MUDDY FEET - Auckland Regional Council

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which probably resulted in erosion and an increased sediment load in rivers (Phillips 2000).
Inter-tribal wars, land sales and European development all contributed to a re-orientation of
lifestyle in the 1800s, and along with this a new Hauraki social order emerged (Hauraki Maori
Trust Board 1999).
1.6.2 Hauraki Plains at time of first European explorers and settlers
At the time of first contact between Maori and Europeans, much of the land between the river
and the foothills, on the eastern bank of the Waihou River, was cleared. A narrow strip of
land along the western bank of the Waihou River (100-600 m wide) was cleared. Kahikatea
(Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) forest was dominant. On both sides of the river there were large
areas of raupo (Typha orientalis) and flax (Phormium tenax) swamp (Phillips 2000). The
extensive coastal plains of the southern Firth of Thames (of which the current Ramsar Site
occupies a small fraction) were recognized by Captain Cook and Joseph Banks in 1769 as “a
garden and a pasture in which the best elements of British society might grow into an ideal
nation”, in spite of being blanketed at the time by a vast Kahikatea forest containing the
biggest trees they had ever seen (Park 1995).
Cook and Banks (Beaglehole 1955 and 1963) also commented on the swamps and mangroves
at the river mouth, and the mudflats and mangroves appeared on the early maps by Captain
Cook and Captain Wilson (Phillips 2000).
Cook and Banks considered the “Thames” (Waihou) River to be the best site for the
establishment of a new colony (in terms of protected anchorage, fertile soil, huge expanse of
flat land, vast quantities of fine timber and abundant fishery resources).
An area of approximately 200,000 acres constituting the Hauraki Plains, originally known to
Europeans as the Piako Swamp, was historically prone to regular flooding, and thus limited
the possibilities for human habitation. All of the Maori settlements of the extensive Waihou
and Piako river systems were on the highest bits of ground (including old raised shorelines) to
minimize the risks of flooding, and for defensive purposes (Phillips 2000, Park 1995).
Several early accounts mention that the lower reaches of the trees of the forest were
perpetually clothed with films of mud and hanging debris from regular washings by the siltladen
tides and floods. The early people grew vegetables in small plots of rich alluvial soil,
fished, hunted, gathered shellfish from the water and collected fruits (particularly Kahikatea
berries) and flax and raupo reeds from the land (Hauraki Maori Trust Board 1999).
1.6.3 European settlement
The swamp-growing Kahikatea proved unsuitable for the timber trade, but it still was
extensively harvested for various uses (such as butter boxes) in the 2 nd half of the 19 th century.
Most of the kahikatea used in that era was milled on the banks of the Waihou. The great
expanses of flax and raupo swamp were highly valued by Maori as a source of fibre for
clothing, cordage and roofing (Phillips 2000). Flax was also used by the European colonists
who built many mills on the plains for processing it.
Dairy farming was initiated on a very small scale by the early colonists on the west bank of
the Waihou in the 1880s. The cream was churned into butter at home, and the skim milk fed
to fattening pigs. Extensive drainage of the Hauraki Plains has been undertaken since early
settlement. Some of the drains were cut by the first farmers in the 19th century, and drainage
works as well as flood protection works continue up to the present day (Phillips 2000).
The first organized land surveys and initial drainage efforts began in 1905, the same year the
first creamery was established at Netherton. The Hauraki Plains Act was passed in 1908,
EcoQuest Education Foundation EQRS/1 12/04