Whenua Hou: A New Land
Whenua Hou: A New Land. The story of Codfish Island
Neville Peat, 2019, Department of Conservation in association with the Whenua Hou Committee.
ISBN 978-1-98-851490-1
Price: $25 (incl gst) plus post and packaging Email Orders: whenuahoubook@gmail.com
Blurb:
Whenua Hou: A New Land. The story of Codfish Island tells the story of the natural and human history of Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, in a bid to preserve and share the story of this taonga.
Department of Conservation Murihiku Operations Manager Tony Preston says it was fantastic to finally see the story laid bare.
“Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, adjacent to Rakiura, is both a significant wildlife refuge and a tūrangwaewae of great importance to thousands of descendants of Māori women and their European sealer partners. Its rich and vast history needed to be celebrated.”
The book, written by renowned author Neville Peat tells the fascinating story of first contact, colonisation, sealing, missionaries, farming, nature conservation, modern archaeology and the island’s status as an ancestral homeland. It also shines a light on the first settlers of 700 years ago.
Whenua Hou Komiti chairman Tane Davis says the book is an important taonga chronicling a little-known part of New Zealand history.
“Whenua Hou is a vitally significant place to Ngai Tahu whanui. We connect to the Island on spiritual, physical, cultural, and whakapapa levels. Many Ngai Tahu whanau are descendants to Whenua Hou, the Island is recognised as a taonga to Ngai Tahu. The formation of the Whenua Hou Komiti, and the name Whenua Hou are the outcomes of the Ngai Tahu Settlement act 1998.
Author Neville Peat MNZM, has written extensively about New Zealand geography and the natural environment, including Rakiura Heritage: A Stewart Island History and Guide to Historic Sites and Stewart Island: The Last Refuge.
Mini Review
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Peat's book covers many aspects of the island, but particularly of its time as a sealing come provision growing site inhabited by a mixed community of Maori women and mainly migrant men. Many New Zealanders, many identifying as Maori, result from these relationships. The book celebrates the modern recognition of the importance of this community and the re-connection to the place by the descendants. Archaeologist Atholl Anderson| is among those who can trace ancestry here, and has a short section describing this.
The recent history of the island is as a nature reserve with a key role in Kakapo recovery. Much of the book is about the conservation history with sketches of key elements of the fauna and flora.
The excavation of a two period early Maori and a colonial period site on the island is briefly described - it has been fully reported elsewhere. Cultural heritage management is now being given its due.
Not a book for a purist archaeological book shelf, but one any New Zealander with a broad interest in our environment and history should value.
