Ngāmotu - more than just a beach

The world's best triathletes gathered at Ngāmotu Beach in 2005 and they'll line up again in 2006. They join the action people from the past - the warriors and the whalers, the settlers and the sailors.

There have been traders, fishermen, oilmen and sandmen and they've all crossed the black sands of this beach and they all have a tale.

This story is all about them. 

Rewind to 1820

Captain Cook anchored of Ngāmotu Beach in 1769 but he didn't row ashore. The seas were a tad wild that day and he sailed away. It is thought that Māori living at Ngāmotu didn't see a Pakeha until 1820. Europeans had arrived in other parts of New Zealand but the wild, west coast seas kept ships away from Taranaki.

Decide if the things below really happened in the 1820s. Just answer true or false and check your answers at the end of this week's TreasureLink.

1. European traders are harvesting plenty of   timber and flax.
2. Kauri is being taken for ships' topmasts and spars.
3. Flax exports from New Zealand reach a peak.
4. Māori begin to become crew members on European ships.
5. Māori use muskets as weapons of war for the very first time.

Word watch

All the words and phrases below are in the story.
Choose the best meaning and check your choices as you read the story.



The answers are at the end of this TreasureLink.

 

1. triumph (a) defeat or (b) victory
2. crescent (a) curve or (b) special place
3. kainga (a) food gathering place or (b) village
4. fortifications (a) foothills or (b) barricades
5. baleen (a) whale blubber or (b) plates that hang from the upper jaw of baleen whales and strain plankton from the water.
6. pious settlers (a) religious settlers or (b) frightened settlers
7. decomposition (a) decay or (b) sideways movement
8. intrepid (a) strong or (b) valiant
9. eclectic (a) with power or (b) assorted
10. exotic (a) far away or (b) glamorous

Same place, different time

The introduction to this story builds a word picture that shows what Ngāmotu was like " before shoe clad white feet touched its shores".

Read this intro and then reconstruct the scene described in the second paragraph. Look here for some help:

Enter the traders
 

Dicky Barrett was a trader and he knew Ngāmotu well. It's where he made his money. Read White feet on black sand to find out more.

The story tells us that Dicky and his business partner "eased their way into Māori society for economic gain."

Does this mean they ripped the Māori community off?

Look here and decide:   

A battle, a walk and some whales

The battle for Ōtaka Pā was a long and bloody one. Te Wherowhero marched along the seashore with 1600 warriors, plus women and slaves.  The great taua split into two at the Huatoki stream and began to surround the pā. The battle would last three weeks.

Neither camp would attack in the dark. Warriors on both sides covered themselves with mats and drifted calmly off to sleep. Barrett and Love wore themselves out trying to stay awake all day and night.

Tainui warriors would rush the pā and Te Ātiawa would hold them off. Te Wherowhero decided to head north after hearing his own land was in danger. He made one last attack but the cannons roared and his warriors died. Te Wherowhero and his men withdrew and Te Ātiawa followed, picking off stragglers on the retreat.

Read Battle at Ōtaka Pa and find out what happened next.

Dicky later returned to Ngāmotu and the land, where New Plymouth now stands, was sold. Look here and work out why:      
                 

Thar she blows! 

Whales from the Pacific Ocean, began to arrive off the west coast of New Zealand during their migration to the Antarctic in early May each year and at times they would head past Taranaki's coastline. That's why Dicky Barrett set up his whaling station.

Look here to find out why whale hunting could be a very good business.

The settlers arrive

The William Bryan was the first of Taranaki's settler ships to arrive and it was the only one that landed passengers at Ngāmotu Beach. Later ships anchored off the Huatoki River mouth and the settlers were rowed to the beach from there.

Read A new town to find out what the settlers thought of their new home.

Many things in the new land would change from what was planned. Small "English villages" with roads and houses were planned for rural areas like Tikorangi and Huirangi.

The idea was that the farmers would live in the villages and work their fields during the day. The plans were drawn on paper but the villages and roads were never built. Farmers built their homes on their farms.

Which of the settler attributes below do you think were most important if the settler was to succeed?

Look below pick three and compare your choice with a classmate.

Nice port (after a while)

There's a big port in Taranaki now and it's one of the most successful in New Zealand. It's on the west coast and that's a good thing now rather than a disadvantage.

There was a time however when Frederic Carrington the surveyor was the most unpopular man in town for choosing this part of the wild west coast for the new New Plymouth. There was no harbour and men were still calling meetings to complain, long after the town had been started. One meeting wanted the town shifted! People said that ships were sailing straight past and it wouldn't be too long before they all starved!

Even Frederic had figured out that Waitara would be good place for the new settler's town. Work out why with a classmate and then read Port problems to see how the problem was solved.

Mining the sand

This photo proves that people were serious about mining Taranaki's iron sands. Here's one factory built near the beach.

Frederic Carrington thought that the black sands of Taranaki might be worth mining. He sent samples to England for testing in a furnace and reports said that the Taranaki iron sand was even better than the famous Dannamerra ore of Sweden and would be the most valuable iron in the world. No wonder people tried to make money out of it.

In 1848, a settler named Perry tried to smelt the sand in a small furnace. Unfortunately the fine sand made its way into the bottom of the furnace before the heat of the fire could reduce it to pig iron but small quantities of iron were produced and a local blacksmith forged a few tools.

In the 1870s a big smelting works was built at the mouth of the Te Henui River and nearly four tonnes of iron was produced. It was turned into a variety of things including four train wheels.

Read Wealth spread out like a carpet and find out what happened to the iron sand business.

Sand is still mined in New Zealand and it's used around the world. About half of New Zealand's total iron sand concentrate gets exported so people know it's good stuff. Why don't Taranaki companies still mine it then. Think, pair and share your ideas with a classmate.

And then there was oil

They called it "black gold" and it once oozed through the sand and covered people's toes. Read all about it in Black gold.

Taranaki's oil was a bit of a nuisance in the early days - especially for people strolling along the beach. It was a nuisance in America at about the same time too.  Drilling crews searching for water in Pennsylvania  kept striking oil and it really annoyed them. They had to abandon their well and start a new one somewhere else.

Native Americans though, at least as far back as 1410 AD, had been harvesting the oil. They dug small pits around active seeps and lined them with wood. They used the oil for medicinal purposes so they were onto it.

So here was this oil bubbling up through the ground and most people thought it was a pain in the neck. And then suddenly the oil industry took off!  What must have happened to bring on the oil rush? Discuss it with a classmate and share your ideas in class.

Let the Mardi Gras begin!

Time gets tangled up in text and that's why timelines are so effective. They illustrate step by step how events unfolded.

Finish the story now by reading Come to the Mardi Gras and then complete the timeline below to show a history of Ngāmotu Beach.

Fast forward

Ngāmotu Beach may change again because Port Taranaki is growing. In terms of freight tonnes handled, Port Taranaki is New Zealand's second largest export port and fifth largest port overall. It's very unusual for a port this size to have a have a safe beach right next door but Ngāmotu beach could be gobbled up if the port needs to expand.

Port Taranaki brings money into the region. The giant machines, equipment and products of our energy projects get shipped in and out from this port as do agricultural products. Port Taranaki recently picked up a contract to receive and export coal shipped from Greymouth and talks with shipping operators could see asn inter-island ferry service between New Plymouth and Nelson. At first it will only carry freight but it may carry passengers one day.

Ngāmotu Beach is part of the port's land. The port company has the right to develop the beach if they really need to. It all gets quite tricky. As the port grows so does the city- it's good for Taranaki. This has happened since the early days. If it expands though there could be impacts on recreation, roads, rail, housing and the coastline so what's the solution? Look here and explore the Palms. Is something like this the answer for New Plymouth?

Word watch answers
1b, 2a, 3b, 4b, 5b, 6a, 7a, 8b, 9b, 10b

Rewind Answers
1. True
2. True
3. True
4. False. This happened in the 1790s when ships' captains found they were excent and skilled crew members.
5. False. The first recorded time muskets were used as weapons was in1807. During the 1820s however the use of the musket in war increased dramatically.