Mount Grey (officially Mount Grey / Maukatere) is a mountain west of Amberley in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It is named after

Sir George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...

who was governor of New Zealand when English surveyors climbed it in 1849. In Te Reo Māori, the mountain is called Maukatere, 'floating mountain', from where the spirits of the dead leave on the long journey to

Cape Reinga Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua (; sometimes spelled Rēinga, ) is the northwestern most tip of the Aupōuri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. Cape Reinga is more than 100 km north of the nearest small town ...

. Maukatere is a significant mountain for the

Kaiapoi Kaiapoi is a town in the Waimakariri District of the Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury region, in the South Island of New Zealand. The town is located approximately 17 kilometres north of central Christchurch, close to the mouth of the Waimak ...

-based Ngāi Tūāhuriri, a

hapū In Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief ...

(subtribe) of

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 ...

. Maukatere marked the inland boundary of the Crown purchase of the Canterbury and Otago area recorded in " Kemp's Deed" in 1848. In 1998, the

Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 is an act of parliament passed in New Zealand relating to Ngāi Tahu, the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. The act's purpose is to settle all of the tribe's claims under the Treaty of Wa ...

changed the official name of the mountain to Mount Grey / Maukatere.

References

Grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

Hurunui District {{CanterburyNZ-geo-stub