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| At Te Karo Bay looking toward centre right of photo Pukepaukena ( Pumkin Hill ) Tairua - Photo courtesy Chris Ball 2015 |
Origins of Name Place Pukepaukena (Pumpkin Hill), Tairua
Introduction
Pukepaukena (753 ft) a mounded hill is recorded on a map – Topographical Map of Whitianga Survey District compiled and drawn by G E Harris, December 1911 (Bell & Fraser, p11 1912) Research has shown that Pumpkin Hill, Tairua (referred to as this name in 2021), received this name in 1974 – the outcome of a subdivision in that area which has been the name used for the last recent forty-five years.
Pukepaukena
Although a map compiled and drawn by G E Harris (1911) shows this place named on a map, Bell & Fraser (1912) did not document any further information in this NZ Bulletin on this other than discussion about siliceous sinter deposit occurring within or upon propylitised andesite of the Beeson's Island Series.
Research across online and hard copy records indicate the following: -
According to Swindale and Hughes (1968):-
“The deposit is about 1 mile north of Tairua, on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. It forms the prominent, white, rounded hillock of Pukepaukena (N.Z.M.S. 1, Sheet N44/3 38451), to the east of the Tairua Whitianga road as it winds from the township up and over the Tairua Hill” (p .1162)
The Tairua- Whitianga road is also
known as SH25.
The shape of Pukepaukena
and colours of the clays and minerals (pyrophyllite, kaolinite, diaspore,
dickite, and quartz) described by Swindale and Hughes (1968) give a description
of this area.
A search of the online Maori Dictionary for
meaning of Pukepaukena in English gives meaning of Puke as a noun hill,
hillock, mound and meaning of paukena as a noun pumpkin.
An earlier 1842 drawing of a view of HMS loading at Whakahau (Slipper Island) attributed to Henry Domville shows the shape of Pukepaukena (right forefront of drawing where trees and rocks drawn)
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Domville, Henry Jones. View in New Zealand, H.M.S. Tortoise loading
at Wakahou Is., near Tairua River, 1842 [picture] / attributed to Henry Domville
1842 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134565244 |
According to
Wilton in Wilton and Ritchie (2015) location of drawing is confirmed Pumpkin
Hill (p 186). Pumpkin Hill being the name used for this location in 2015.
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| December 1955 View of Otara and Te Karo Bays with Sailors Grave Road and the coastline looking south back to Tairua, Thames-Coromandel District. Whites Aviation Ltd: Photographs. Ref: WA-40144-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/30112475 |
It is known that at the end of 1914 – two years after
Bell & Fraser’s 1912 NZ Bulletin was published, William Beattie,
photographer for the Auckland Weekly News took a number of photos in the Tairua
Valley. Including the felling and logging operations in and around Te Karo.
This would have impacted on the surrounding vegetation and terrain. It is known that bush contractor, Collins, felled and logged this area during that time. (Reed,1953)
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Beattie, W Auckland Weekly News Auckland 17 December 1914 Showing logs being lifted into the sea near Tairua, preparatory to rafting them to the mill. With an inset photograph of a man holding a large saw. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19141217-48-2 |
Pumpkin Hill
Fourteen years later in 1928, another photographer for
the Auckland Weekly News took a photo of this area, calling Pukepaukena,
Pumpkin Hill.
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9 February 1928 staff photographer Auckland Weekly News THE BEAUTIFUL STRETCH OF COAST-LINE AT THE MOUTH OF THE TAIRUA RIVER, ON THE EAST COAST OF THE NORTH ISLAND: A STRIKING VIEW SECURED LAST WEEK FROM PUMPKIN HILL. Beattie, W Auckland Weekly News Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19280209-49-2 |
Note this area, now mainly devoid of trees and vegetation being shown in photo, that of grass and scrub. A Whitianga topographical map in 1966 has recorded the location Pumpkin. By 1972 a further Whitianga topographical map in 1972 has records the location Pumpkin Hill.
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Tairua, Thames-Coromandel District. Whites
Aviation Ltd: Photographs. Ref: WA-73150-G. Alexander Turnbull Library,
Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22683316 |
A Whites Aviation photograph taken
25 March 1976, shows in bottom right corner of photograph, housing and roading
in the location of Pumkin Hill. This indicating subdivision.
Historian
Dr. Ann McEwan (2009) attributes the heritage values of the Pumpkin Hill
Reserves, as an:-
“Area is
thought to look like the outline of a pumpkin, also known as Whakaruruhao
(windy owl). Reserve resulting from land subdivision in 1974.”
Subdivision of Pumpkin Hill in 1974, is confirmed in the TCDC Tairua Pauanui
Reserves Management Plan, May 2014 which states: -
“This reserve
was vested in Thames-Coromandel District Council as a recreation reserve
subject to the Reserves and Domains Act 1953 in 1974, from sub-division of the
surrounding land.”
Conclusion
Pukepaukena and Pumpkin Hill are the two different
place names for the location of this mounded hill discussed in this research
document.
Reference:
Have tried to use Primary Source documents as far as possible.
- Bell,
J., & Fraser, C. (1912). The geology of the Waihi-Tairua subdivision,
Hauraki division. Wellington: Government Printer.
- Reed, A. H.(1953). The Story of Kauri. Wellington , New Zealand: A.H & A.W Reed.
- L. D. Swindale & I. R. Hughes (1968) Hydrothermal association of pyrophyllite, kaolinite, diaspore, dickite, and quartz in the Coromandel Area, New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 11:5, 1163-1183, DOI: 10.1080/00288306.1968.10420245
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00288306.1968.10420245
- Wilton, David & Ritchie, Neville. (2015). HMS Tortoise, Sailors Grave and the 'Camp in the Forest', Te Karo Stream, Tairua area (T11/2792). Archaeol. N. Z. 58. 170-187.
- Online Maori Dictionary accessed 15/04/2021.https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=Puke+
- Whitianga: topographical map. 1st ed. NZMS 1: N44., 1957 Historical Maps of the Waikato Region. The University of Waikato Library accessed 16/04/2021.
- Whitianga: topographical map. 1966 3rd ed. Historical Maps of the Waikato Region The University of Waikato Library accessed 16/04/2021.
- Whitianga: topographical map.1972 4th ed. Historical Maps of the Waikato Region The University of Waikato Library accessed 16/04/2021.
- McEwan, D. A. (2009, December 18). TCDC Heritage Review Project Coromandel Peninsula Thematic History and Mapping. Retrieved from https://docs.tcdc.govt.nz/store/default/2457529
- TCDC. (2014, May). Tairua Pauanui Reserve Management Plan. Retrieved from https://docs.tcdc.govt.nz/store/default/5199761.pdf
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