__NOTOC__ Mokoia Island is located in

Lake Rotorua Lake Rotorua () is the second largest lake in the North Island of New Zealand by surface area, and covers 79.8 km2. With a mean depth of only 10 metres it is considerably smaller than nearby Lake Tarawera in terms of volume of water. It i ...

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 (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...

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 ...

, rising to 180 metres above the lake surface. It was formed after the

Rotorua caldera The Rotorua Caldera is a large rhyolitic caldera that is filled by Lake Rotorua. It was formed by an eruption 240,000 years ago that produced extensive Pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic deposits. Smaller eruptions have occurred in the caldera since ...

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 Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to: * Geothermal energy, useful energy generated and stored in the Earth * Geothermal activity, the range of natural phenomena at or near the surface, associated with release of the Earth's internal he ...

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 The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of the ...

on it. The stone statue of Matuatonga on the island protected the island's kūmara crop, and

tohunga In the culture of the Māori people, Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga (tōhuka in Southern Māori dialect) is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. Tohunga include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, ...

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 Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

, who run it in conjunction with the

New Zealand Department of Conservation The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori language, Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand ...

. It is a bird sanctuary and access is limited to tour parties only. It is home to several rare species, including the

North Island kōkako The North Island kōkako (''Callaeas wilsoni'') is an endangered forest bird which is endemic (ecology), endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is grey in colour, with a small black mask. Adults have distinctive blue wattles. Because ...

, the

North Island brown kiwi The North Island brown kiwi (''Apteryx mantelli''; ''Apteryx australis'' or ''Apteryx bulleri'' as before 2000, still used in some sources) is a species of kiwi that is widespread in the northern two-thirds of the North Island of New Zealand and ...

, and a breeding population of the endangered

North Island saddleback The North Island saddleback (''Philesturnus rufusater'') is a forest-dwelling passerine bird species endemic (ecology), endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It was once considered conspecific with the South Island saddleback. The IUCN lis ...

. The island is also the location of regular

Mau rākau Mau rākau, meaning "to bear a weapon", is a martial art based on traditional Māori people, Māori weapons. Weapons Mau rākau is a general term referring to the skilled use of weapons. It is said that the use of weapons was taught in the Wha ...

training camps in the Māori

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the pres ...

taiaha A taiaha () is a traditional weapon of the Māori people, Māori of New Zealand; a close-quarters staff weapon made from either wood or whalebone, and used for short, sharp strikes or stabbing thrusts with efficient footwork on the part of the wi ...

Hinemoa and Tūtānekai

The island is sacred to

of the

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori people, Māori iwi and hapū (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the ''Arawa (canoe), Arawa'' migration canoe (''waka''). The tribes are based in the Rotorua and Bay of Plent ...

, and is the location of one of the most famous legends of New Zealand, that of

Hinemoa Hinemoa was a woman of the Te Arawa, known in Māori culture, Māori tradition for swimming across Lake Rotorua to Mokoia island to be with Tūtānekai, with whom she was in love. The story has been widely transmitted and forms the basis for one ve ...

and

Tūtānekai Tūtānekai was a Māori people, Māori rangatira (chief) of the iwi Ngāti Whakaue in the Te Arawa confederation of tribes. He was an illegitimate son of Tūwharetoa i te Aupōuri and is most famous for his romance with Hinemoa, which is refere ...

, which has parallels with the classical Greek tale of

Hero and Leander Hero and Leander (, ) is the Greek myth relating the story of Hero (, ''Hērṓ''; ), a priestess of Aphrodite (Venus in Roman mythology) who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Hellespont, and Leander (, ''Léandros''; ...

. 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 island is the setting of the Te Arawa version of the widely known traditional Māori love song "

Pōkarekare Ana "Pōkarekare Ana" is a traditional New Zealand love song, probably communally composed about the time World War I began in 1914. The song is written in Māori and has been translated into English. It enjoys widespread popularity in New Zealand as ...

", which references the story of Hinemoa and Tūtānekai. The lyrics imply Hinemoa's crossing the lake to reach Tūtānekai.

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 Lava domes of New Zealand

Hinemoa and Tūtānekai

See also

References

External links