A Tauranga Fisherman - Captain Gilbert Mair and the Rurima Islands

Tauranga’s offshore fishermen once experienced record catches off a little-known group of rocks located near Matata. Known as the Rurima Islands or Rurima Rocks, they are located approximately 9 km (5.6 miles) west of Moutohora Island and 10 km (6.2 miles) northwest from the mouth of the Rangitaiki River. Rurima is the largest, with the smaller two being Moutoki and Tokata Islands. These uninhabited islands once supported large numbers of land and sea birds, tuatara and native rats.¹ 

Map showing the locations of some of the Bay of Plenty’s offshore islands including the Rurimas

The first European known to have fished the Rurimas was Captain Gilbert Mair NZC, who is best known for his military achievements during the Anglo-Maori Land Wars (1860-1872). He participated in the Waikato War, the East Coast anti-Hauhau campaigns, the Tauranga Wars of 1864 and 1867 and the pursuit of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki and the prophet-general’s Ringatu ‘rebel’ guerilla fighters (1870-1872). Given his leadership of colonial forces and the pro-government Maori Flying Column, as well as displays of personal courage in numerous actions, Mair’s NZ Military Cross was hard earned and richly deserved.² 

 

Captain Mair (far left) with his Arawa Flying Column in July 1870 at Rotorua’s Lake Rotokakahi (Green Lake)

Captain Mair was also an avid fisherman when off duty. Often based at Tauranga during his military duties during the 1860s, and civil duties in the Tauranga Magistrates’ Court during the 1870s, the veteran was able to indulge his passion. During offshore excursions, Mair was at the tiller, steering the 35-foot whaleboat he kept at Tauranga. The 2-ton craft was powered by sails and six Maori and/or Pakeha oarsmen-fisherman who regularly shared their record catches from the Rurimas with Tauranga Moana’s local iwi. In 1873, Mair took his whaleboat out to Karewa Island off the Tauranga Harbour entrance to collect tuatara for the British Museum.³

 

Mair with a dinghy load of dogfish

Fluent in Maori and with successive Maori wives and relatives, Mair acquired a detailed knowledge of Maori fishing methods and locations in the Bay of Plenty, including its offshore islands. He put this knowledge to practical use in later years and the Rurima Islands off the settlement of Matata became a favourite location.

In 1872 Captain Mair took his whaleboat and six Tauranga oarsmen to the islands on a fishing excursion and reported:

In four or five fathoms water, with six lines, we had a whale-boat half full in an hour. The first fish hauled in were followed to the surface by swarms of snapper, kahawai, kingfish, barracoota and maomao, and then we simply bobbed for them as you would for minnows in a brook until my arms ached with the exertion of lifting them over the boat's side.⁴

 

At nearby Maketu in 1885, Mair witnessed the remarkable hauling in of a great fishing net, 95 chains in length (1.1875 miles), constructed and deployed by the Arawa people.

 

The fish caught consisted mainly of kahawai, schnapper, trevalley, gurnard, moki, tarakihi, parore, kingfish, tutahuna, kapeta, pepeke, mangopare, mangotara (several kinds of smaller shark), the latter a small blue shark, much prized for its fine oil, also about twenty "takiari," which attains a length of 12 to 14 feet, and has been known to attack swimming horses, cattle, dogs, and human beings. There were also uncounted numbers of smaller fish, such as koheriheri, or koheru (horse mackerel), kutorotoro (sand fish), and some new species.⁵

The Rurima Islands with Moutohora Island beyond

Born in 1843, Mair retained his lifelong enthusiasm for fishing. Just eighteen months before his death at the age of 80 at Tauranga in 1923, a visitor to the town’s waterfront reported how he saw there a man who:

[C]hip, chip, chipped at the paint on a dinghy hull. He was of medium height, well built, and had the smooth cheek and freshness of complexion of a boy. His movements were decisive, and vigorous, and in judging his age one would have hazarded fifty years at the outside.

Yet it was Captain Gilbert Mair, over eighty years of age, enjoying himself in helping to get back into commission his friend’s fishing dinghy. That is more than eighteen months ago at Tauranga, and … I tried to link him up with his fighting days.

Captain Gilbert Mair straightened his back … and instead ‘of hair-breadth scapes in the imminent deadly breach’, he gave me office stories of the days when he worked in the Government Lands Department.⁶

The Rurima Islands as seen from above Whakatane

Today, the Rurima islands are an uninhabited nature reserve owned by the Ngati Awa iwi, and Moutoki Island remains an outpost for tuatara. ‘The Rocks’ continue to hold fish all year round but, while good catches can still be made in shallow water with the help of burley, the great shoals of Rurima’s golden age of fishing are long gone. The islands are now best known for snorkeling, diving and kayaking.⁷ 

Captain Gilbert Mair NZC. in 1921

The last words in this article belong to Captain Mair who in 1922, expressed a concern that many of Tauranga’s offshore fishermen share to this day:

 

Having resided in the Bay of Plenty off and on since 1864, and watched the countless shoals of fish which cover the sea from Mercury Bay to Cape Runaway in the spring for months, I perpetually wonder why our fish supply should be so precariously uncertain and expensive.⁸

References

¹ Bay of Plenty Regional Council, https://www.boprc.govt.nz/media/796325/islands-karewa-tuhua-mayor-moutoki-rurima-motunau-plate-motuhora-whale-motuhaku-schooner-rock.pdf

^{2 Mair, Gilbert – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1m4/mair-gilbert}

³ Tinne, Ernest J; The Wonderland of the Antipodes, Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, London, 1873: 84.

 

⁴ Mair, Gilbert, Notes on Rurima Rocks. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1872: 151. 

 

⁵ Mair, Captain Gilbert, Reminiscences and Maori Stories, Brett, Auckland, 1923: 22.

⁶ Manawatu Standard, 3 December 1923: 5.

⁷ Bay Of Plenty Regional Council, https://www.boprc.govt.nz/media/796325/islands-karewa-tuhua-mayor-moutoki-rurima-motunau-plate-motuhora-whale-motuhaku-schooner-rock.pdf

⁸ Mair, 1923: 22.

Illustrations

Bay of Plenty map,  SunLive https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/281986-all-safe-following-capsize-near-rurima-island.html

Mundy, Daniel Louis, Captain Gilbert Mair and his Arawa Flying Column at Kaiteriria Pā and camp, Rotokakahi, Ref: Mundy Album No 2, PH-ALB-86-p93-1. Auckland Museum, Auckland, New Zealand. https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/am_library-photography-14314

Photographer unknown. Gilbert Mair in a rowboat, Whangarei. Ref: PAColl-7985-85. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22335614

Photographer unknown, Rurima Islands, Wai 46 # A3, Te Rangahau Whenua Raupatu O Ngati Awa Report to Department of Conservation, 25 July 1992: 15.

Photograph by ‘Avenue’. Rurima Island and the rest of the Rurima Rocks viewed from Kaputerangi Pa above Whakatane, 19 November 2009, CC. Wikipedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rurima_Rocks_zoom.jpg

Mair, Captain Gilbert, Reminiscences and Maori Stories, Brett, Auckland, 1923: 3

Beach Culture and Bathing Costumes

Swimming in Tauranga harbour, circa 1910s: From left to right, Rennie Daines, Connie Humphreys, Mamey Hesket, Rennie Hesket. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Photo 04-041

While it may be the dead of winter, the importance of beach culture to our city’s identity has been on my mind. Happily, the TaurangaHeritage Collection has a fantastic array of artifacts connected to long hot summer days spent at the beach, from parasols and skurfing boards to picnic baskets and Q-tol.

Indeed, our collection of eighty-three bathing costumes, spanning more than 100 years, highlights innovation in materials and design as well as changing attitudes around what we are willing to expose to the sun, and each other. While Victorian morals had swimmers completely covered, and often in tents or bathing machines, by the 1910s Edwardians were seeking more practical costumes which would allow for movement, and fun, in the water. The push for more freedom was championed by celebrities such as Annette Kellermann, a professional Australian swimmer and diver credited with being the first woman to wear a one-piece suit.

Left: A ‘Petone’ Canadian style swimsuit made in New Zealand. Tauranga Heritage Collection 0044/12. Right: Postcard of "Miss Annette Kellermann, Champion Lady Swimmer and Diver of the World." Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0095/23

Known in this part of the world as a ‘Canadian’ swimsuit, presumably after its country of origin, the costume seen above was made by the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company and sold under the brand ‘Petone’. This style was worn by men, women and children and simplified earlier bathing costumes. Often made from machine-knitted cotton, this suit is woollen and has two buttons along the shoulder line to make it possible to get into (the shorts are attached to the top), and a small label declares that it is ‘OS’ or one size.

Left: ‘Pacific’ swimsuit. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0385/87. Right: Kitty Hardy (centre) with two companions at the main Mount beach circa 1920s. Borrell Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

Other New Zealand textile manufacturers also entered the swimwear market in the 1910s. Lane, Walker Rudkin Ltd, who up until the early 2000s was one of New Zealand’s most successful clothing companies, is well represented in our collection. Initially known for its ‘Pacific’ brand, the company went on to make swimsuits under their ‘Canterbury’ label and were also licenced to make ‘Speedo’ and ‘Catalina’. In the 1930s they pioneered the use of elasticised woollen fabrics and were quick to capitalise on the trend of men baring their torsos.

Left: Speedo bathing trunks. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0015/00. Right: Standing in shallow water at Mount main beach from left, Ira Taylor (wearing Speedo), Yvonne Tootell, Alectina Gunn, Barry Tootell and Monty Tootell circa 1940-41. Arabin Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

In the 1930s and 40s new fabrics were introduced, sleeves disappeared, and the two-piece reappeared having first been worn in ancient Rome. Swimsuits in vibrant colours were produced and sold with matching rubber caps. The American label ‘Jantzen’, licenced to New Zealand company A. J. Coleman Ltd, transported Hollywood trends to our beaches with stars Ginger Rogers and Loretta Young featured in their 1930s advertisements.

Left: A green Jantzen suit made of tufted cotton, also known as chenille, featuring adjustable straps. Middle: This suit has “Shouldaire” technology which allowed the wearer to drop their shoulder straps for ‘strap-free tanning’ - it was controversial when launched by Jantzen in 1931. Right: A bright red woollen Roslyn suit. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0071/18, 0268/11, 0060/93

Post WW2, achieving the right look was often more important than a swimsuit’s practicality or even durability. Boning, firm bra cups, and rubber lining were deployed to give the wearer an hourglass shape. The Princess Bathing Suit, which generally had a sweetheart neckline and a tight skirt covering the front, and sometimes the back, epitomised the glamourous style of the 1950s.

Left: This striped suit was designed to highlight the wearers femininity and features ruching, a synched waist, and removable straps for sunbathing. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0021/08. Right: ‘Bathing beauties on the beach’ Matakana Island, circa 1950s. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Photo 01-334

Bikini clad sun-bathers on the main Mount beach. Neal Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

The 1960s saw the explosion of youth and surf culture which pushed for change. The bikini began to outsell the two-piece, with ‘Bond-girl’ Ursula Andress and magazines such as Sports Illustrated playing their part in its popularity. Men’s swimwear also shrank with ‘briefs’ making an appearance at the 1972 Olympic games. During the 1970s swimwear designers finally let go any inhibitions and embraced the benefits of Lycra - a relatively new fabric that allowed everything to stay in place. String bikinis, thongs, shear fabric and cut-outs were increasingly popular as ‘sexy’ became fashionable. 

Left: Expozay bikini. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0014/00. Right: Emroce 'G's up She's in it' bikini. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0164/23/1-2

In 1976, locals Judy and Tony Alvos were inspired to start their own swimwear company, Expozay, which embodied this spirit. By 1982 their designs were being exported around the world and the company employed 120 people, making over 1000 swimsuits a day – right here in Tauranga. Today the local swimwear industry continues with businesses such as Papamoa based Emroce garnering international attention with its focus on eco-conscious design and fabrics, as well as inclusivity. In 2023 we were delighted to add several of Emroce’s swimsuits to our collection.