The story of Northland is my story.
In my own lifetime, the tides of change have swept this landscape. I was already a mature tree when the first people landed here in their sea-going canoes, ancestors of the Maori people. Hundreds of years later, I watched the arrival of Europeans, seeking timber then land. Over the 150 years that followed, I witnessed the forests being felled all around me and the land being cleared for farming. I am one of the few ancient kauri left.
 |
 |
An ancient past
Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, but my kauri ancestors and other conifers continued to dominate forests throughout New Zealand.
|
My story
Over 1500 years ago, a gale destroyed several hectares of forest on this ridge where I now stand. One amongst many kauri seedlings, I grew up in the gap created in the forest.
|
 |
 |
Tides of change
Canoes and culture
When we were about 700 years old and our trunks had achieved diameters of a metre or more, the ancestors of the Maori people landed in the harbour not far below our ridge.
|
Sailing ships and sawmilling
About 200 years ago, we saw the first Europeans anchor their sailing ships in the harbour below our ridge. At first they came to fell our adolescent descendants, their tall branchless trunks ideal spars for their ships.
|
 |
 |
Gum-digging and land clearance
The plunder did not stop at timber. Wherever we kauri had grown, semi-fossilised gum lay above and beneath the ground, lasting evidence of our ancient presence.
|
In just over 100 years...
logging, gum-digging, and burning transformed the northern landscape from forest to farmland.
|
Scroll the timeline of kauri in New Zealand >>
|
