Mount Hikurangi (or ''Te Ara ki Hikurangi'' in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

) is a peak in the eastern corner of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

, about north of Gisborne, and southwest of the

East Cape Lighthouse East Cape Lighthouse is a lighthouse sited on Otiki Hill above East Cape, the easternmost point on the North Island of New Zealand.

. On a

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

of the Raukumara Range in the

Waiapu Valley Waiapu Valley, also known as the Waiapu catchment, Waiapu River valley or simply Waiapu, is a valley in the north of the Gisborne Region on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the Drainage basin, catchment area for the Waiap ...

, it is the North Island's highest non-

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

peak. Mount Hikurangi is within the

rohe The Māori people of New Zealand use the word ' to describe the territory or boundaries of tribes (, although some divide their into several . Background In 1793, chief Tuki Te Terenui Whare Pirau who had been brought to Norfolk Island drew ...

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. It has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi, behind Ngāpuhi, with an estimated 102,480 people according to the ...

and Ngati Uēpohatu and is the

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

's most significant icon. In

Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...

, it was the first part of the North Island to emerge when

Māui Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity ( demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main expl ...

pulled it as a giant fish from the ocean. According to these beliefs, his waka, '' Nukutaimemeha'', became stranded on the mountain, and lies petrified between the mountain's peaks in Lake Hinetakawhiti. Nearby summits include Whanokao (), Aorangi (), Wharekia () and Taitai (). Together, these mountains provide what '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' calls an "awe-inspiring vista". The early arrivals to Aotearoa commonly gave Polynesian ancestral names and symbolism to New Zealand places. Hikurangi and Aorangi were a pair of names transferred from Tahiti via Rarotonga to different parts of New Zealand Tahiti has a Mount Hiurai (Hi’ura’i/Hikurangi) at the summit of Mehetia (Me’eti’a) island. Rarotonga has Ikurangi, and maybe the origin of all these names is Si'ulagi(Si'ulangi)in Ta'u, Samoa.

The first sunrise of the new day

The peak is traditionally regarded as the first land in the world to catch the rays of the new day's sun, although this claim, like any such claim of its type, is open to interpretation. Certainly it is not true at any time of the year other than the Southern Hemisphere summer, as both

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

are to the east. In summer, however, because of the tilt of the Earth's axis, it does receive the sun's rays earlier than these places It does not receive them earlier than the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...

(or, of course,

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

), however, and in midsummer some parts of the South Island mainland (such as the peaks of

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula () is a rocky peninsula on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand that was formed by two now-extinct volcanoes. It has an area of approximately . It includes two large deep-water harbours — Lyttelton Harbour a ...

and Dunedin's Mount Cargill) receive the dawn's light at almost exactly the same time. This did not stop the mountain gaining world prominence in the celebrations for the new Millennium, however. Hikurangi East Cape Aotearoa New Zealand

Hikurangi East Cape Aotearoa New Zealand

According to the Department of Conservation, the mountain is "recognised and accepted as the first point on the mainland to greet the morning sun". The traditional greeting of

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...

to North Island visitors, "Haere mai, e te Rāwhiti!" (Welcome, O Sunrise!), references this fact. Celebrations by

to commemorate the first dawn of the new millennium in 2000, including

karakia Karakia are Māori incantations and prayer used to invoke spiritual guidance and protection.Tamati and Amster Reedy, took place on the summit of the mountain. In addition, nine massive

whakairo Toi whakairo (art carving) or just whakairo (carving) is a Māori traditional art of carving in wood, stone or bone. History Timber was formed into houses, fencepoles, pouwhenua, containers, taiaha, tool handles and waka (canoe). Carving ...

(carvings) depicting Māui's story and his family were erected on the mountain as part of the celebrations. They were carved under Derek Lardelli's guidance by students from Toihoukura, the

Eastern Institute of Technology The Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) is a government owned tertiary education institution with three campuses: Hawke’s Bay, Auckland, and Gisborne, New Zealand, Gisborne, New Zealand. It is also referred to as EIT Hawke's Bay, EIT Tairā ...

's School of Māori Visual Arts.

History

Before the arrival of Europeans, Mount Hikurangi was within Ngāti Porou's territory. Ngāti Porou believe they are descendants of Māui, and thus have had a connection with the mountain since it arose from the sea. In the 1870s, the Crown acquired the mountain and turned it into a state forest park. In November 1990, ownership of Mount Hikurangi was returned to Ngāti Porou, who now manage the mountain, and facilitate the public's access to it.

19th-century gold prospecting

NB: This section is derived from text in available her

at the

New Zealand Electronic Text Centre The New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC; ) is a freely accessible online archive of New Zealand and Pacific Islands texts and heritage materials that are held by the Victoria University of Wellington Library. It was named the New Zeala ...

. There were several “

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

es” on Mount Hikurangi in the early days of European settlement. In 1874, about 100 Māori went

prospecting Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by Mining engineering#Pre-mining, exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. ...

on and around Mount Hikurangi. However, Sir James Hector, who examined the Waiapu Valley, found no signs of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. In 1875 “Scotty” Siddons, mate of the ''Beautiful Star'', claimed to have met a Māori person on the East Coast who had a few ounces of gold. He, and a mate named Hill, found a lot of mundic on the north-west side of the mountain, but only

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

s of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

on the higher slopes. In 1886 Reupane te Ana, of Makarika, discovered what he fondly imagined was an enormous deposit of gold in the area. With what Joseph Angus Mackay called “noble unselfishness”, he let all his friends into the secret. Drays,

wheelbarrow A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled load-bearing vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles at the rear. The term "wheelbarrow" is made of two words: "wheel" and "barrow." " Ba ...

s and receptacles of all kinds were rushed to the scene, and large quantities of the “precious metal” were removed to a safe place. When it turned out that the metal was only mundic, Reupane became an object of ridicule, and, afterwards, was known as “Tommy Poorfellow.”

Significance to Māori

Mount Hikurangi () is of great spiritual, cultural, and physical significance to Ngāti Porou. It is the iwi's most important icon, and in

, was the first part of the North Island to emerge when

, an ancestor of Ngāti Porou, pulled it as a giant fish from the ocean. According to these beliefs, his waka, , became stranded on the mountain, and lies petrified near the mountain's summit. Another of Ngāti Porou's mythological ancestors, Paikea, is also associated with the mountain. According to myth, Paikea's younger half-brother, Ruatapu, attempted to kill about 70 of his older kin ("brothers") at sea in

Hawaiki (also rendered as in the Cook Islands, Hawaiki in Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is, in Polynesian folklore, the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in man ...

to exact revenge on his father for belittling him as a low-born son of a slave. The massacre, called , was survived only by Paikea, who called on the sea gods and ancestors to save him. Paikea travelled to New Zealand on the back of a whale, but Ruatapu sent a great flood, called , to kill the survivors in New Zealand. Mt. Hikurangi became a refuge for the people from this deluge. The mountain is often referenced in Ngāti Porou's

karakia Karakia are Māori incantations and prayer used to invoke spiritual guidance and protection.waiata (songs),

haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...

(war dances), and pēpeha or whakatauākī (proverbs). Examples of these include: * (Hikurangi the mountain, Waiapu the river, Ngati Porou the people). Ngāti Porou's proverb of identity. * (Behold, it is divine! It is human! It is divine! It is human! Ah!). Referring to Mt. Hikurangi, this is from the Ngāti Porou

, Rūaumoko, named after the earthquake god. * (Thrusting upward, is Hikurangi). From the haka, (Hearken to the faint call of the voice of Māui), celebrating the mythological rise of the mountain from the ocean. * (

kaka Kaka may refer to: People Nickname or given name Sports * Kaká (born 1982), Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, Brazilian football attacking midfielder * Kaká (futsal player) (born 1987), Carlos Augusto dos Santos da Silva, Italian futsal pivot * ...

feeding on the tawari at Hikurangi, s as fat as the moki in the sea). This saying represents plentiful food. * (Te Rangi-tāwaea Ngāti Porou ancestordons his garments). Said when Mount Hikurangi is covered in snow. Some famous Māori quotes involving Hikurangi include: * (Hikurangi is not a travelling mountain). The mountain of Hikurangi did not have a legend involving movement, and Te Kani-a-Takirau referenced this to justify his unwillingness to leave the area when he turned down the Māori Kingship, also saying he was "a king already through isancestors". * (Enough, let him come hither to Hikurangi, to the mountain on which rests the snow). Said by Te Aotaki, instructing his tribe to welcome Tūwhakairiora, who came to avenge the murder of Poroumātā, his grandfather, and no doubt to undergo tohi (a rite to cause bravery), and possibly marry one of his daughters. Another version of the quote is (Let him come to me, to Hikurangi, the mountain covered with snow).

Flora and fauna

The summit of Mount Hikurangi is the northernmost place where New Zealand's alpine vegetation can be seen. Among the alpine shrubs and delicate herbs found there are large buttercups (''

Ranunculus ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...

'' spp.), and prickly wild Spaniards (''

Aciphylla ''Aciphylla'' is a genus of about 40 species of herbaceous plants in the family Apiaceae, all but two of them endemic to New Zealand (the remaining two species are found only in Australia). They range from small cushion plants to tall flower spi ...

'' spp.). The mountain contains the only known habitat of a small sub-alpine shrub, the Hikurangi tutu ('' Coriaria pottsiana''), found on the grassy

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. The term ''scree'' is ap ...

slope behind the Mount Hikurangi Tramping Hut at . Mount Hikurangi was the location of the last known mainland sighting of the

North Island saddleback The North Island saddleback (''Philesturnus rufusater'') is a forest-dwelling passerine bird species endemic (ecology), endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It was once considered conspecific with the South Island saddleback. The IUCN lis ...

in 1910, before its reintroduction to the North Island on the 16th of June 2002 at

Zealandia Zealandia (pronounced ), also known as (Māori language, Māori) or Tasmantis (from Tasman Sea), is an almost entirely submerged continent, submerged mass of continental crust in Oceania that subsided after breaking away from Gondwana 83� ...

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. In Māori times, kaka would fatten themselves on the berries of the tawari trees growing on the mountain. In the 1960s, members of the Gisborne Tramping Club heard what they thought may have been the call of a

kākāpō The kākāpō (; : ; ''Strigops habroptilus''), sometimes known as the owl parrot or owl-faced parrot, is a species of large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the superfamily Strigopoidea. It is endemic to New Zealand. Kākāpō can be u ...

on the mountain, a parrot whose last documented existence in the North Island was in 1895. The nearby Raukumara Forest Park's forests include a wide range of podocarp-broadleaved species such as

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

, rātā, tawa, hinau, rewarewa,

kāmahi ''Pterophylla racemosa'', commonly known as the kāmahi, is an evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand. It is a member of the Cunoniaceae family of plants, and it is often referred to by its former botanical name ''Weinmannia racemosa.'' Most me ...

kahikatea ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori language, Māori) and white pine, is a Pinophyta, coniferous tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. A Podocarpaceae, podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining hei ...

, miro,

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

and

tōtara ''Podocarpus totara'' (), commonly known as the , is a species of Podocarpus, podocarp tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island, South Island and rarely on Stewart Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura in lowland, ...

. Native birds and animals found in the area include pīwakawaka,

tūī The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an endemism, endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the on ...

, whio,

kākā The New Zealand kākā (''Nestor meridionalis'') is a large species of parrot of the family New Zealand parrot, Strigopidae found in New Zealand, New Zealand's native forests across the three main Islands of New Zealand. The species is often kn ...

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

kererū The kererū (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae''), also known as kūkupa (Māori language#Northern dialects, northern Māori dialects), New Zealand pigeon or wood pigeon, is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin describ ...

, brown kiwi,

Hochstetter's frog Hochstetter's frog or Hochstetter's New Zealand frog (''Leiopelma hochstetteri'') is a primitive frog native to New Zealand, one of only three extant species belonging to the taxonomic family Leiopelmatidae. They possess some of the most ancient ...

snails A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

lizards Lizard is the common name used for all squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The ...

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

s, '' Motuweta riparia'' (Raukumara tusked

wētā Wētā (also spelled weta in English) is the common name for a group of about 100 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae endemism, endemic to New Zealand. They are giant wingless insect, flightless cricket (insect ...

), and short- and long-tailed bats. Introduced animals include

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

possums Possum may refer to: Animals * Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas ** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia *** Common opossum, native to Central and South America *** Virginia opossum, ...

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

and

mustelidae The Mustelidae (; from Latin , weasel) are a diverse family of carnivora, carnivoran mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, polecats, martens, grisons, and wolverines. Otherwise known as mustelids (), they form the largest family in the s ...

, all of which pose a threat to the native wildlife.

Recreation

Mount Hikurangi is about north of Gisborne by road. Visitors to the mountain are asked to contact Te

Rūnanga In tikanga Māori (Māori culture or practice), a (runaka in Southern Māori dialect) is a tribal council, assembly, board or boardroom. The term can also be a verb meaning "to discuss in an assembly". An iwi (tribe) can have one governing rū ...

o Ngāti Porou before arriving, as the track crosses their private land, which is sometimes closed for short periods for cultural or farming reasons. While there is no public vehicle or bicycle access beyond the car park near the bottom, 4x4 tours to the carvings can be organised through Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou, who also offer a summit guide and an overnight guide. From the car park, it is about a 7-hour walk to the summit. There is a hut for public use 4–5 hours up the mountain, but visitors must bring their own cooker and water. Bookings for the hut are also made through Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou. Visitors are advised to be cautious of the mountain's unpredictable weather, and to bring clothing suitable for all weather conditions. Hunting of introduced species is permitted in the nearby Raukumara Forest Park.

References

External links

*
Mt Hikurangi
article with photo in '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand''
Waiapu River valley
article in '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'', with photo her

* Photos of carvings o
Māui
an
other members of his family
on the mountain.
The importance of Hikurangi to Ngāti Porou
video (in te reo Māori, with English notes) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hikurangi, Gisborne, Mount Mountains of the Gisborne District Māori mythology

Hikurangi Hikurangi is a settlement in Northland Region, Northland, New Zealand. The city of Whangārei is to the south, and Kawakawa, New Zealand, Kawakawa is northwest. The Glenbervie Forest is southeast of the settlement. New Zealand State Highway ...