Tawharanui Peninsula

Tawharanui Peninsula is a finger of land projecting into the Hauraki Gulf from the east coast of the much larger North Auckland Peninsula of New Zealand. It separates Omaha Bay to the north from Kawau Bay and Kawau Island to the south. The nearest sizable town is Warkworth.

Tawharanui Regional Park covers 588 hectares of the peninsula's land and Tawharanui Marine Reserve covers the northern coastal sea. Both are administered by Auckland Council which also owns the regional park.

Geologically the peninsula consists of Waitemata Sandstone on top of folded and uplifted greywacke.

Māori lived in the area for over 800 years. The Māori name Tawhara-nui refers to "the abundant bracts of the kiekie vine". Until the 1870s, the park was occupied by a small hapu (sub-tribe) of the Te Kawerau people called Ngati Raupo. The people lived mainly around the catchment of the Mangatawhiri Stream. A significant pā, Oponui, was near the entrance to the park and above the stream outlet was Pa-hi (meaning "lofty fortified settlement"). Tawharanui provided a large variety of marine and forest resources. This was celebrated in the saying, "He wha tawhara ki uta; he kiko tamure ki tai" - "The flowering bracts of the kiekie on the land, the flesh of the snapper in the sea". Waikokowai (Anchor Bay) provided a valued source of kokowai or red ochre, which was used for decorative and ceremonial purposes.

Tawharanui was sold by the Māori owners in 1873–1877 and developed as a farm by the Martin, Jones and Young families. Kauri timber was milled and manuka cut for firewood for many years. Shingle was extracted for a hundred years, creating the Jones Bay Lagoon. Nine vessels were wrecked on the Tawharanui coastline between 1871 and 1978. Anchor Bay is named after the anchor of the Phoenix, wrecked in 1879. The Auckland Regional Authority, forerunner of the Auckland Council, purchased the parkland from the Georgetti family in 1973.

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Wikipedia