history of kapiti island

30/11/2016

Pre-1840 New Zealand attracted a polyglot mix of adventurers and entrepreneurs, the sealers, whalers, stowaways and their Maori agents forming what historical geographer Alan Grey called a ‘robber economy’. The early industries, sex excluded, were extractive: flax, timber, seals and most important of all, whales. Pelagic or ocean whalers entered the Bay of Islands from the early 1800s. Shore whaling began 20 years later and mostly happened further south, around Cook Strait and the along the east coast of the South Island.

These European ships drew Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha to Kapiti Island. His tribe had fared badly in the Musket Wars but the treacherous and violent Te Rauparaha was also very intelligent and adaptable, a true cultural border-crosser. He knew that the European ships passing through Cook Strait were the key to getting trade goods such as guns. In 1823 Ngāti Toa seized Kapiti Island, which they defended next year in the bloody Battle of Waiorua. Kapiti, centre of a canoe-crafted empire, gave Te Rauparaha both a fortress and a trading base.

Vessels began calling in 1827 and, by the time the trade peaked in the mid-1830s, there were five whaling stations on the island: Waiorua, Rangatira, Taepiro, Wharekohu and Te Kahe Te Rau O Te Rangi. Te Rauparaha encouraged traders and whalers, providing land, houses, pigs, potatoes, dressed flax and women in return for guns, tobacco and alcohol. Island historian Chris Maclean describes 1830s Kapiti as ‘a wild frontier, a meeting point of two cultures without the restraints of laws or government’ but, despite occasional acts of thuggery, two cultures united in greed got along surprisingly well. Europeans and Māori lived side by side and trader and whaler John Niccol followed age-old practice by marrying into the local real estate, wedding Kahe Te Rau O Te Rangi, daughter of Ngāti Toa chief Te Matoha.

The whaling trade faded away in the 1840s and Te Rauparaha, his influence waning, moved back to the mainland. Whalers and Te Rauparaha are just part of Kapiti’s history. It has also been a farm and a pioneering site for conservation. The government acquired most of it in 1897 and Richard Henry, whom we will meet in entry 69, was one of the earliest keepers. Now predator-free, Kapiti is an important bird sanctuary. Nature is reclaiming the village site, but boats take visitors out to Kapiti and at Te Kahe Te Rau O Te Rangi you can still see terraces, a stand for a trypot (in which whale blubber was rendered down) and the grave of a whaler, as well as Māori middens.

Kapiti in My Own Words

Creative Writing Exercise

to record your new understanding and experience of Kāpiti Island

You have a choice of:

a)      developing a series of Haiku (at least three) and adding them to your blog

Haiku poems date from 9th century Japan to the present day. Haiku is more than a type of poem; it is a way of looking at the physical world and seeing something deeper, like the very nature of existence.

The structure of a Haiku is 5, 7, 5

Here are two examples of the haiku of Basho Matsuo, the first great poet of haiku in the 1600s:

An old silent pond...                                         5 syllables                   Autumn moonlight—

A frog jumps into the pond,                             7 syllables                   a worm digs silently

splash! Silence again.                                      5 syllables                   into the chestnut.

                                                                                   

PLUS

b)      Creating a piece of art work to go with your haiku (we’ll talk about this).

OR

c)       Writing a story from the perspective of someone who lived on the island. This can be fact or fiction. You could choose to write about someone from the history of the island, dating back to Te Rauparaha and the Ngāti Toa people in the early 1800s right up to the present time. This might be in the form of a diary or might be a story from a third person perspective. It might be from the perspective of a native bird or a species that is now extinct; it might be a historical viewpoint from someone involved in the battles on the island; it might be a factual description of life on the island at any time in its history. You choose!

In your narrative, think about conditions for those who lived on the island: isolation, food sources, amenities (cooking, toilet facilities, hygiene) animals, bird life, dangers, medical emergencies etc. (You can also do art to accompany this, if you wish to.)

Video outlining the predation of our Kea by possums and stoats

Kea Predation

Pest traps/trackers being placed outside

Students are placing their pest trackers around the school, what will we find????

More pest track making pics

Groups of students at different stages in their pest trap making.

Pest Tracker Making

Students are making these pest traps to see if we can identify what pests might be lurking around Kapiti College. Will we find Rats, Mice, Stoats or Hedgehogs?

Kapiti island

28/11/2016
session:
This morning, Mr Maxwell introduced us the history of the kapiti island. We learnt  about arrival of Ngati Toa , the Musket Wars and island sanctuary. We also know the meaning  of  kapiti . At the third period . We saw a lot of pictures about wild animals. And we know the 18th and 19th centuries Māori settled on the island. Te Rauparaha formed a base here, and his Ngāti Toa tribe regularly sailed in canoes on raiding journeys up to the Whanganui River and down to Marlborough.


30/11/2016
session:
This morning we knew some animal pests . They are harming our native flora and fauna.It is surprises me that  the cats are also one of the native animal.
After that we also knew some footprints of the animals. Some of them are really similar. So we can't  distinguish them.
tracking tunnel:
First, we cut both ends of the bottle and  stick the end of two bottle . Next we put a black plastic bag and stick it on the bottle . We put a white papper in the bottom of the bottle. And then we  put sponge with ink in a small box . We also put some peanut butter in the lid and put it on the sponge. That's all . We finished it.
Finally we put them in a concealed place. Hope we can find some things interesting tomorrow.


1/12/2016
We have a great day in the kapiti island.