitea County, is speckled with highly respectable-sounding placenames, such as Almadale, Cheltenham, Beaconsfield and Kimbolton, names of soon-to-be thriving towns on surveyors’ meticulously laid plans, but towns which never grew beyond small villages. (more…)
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