Shaping a Landscape
Shaping a Landscape
UNDERSTAND / Big Ideas KNOW / Contexts DO / Inquiry Process
Waikato is the ancestral region of the Waikato-Tainui iwi and its hapuu Around 800 years ago the Tainui waka began its journey from Eastern Polynesia towards the islands of Aotearoa. After exploring both coasts of the central north island the Tainui waka made its final landfall in Kawhia, and it is here that the Tainui people first settled. Generations later, the Tainui people followed Waikato Te Awa, the Waikato River, inland into Waipaa. Their settlements and gardening shaped the land on both sides of the river.
"Te" (The) "Koo" (Place) "Utu". (Unjust / Revenge)
Te Ara Wai: Journeys (Waipa Council)
Waipa Council - 2012
Cambridge Museum
Inquiry Wonderings
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This basket-like pot would have been used to catch eel in rivers and streams. It would have been laid on its side with the narrow entrance – called the akura - facing downstream. Inside would have been a small pot called a puu toke filled with worms or even a bird. This was the bait. Eels would smell the bait and swim upstream to find it. Once in the hiinaki, it couldn’t swim out because the wide end of the hiinaki curves back into the basket. Eels were a valued food source. Rahui Papa (Ngaati Koroki Kahukura) talks of te hopu tuna – eeling at Lake Te Koo Utu in Cambridge. The eel could be cooked over a fire or hung out to dry to preserve them for months.
To the left is an oil painting of Lake Te Koo Utu, found in the heart of Cambridge, Waikato, describes the type of picturesque setting that Charles Blomfield was known for. In 1880 the Cambridge Domain Board was established and set about turning what essentially was wasteland, and the unofficial dumping site of the towns refuse, into a park. By the mid 1880s the Lake had its first dedicated gardner who spent the following years planting trees and laying paths. By the time Blomfield completed this painting, many of the gardens had already begun to thrive creating a tranquil, country scenes (Cambridge Muesuem)
The Cambridge Domain Board was formed in 1880 to plant trees and beautify Lake Te Koutu and surrounds. Over the years this work has continued and today offers a tranquil spot in the middle of Cambridge. (Cambridge Museum)
"Maunga" mountain - "tautari" an upright stick/rod
Te Ara Wai: Journeys (Waipa Council)
Maungatautari, volcanic sanctuary
(Manatu Taonga)
Maungatatari Rapids (Cambridge Museum)
Maungatautari Maunga Cultural significance
(Waipa council)
Maungatautari Cultural significance
(Waipa council)
Man and Horse - View of the Redoubt from the North side (Cambridge Museum)
"Kara" (rock) "Prio" (putrid smell)
Te Ara Wai: Journeys
(Waipa Council)
Te Ara Wai: Journeys
(Waipa Council)
"Maunga" (mountain) "a-kawa" (or ritual import)
The printing press, made in the USA by Kelsey & Co. was found in a gully in Te Miro near Cambridge in 1958. It is thought to have been used to print leaflets at the Kauhanganui (Kiingitanga parliament). King Taawhiao established the Kauhanganui in 1890. A newspaper called “Te Paki o Matariki” was also published a Te Kauhanganui from 1891 to 1902. Very few copies of the papers now remain.
Maungakawa, looking down over the Te Waikato Sanatorium and shelters. Price, William Archer, 1866-1948 :Collection of post card negatives. Ref: 1/2-000142-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22395109