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Mokoia Island is located in
Lake Rotorua in New Zealand. It has an area of 1.35 square kilometres. The uninhabited island is a
rhyolite
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...
lava dome
In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on ...
, rising to 180 metres above the lake surface. It was formed after the
Rotorua caldera collapsed and rhyolitic magma was pushed through the cracks. One of the cracks was below where Mokoia island is today. The foreshores of the island have
geothermal springs with hot spring water forming the Hinemoa pool, known to locals as Waikimihia. It also has very rich volcanic soil, which was why the local Māori grew
kūmara on it. The stone statue of Matuatonga on the island protected the island's kūmara crop, and
tohunga would bring seed kūmara to touch the statue.
It was also a very good strategic location, which was why it was often fought over.
Mokoia Island is privately owned by local
Māori iwi, who run it in conjunction with the
New Zealand Department of Conservation. It is a bird sanctuary and access is limited to tour parties only. It is home to several rare species, including the
North Island kokako, the
North Island brown kiwi, and a breeding population of the endangered
North Island saddleback.
The island is also the location of regular
Mau rākau training camps in the Maori
martial art of
taiaha.
Hinemoa and Tūtānekai
The island is sacred to
Māori of the
Te Arawa iwi, and is the location of one of the most famous legends of New Zealand, that of Hinemoa and Tūtānekai, which has parallels with the classical Greek tale of
Hero and Leander.
According to legend, the two lovers were forbidden to marry, and Hinemoa's father Umukaria, a chief from the shores of the lake, ordered that she not be allowed to travel by canoe to Tūtānekai's tribal village on the island. Hinemoa decided to swim 3.2 kilometres across the lake to the island, guided by the sound of Tūtānekai's flute-playing. For flotation she wrapped rushes (a type of reed) around her and swam her way to the island. According to another version, she made a flotation device from gourds.
The Te Arawa version of the widely known traditional Maori love song "
Pokarekare Ana" references the story of Hinemoa and Tūtānekai. The lyrics imply Hinemoa's crossing the lake to reach Tūtānekai.
See also
*
Pokarekare Ana
*
List of volcanoes in New Zealand
*
List of islands
*
Desert island
References
External links
Images of Mokoia Island
{{Authority control
Taupō Volcanic Zone
Lake islands of New Zealand
Rotorua
Māori mythology
Māori culture
Protected areas of the Bay of Plenty Region
Uninhabited islands of New Zealand
Pleistocene lava domes
Private islands of New Zealand
Rotorua Volcanic Centre
Rift volcanoes