Kawau Island, according to local tradition, was discovered
by the great navigator and Maori ancestor Toi to Huatahi and
some of his descendants settled in the area, mixing with people
who were already there, known variously as Ngati Kui, Tutumaiao
and Turehu. Toi named the island Te Kawau Tu Maro, ‘the
island of the motionless shag’. The island was subsequently
occupied for some three centuries by people who became known
as Ngai Tai, and who have ancestral association with the Arawa
and Tainui waka, until defeated by the Te Kawerau iwi, specifically
Ngati Manuhiri in the early 1600s.
During the 18th century there was continuing conflict between the resident Kawerau and the Marutuahu confederation of tribes from the Hauraki area over access to the shark fishing grounds. The island was vacated by 1826 under terms laid down by Hongi Hika (Nga Puhi) after the battle of Te Ika a Ranganhui at a place between Mangawhai and Kaiwaka.
The first European to see Kawau was Captain James Cook in 1769, Samuel Marsden was to visit briefly in 1820 and a trader, a Mr Wheeler, visited in 1827 but found the island uninhabited. By 1837 this had changed and a Mr Henry Taylor had purchased the island from the Maoris.
By 1839, prospectors had been searching the island for economic deposits of minerals and in early 1842 the island was being mined for
manganese. Copper was discovered by accident and between 1846 and 1951 60,000 pounds worth of cooper was extracted, but when the workings were flooded by the sea in 1851, the mines closed. During that period Kawau became the centre of one of New Zealand’s early metal industries with over 200 people engaged in mining and smelting operations or providing social and economic support.
After the end of the mining era on Kawau the island was purchased by Governor Sir George Grey in 1862. Over the next decade, Grey poured his considerable energy, knowledge and finances into creating a private kingdom, with a farm, an orchard, stables, a dairy and a community of around 100 people. Grey converted and expanded on the former mine manager’s house to create what is now known as Mansion House in Mansion House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour. In addition to Mansion House, there are considerable remnants of this period of the island’s history including surviving remnants of Grey’s gardens, his dairy cottage, and his coach road all found within the Kawau Island Historic Reserve. It is probable that some of today’s walking tracks follow Grey’s Coach Road.
Research indicates that Pah Farm, (now known as MOORES BAY) has particular connections to the Grey era in the form of a section of Grey’s Coach Road leading from Grey Heights to MOORES BAY, which was used as a nursery for Mansion House and that the present day cottage (shown above) in MOORES BAY was built during Grey’s ownership and was occupied by his nursery gardener.
The Grey Coach Road, leading away from Mansion House, is the main arterial track of the island. Along here at one time Grey took his visitors in a coach drawn by zebras.
Grey introduced a varied menagerie of birds, animals and exotic plants to the island. The deer, possums, and, above all, the wallabies flourished. Attempts to eliminate them have proved futile and, with the kookaburras and royal palms, they remain as the more notable legacies of Sir George Grey’s earthly paradise. Unfortunately the zebras never became acclimatised to their new home whereas the monkeys did so well that they had to be exterminated as pests.
Grey sold the island in 1888. From then the island passed through a number of hands. Finally it was purchased by A.J. Farmer, the major of Te Aroha, in 1904. He began surveying for subdivision of the island in 1911 and the pattern of settlement was rapidly changed. It was the end of the island’s period of individual ownership and the greatest single impact was during Grey’s term of occupation. Today about 10 percent of the island is protected as publicly owned reserves managed by the Department of Conservation. The remainder of the island is privately owned with a small resident population.
During the 18th century there was continuing conflict between the resident Kawerau and the Marutuahu confederation of tribes from the Hauraki area over access to the shark fishing grounds. The island was vacated by 1826 under terms laid down by Hongi Hika (Nga Puhi) after the battle of Te Ika a Ranganhui at a place between Mangawhai and Kaiwaka.
The first European to see Kawau was Captain James Cook in 1769, Samuel Marsden was to visit briefly in 1820 and a trader, a Mr Wheeler, visited in 1827 but found the island uninhabited. By 1837 this had changed and a Mr Henry Taylor had purchased the island from the Maoris.
By 1839, prospectors had been searching the island for economic deposits of minerals and in early 1842 the island was being mined for
manganese. Copper was discovered by accident and between 1846 and 1951 60,000 pounds worth of cooper was extracted, but when the workings were flooded by the sea in 1851, the mines closed. During that period Kawau became the centre of one of New Zealand’s early metal industries with over 200 people engaged in mining and smelting operations or providing social and economic support.
After the end of the mining era on Kawau the island was purchased by Governor Sir George Grey in 1862. Over the next decade, Grey poured his considerable energy, knowledge and finances into creating a private kingdom, with a farm, an orchard, stables, a dairy and a community of around 100 people. Grey converted and expanded on the former mine manager’s house to create what is now known as Mansion House in Mansion House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour. In addition to Mansion House, there are considerable remnants of this period of the island’s history including surviving remnants of Grey’s gardens, his dairy cottage, and his coach road all found within the Kawau Island Historic Reserve. It is probable that some of today’s walking tracks follow Grey’s Coach Road.
Research indicates that Pah Farm, (now known as MOORES BAY) has particular connections to the Grey era in the form of a section of Grey’s Coach Road leading from Grey Heights to MOORES BAY, which was used as a nursery for Mansion House and that the present day cottage (shown above) in MOORES BAY was built during Grey’s ownership and was occupied by his nursery gardener.
The Grey Coach Road, leading away from Mansion House, is the main arterial track of the island. Along here at one time Grey took his visitors in a coach drawn by zebras.
Grey introduced a varied menagerie of birds, animals and exotic plants to the island. The deer, possums, and, above all, the wallabies flourished. Attempts to eliminate them have proved futile and, with the kookaburras and royal palms, they remain as the more notable legacies of Sir George Grey’s earthly paradise. Unfortunately the zebras never became acclimatised to their new home whereas the monkeys did so well that they had to be exterminated as pests.
Grey sold the island in 1888. From then the island passed through a number of hands. Finally it was purchased by A.J. Farmer, the major of Te Aroha, in 1904. He began surveying for subdivision of the island in 1911 and the pattern of settlement was rapidly changed. It was the end of the island’s period of individual ownership and the greatest single impact was during Grey’s term of occupation. Today about 10 percent of the island is protected as publicly owned reserves managed by the Department of Conservation. The remainder of the island is privately owned with a small resident population.