Te Paepae o Aotea, also known the Volkner Rocks (named after
Carl Sylvius Völkner
Carl Sylvius Völkner ( – 2 March 1865) was a German-born Protestant missionary in New Zealand who was hanged and decapitated at his church grounds on the east coast of the North Island in what became known as the Völkner Incident.
Biograp ...
), are a group of
andesitic
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
rock
stack
Stack may refer to:
Places
* Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group
* Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland
People
* Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...
s and pinnacles located northwest of
Whakaari/White Island
Whakaari / White Island (, mi, Te Puia Whakaari, lit. "the dramatic volcano"), also known as White Island or Whakaari, is an active andesite stratovolcano situated from the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, in the Bay of Plent ...
in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
's
Bay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...
. They reach 113 metres above sea level from 400 metres below the sea floor,
while the saddle separating them from Whakaari/White Island is over 200 metres deep.
was established around them in 2006.
The area is popular with divers due to good visibility (35–40 m), spectacular scenery and colourful marine life.
The rocks and marine reserve are acccesible by boat. There are several boat ramps, boating facilities and charter boat services in Eastern Bay of Plenty.
History
According to oral history, Te Paepae o Aotea was used as a landmark to show land was close.
The rocks became culturally significant to
Ngāti Awa
Ngāti Awa is a Māori iwi (tribe) centred in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. It is made of 22 hapū (subtribes), with 15,258 people claiming affiliation to the iwi in 2006. The Ngāti Awa people are primarily located in towns ...
and other iwi descending from the
Mātaatua
''Mātaatua'' was one of the great voyaging canoes by which Polynesians migrated to New Zealand, according to Māori tradition. Māori traditions say that the ''Mātaatua'' was initially sent from Hawaiki to bring supplies of kūmara to Māori ...
waka, as the departure place for the spirits of all their people. Spirits linger here, leaving the physical world and reuniting with the souls of the departed.
The marine reserve was established on 9 October 2006.
See also
*
Marine reserves of New Zealand
New Zealand has 44 marine reserves (as of August 2020) spread around the North, the South Island, and neighbouring islands, and on outlying island groups. They are governed by the Marine Reserves Act 1971 and administered by the Department of C ...
*
List of islands of New Zealand
New Zealand consists of more than six hundred islands, mainly remnants of a larger land mass now beneath the sea. New Zealand is the seventh-largest island nation on earth, and the third-largest located entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. T ...
*
Desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...
References
External links
Te Paepae o Aotea Marine Reserveat the Department of Conservation
Press release about reserve Minister of Conservation
{{Whakatāne District
Volcanoes of the Bay of Plenty Region
Islands of the Bay of Plenty Region
Taupō Volcanic Zone
Rock formations of New Zealand
Uninhabited islands of New Zealand