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KATIKATI
THE MURAL TOWN OF NEW ZEALAND
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Western Bay of Plenty History Pre European
1290 The low land and coastal counrty side is covered in ferns and ti-tree. The Kaimai’s are covered in native forest with massive Kauri trees many thousands of years old. The Takitimu arrives at Te Awanui (original name for Tauranga ) the tribes in residence were Nga Marama of the Tainui canoe, along with Te Purukupenga and sections of Te Tini o Toi. The Takitimu was a highly sacred canoe, and it is said that only the aristocracy and priestly class from the homeland of Hawaiki traveled aboard her. Ranginui, the founding ancestor of Ngati Ranginui, was the son of Tamatea-pokai-whenua, the captain of the canoe. The origins of Ngaiterangi Iwi Ngaiterangi Iwi originally came from a land called Hawaiki. Upon arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand aboard the Mataatua canoe the tribe later settled in the Opotiki area at a Pa or fortified village called Tawhitirahi, not withstanding this NgaiterangiIwi are also descended from the original inhabiants of Tauranga and the pre-migration people who traversed the entire Bay of Plenty, through intermarriage after the arrival of the canoes. 1700 Ngaiterangi conquest of Tauranga European 1769 Captain Cook sails across the Bay of Plenty in the Endevour 1818: Ngapuhi chief Te Morenga destroys Matarehu Pa, Motiti Island. 1820: Te Morenga destroys Pa on Mauao (Mt Maunganui). Te Wani, chief of Ngaiterangi saves Otumoetai Pa – makes peace with Te Morenga at Matuaiwi Pa. Samuel Marsden sees Tauranga and waring tribes from top of Mt Hikurangi near Waihi. First European sighting. 1823: Hongi Hika (Ngapuhi chief) attacks Rotorua and Makoia Island. 1828: Destruction of Te Papa – Otamataha Pa – 500 killed. 1832: Ngapuhi attack on Otumoetai Pa. 1834: Site for Mission station at Te Papa (Tauranga) chosen. 1835: Mission station opened. 1835: Fighting between Arawa, Ngaiterangi and Waikato tribes begin. 1836: march. Arawa Pa at Makatu destroyed by Ngaiterangi and Waikato. May. Ngaiterangi Pa at Te Tumu destroyed by Arawa. 1840: Feb. Arawa war party on Tauranga (600 warriors). Ngaiterang chief Tupaea refuses to make peace. 1842: Taraia, Ngati Maru chief destroys Wanaki’s Pa at Ongare near Katikati. 1845: Peace treaty between Ngaiterangi and Arawa. 1852: HMS Pandora surveys Tauranga Harbour. 1857: First steam ship enters Taraunga Harbour. 1864: Jan. Military occupation of Tauranga. 1864 April, Battle of Gate Pa, Maori .v ictory. 1864 June Battle of Te Ranga, Imperial Troops victory. 1864 Aug, formal peacemaking with Maori. Confiscation of land following surrender. 1867: Tauranga District Lands Act legalizes the confiscation. 1869: Fear of attack by Te Kooti. Opepe massacre – 9 Tauranga men killed. 1870: Tauranga District Highways Boards established. Telegraph communications .established with Wellington. 1882: Tauranga gazetted a Borough. George Vesey Stewart, founder of Katikati, elected .first Mayor. Population 1258.
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KATIKATI
THE MURAL TOWN OF NEW ZEALAND
LOCATION
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Katikati in the Western Bay of Plenty, North Island , New Zealand. Katikati (population 3,579 at 2006 census) is a town located on the Uretara Stream near the tidal inlet opened by Matakana Island in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. The nearest city is Tauranga, which is 40 kilometres to the southeast. Katikati lies 28 kilometres south of Waihi. Katikati was settled in 1875 by settlers from County Tyrone in Ireland through the Orange Institution. The settlement was established by the Irishman George Vesey Stewart, who led two groups of settlers there aboard the ships Carisbrook Castle (1875) and Lady Jocelyn (1878). The land upon which the town was built was confiscated from local Māori after the land wars, and was given to the settlers by the Central Government. The settlement was formed from two distinct groups "the settlers useful and the settlers ornamental" referring to the tenant farmers and those with wealth. The settlement managed to withstand early economic problems and developed into a healthy town, based around farming and agriculture. Katikati is known for its many murals painted on walls of commercial buildings, started in the 1990s as a project to regenerate tourist interest in the town and district, indeed the effort was recognised as New Zealand's 'Most Beautiful Small Town' award for towns of less than 8,000 population in 2005 by the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Society. |
KATIKATI
THE MURAL TOWN OF NEW ZEALAND
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KATKATI "yesterday – today" First there were the early Maori voyages , both pre migration and migration. who settled in the plentiful shores of the Bay of Plenty. From the three migration canoes closely associated with the Bay, Te Arawa, Takitimu and Mataatua came the Iwis of Ngaiterangi and the the Ngati Ranginui. Some of their decendants live at Katikati’s three marae (villages) : Te Rereatukahia, Tahawai and Otawhiwhi.(see page titled Western Bay of Plenty history) In fact apart of a very small and temporary group of Maori at the end of what is now Park Road, no occupation at Katikati was made. The closest was a Pa at Ongare (Wanaki’s Pa) destroyed in 1842 by Taraia, chief of Ngati Maru and a small settlement at Athenree. One fact that is not well known is that the Great Canoe Tainui sailed into the Tauranga Harbour. For a time the people of Tainui stayed but as the place was already well populated, if Tainui were to settle there they would have to fight for the land to live on. They decided to carry on but some stayed . Tainui came to it’s resting place on the East Coast after sailing throught the Waitemata, land haulage across the land bridge to the Manukau Harbour and finally arriving at Kawhia. The canoe carried the ancestors of the people of Hauraki, Waikato and Maniapoto.In 1875 George Vesey Stewart brought the first party of Irish settlers to Katikati, the only planned Ulster settlement in the world. The 34 families cleared the land, planted crops, and built the first homes. A second party followed in 1878 giving a total of 600 settlers. In 1990, at a time when Katikati was facing a serious economic downturn, a group of volunteers decided to lift the spirits of the local community and to attract visitors by painting our unique history on the walls of the town. TODAY Katikati is and has been for the last three years the fastest growing town in the Western Bay of Plenty. Katikati & district is the major producer of avocado’s in New Zealand and the second major producer of kiwifruit in New Zealand. Katikati has a multitude of special events through-out the year. The year ends with the Christmas parade in the main street. In January and February there are evening concerts on Sunday every two weeks at the park situated just behind Kaimai view motel. Various themes such as ABBA, Country & Western, Pop Opera, Jazz revival etc. are performed by artists from around New Zealand. A market every Sunday morning. Bi annual week long mural fest. Annual Food fest. The Katikati Heritage meuseum is well worth visiting for a look at early life in Katikati. The Murals of Katikati add an excellent insite into Katikati's past whilst taking a leisurely walk arond the shops. If you are visiting in January and Febuary the Katikati Concerts on Sunday nights are a definate must to see and hear. What is a MUST to do is to walk the Haiku pathway. The pathway follows the Uretera Stream and must be the most peaceful and relaxing spot in Katikati. Views of the Uretera and Haiku can be seen on Google Earth and posted by Kaimai View Motel There are many walks in the Kaimai Ranges (just behind Katikati) for both the serious tramper and for those who want an easy pleasant walk in the native bush. Maps and directions of these can be seen on the Kaimai view web site also.
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The small town of Katikati in rural Bay of Plenty may seem an unlikely home to one of the finest haiku monuments outside Japan, but that's where you'll find the Haiku Pathway, a meandering riverside stroll punctuated by boulders engraved with poems.
The pathway was officially opened in June 2000, with 24 engraved river boulders, as one of New Zealand's Millennium Projects (its specially designed footbridge was dedicated as the sun rose on January 1, 2000). It is the largest such pathway in the Southern Hemisphere, and the largest collection of "haiku stones" outside Japan.
The driving force behind it is Catherine Mair, a well-known haiku poet and former editor of winterSPIN (now Kokako), who has long links with Katikati. She was born in the homestead on her grandparents' farm, spent many happy childhood holidays there, married at the homestead and later owned the farm with her husband, Selwyn. When the hard decision came to sell the land, Catherine convinced the developer that part of what was to become a housing subdivision should form a haiku pathway.
Her vision coincided with a drive to reclaim the Uretara Stream for the town. The river had been a vital link between settlers and the outside world in the 1870s, but 120 years later the land around the river as it passed behind the main commercial area was a wasteland.
The pathway runs either side of the Uretara Stream and links the town's centre with the Highfields subdivision via the footbridge. The pathway has already been extended once and plans are to extend it further. The park-like setting, which includes trees, seats, and picnic tables, is also a popular venue for one of the town's annual Summer Twilight Concerts.
"It's a bit improbable, isn't it?," Catherine says of the decision to create the pathway. "A country town that had never heard of haiku - but it was the right people at the right time. Even the blokes on the big machines moving the rocks into place got caught up in the magic of it, and the original engraver turned down a lucrative contract so he could finish his work here."
Winning haiku from the biennial Katikati Have-a-Go Haiku Contest have been engraved on flagstones and set into the pathway as a means of involving the community, including children, without compromising the quality of the boulder poems.
Each of the boulder poems has been carefully selected to reflect its surroundings - there is even one boulder placed in the stream in the happy expectation that it will be covered by water during floods and left high and dry in the summer. Catherine hopes the pathway is a constant voyage of discovery, and that visitors find new dimensions each time they're there, depending on the hour, the weather, the season.
The pathway forms only one of the many artworks in this self-proclaimed Mural Town. The involvement of the Katikati Open-Air Art umbrella group was vital in the early days of the pathway, while the goodwill and support of the Western Bay of Plenty District Council has also been invaluable.
Catherine is now chairwoman of the Katikati Haiku Pathway Focus Committee, which until early 2007 was chaired by the late Ted Harris. It was Ted, who was a councillor at the time, to whom Catherine turned for help in turning her dream into a reality.
Another three haiku boulders were engraved in mid-2007, while a new entry sign, which features a haiku engraved on a metal plaque, was added in late 2008, bringing the total number of pathway project haiku to 31. The newest three boulders are at The Landing, the site of the jetty where the town's first Ulster Irish stepped foot in their new home. The committee hopes that these "outriders" will encourage people to make a circular walk through town - starting at the pathway, crossing to The Landing (which also features a mural and wooden sculpture) and back through town admiring the many murals.
The Haiku Pathway guidebook was updated and reprinted in 2007 and contains 30 of the poems, as well as small biographies of each poet, a potted history of the project and a map of the pathway. The book sells for (including post & packing within New Zealand): $7 for 1; $12 for 2. For orders of more than 2, please inquire for costs. Send a cheque (made out to the Katikati Haiku Pathway Focus Committee), your name and postal address to Sandra Simpson, 82 Grace Rd, Tauranga 3112.
For those ordering from overseas, the cost (including P&P)
in New Zealand dollars is:
Australia: $11 for 1, or $19 for 2.
Rest of the World: $12 for 1, or $20 for
2.
Payment may be made through the committee's PayPal account, please e-mail
for details of the payee account, or for the cost if you wish to purchase
more than 2 guidebooks.
Meanwhile, in 2005 a local Rotary club donated a model logging dam as a water feature to both mark the centenary of Rotary International and the area's milling history, and asked Catherine to help them choose a haiku from those submitted by local writers to form part of the installation. The park featuring this model sits on the other side of the main road, opposite the main entry to the pathway.
