Waikorire (Pilot Bay)

Waikorire - Pilot Bay, Mount Maunganui. Mirrielees Series 45. Undated
Photograph by A.J. Mirrielees. Photograph published by Frank Duncan & Co., Auckland
Collection of Justine Neal

Waikorire means warm water and is the original name for the area which extends along Pilot Bay at the base of Mauao, where the present camping ground and hot pools are situated.

The history of this area goes back a long way. In 2012 archaeologists from Heritage New Zealand found that when the earliest Polynesian settlers first arrived around 1200-1300 they established a village that stretched along the bay frontage and as far back as what is now Victoria Avenue. Many of the artefacts found related to activities like fishing and canoe construction, such as adzes and fish hooks. Shell middens showed the villagers were mainly eating seafood.

Waikorire - Pilot Bay, Mt Maunganui. Mirrielees Series 40. c1910s-1920s
Postcard published by A.J. Mirrielees, Tauranga
Courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0352-10

Fast forward to 1820 and Ngaiterangi  were living on the northern slopes of Mauao, having forced Ngati Ranginui off Mauao during the battle of Kokowai in the 1700s, were attacked by Ngapuhi. They were led by Te Morenga, who was seeking utu from Te Waru of Ngaiterangi for the killing of his niece Tawaputa in 1806. In 1806 the ship Venus was seized by convicts while in Port Dalrymple, Tasmania and sailed to the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. At Bream Head in Northland the convicts captured, amongst other women, Tawaputa, Te Morenga’s niece. After sailing further down the coast to the Bay of Plenty, the convicts sold Tawaputa to Hukere of Motiti Island. Eventually she was taken to Tauranga by Te Waru where she was killed and eaten.

The taua had landed first on Matakana Island, where they were met by Te Waru who enquired what was  their purpose for being there. Te Morenga explained that they were there to seek utu for the death of Tawaputa. The two chiefs agreed to fight the next day and a battle site was named (notes compiled by Gilbert Mair name the site as Waikorire (Pilot Bay). The next day the two opposing forces met. Te Waru led the initial charge with rakau Maori (traditional weapons), wounding some Ngapuhi, including one chief. Unfortunately his weapons were no match for muskets, and the sight of at least twenty of his men falling instantaneously brought the charge to a stunned halt. The men of Te Waru  fled but Te Morenga held back from the usual furious pursuit; because a Ngapuhi chief had been killed he was satisfied with utu having been taken. Te Morenga tried to contact Te Waru so peace could be made but Te Waru would not surrender.

Waikorire - Tauranga, From Mt Maunganui. Tourist Series 249.
Postcard published by Frank Duncan & Co., Auckland
Collection of Justine Neal

The next day Te Waru and his men left their pa on Mauao and once again advanced towards the Ngapuhi taua. Once again the muskets took a terrible toll on Te Waru and his men, with  over four hundred killed in the ensuing battle and a further two hundred and sixty were taken north as prisoners , Te Waru was one of the few survivors. After his defeat Te Waru  fled into the bush surrounding Tauranga. Ngapuhi were camped at a knoll called Matua-a-Iwi on the Wairoa River which flows into the Tauranga Harbour as three days of victorious feasting took place. Before Te Morenga and his taua left for their journey home a courageous act by Te Waru brought about peace between the two tribes for the following ten years.

In the days after the battle Te Waru had been out scouting towards the Ngaphui camp and had hidden himself in a ngaio tree. A Ngapuhi chief, Te Whareumu happened to wander along the beach and sat himself under the very same tree. Te Waru hurled himself out of the tree, capturing and disarming Te Whareumu. No doubt expecting to be killed Te Whareumu was most surprised when they turned and headed for the Ngapuhi camp. When they neared the camp, in an extreme act of bravery, Te Waru untied Te Whareumu, retuned his weapons and handed over his own.  He then told Te Whareumu  to bind his arms and to take him as a prisoner into the Ngapuhi camp. The young toa in the Ngapuhi camp were keen to inflict the fatal blow that would kill the Ngaiterangi rangatira, but Te Whareumu managed to protect him and call for quiet. When he explained what Te Waru had done the hostility of the Ngapuhi immediately turned to respect. His arms were unbound, he was given back his weapons and reunited with his wife and those of his relatives who had survived. To make up for the loss of other family members Te Morenga presented him with a musket!

Waikorire (Pilot Bay) from the slopes of Mauao, Mount Maunganui. Undated
Postcard. Photographer and Publisher unidentified
Collection of Justine Neal

By the 1850s Waikorire (Pilot Bay) had been abandoned by Maori. From the 1880s it became a popular destination for Tauranga residents, taking steamboat excursions across the harbour and disembarking at the stone wharf at the northern end of the bay.

By the 1930s houses were beginning to multiply and the scrub and sand was turning into neatly ordered sections.

When the wind blows and the sand whispers along Waikorire, I wonder what secrets are being told.

References

The Musket Wars,  by Ron Crosby

An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand

Native Tribes of Tauranga, complied by Captain Gilbert Mair

SunLive, 17 Oct 2013