Whakapau taniwha – Hokianga map, 1862

 Sketch map showing Ngahapu of the Ngapuhi tribe,
 Western division, Mahuhu migration, 1862.
 Special Collections. Map E 995.12 1862.

The most immediately striking aspect of this chart of the Hokianga region is its huge size. Measuring 159 by 222 centimetres, it is the largest map in the library's collection. For people of Ngā Puhi descent, it is a taonga of special significance. Not only does it show the mid-nineteenth century locations of the Hokianga-based hapū, it also includes a comprehensive whakapapa.

The information was compiled by the prolific writer and government official John White (1826-91). Born in England, White immigrated to New Zealand with his parents in 1835. The family settled at Mata on the Hokianga Harbour, where White's father was in the timber trade and was a prominent member of the local Wesleyan missionary community.

Fluent in Māori from his youth, White became an ardent collector of waiata and traditional stories - particularly those of the Hokianga region. He began communicating his discoveries to Governor George Grey, in the late 1840s. For a brief period in 1851 and 1852 he was Grey's official secretary and translator. In the late 1850s and early 1860s he worked for the land Purchase Department and was appointed acting Assistant Native Secretary in October 1862.

The Hokianga map was drawn up, at White's request, by George Frederic Allen and James Orme Barnard, partners in one of the leading Auckland architectural firms of the period.

Ngā Puhi are the largest iwi in New Zealand and they have lived around the Hokianga Harbour for many centuries. Their whakapapa is traced from the great ancestor Rāhiri, a direct descendant of Kupe, said to have discovered Aotearoa/ New Zealand.

Iain Sharp