Pohaturoa Rock (Bay of Plenty) EarthCache
Pohaturoa Rock (Bay of Plenty)
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This arresting block of weatherworn greywacke was once joined to the escarpment behind it by a low ridge while the tide washed its northerly base.
For at least 600 years it has been revered by the Ngati Awa tribespeople of Whakatane as a sacred spot dedicated wholly to the gods, and protected by the strictest laws of tapu. In earlier times its higher levels served as repository shelves for the bones of the illustrious dead.
The tunnel in one end was once a cave, where the tribal tohunga or priests tattooed generations of young warriors with the battle moko as an initiation to manhood. At its mouth the waters of nearby Waiewe Stream (now channelled beneath the Strand) formed a pool in which every newborn child of the tribe was plunged in cold baptism, the males to the service of Tu, the War God, and the females to the same deity as potential mothers of warriors.
Pohaturoa was also a recognised meeting place for discussing important tribal matters, for greeting visitors and delegates, and for settling inter-tribal relations. Its sanctity was widely recognised. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in the vicinity by local chiefs in June 1840, and on the centenary of the signing a plaque was erected on the lawn at the base of the rock.
Also, near the base is a memorial erected to Te Hurinui Apanui, Paramount Chief of the Mataatua tribes, who died in 1924.
Pohaturoa was made a "Rock of Remembrance of those of this country who fell in the Great War 1914-1918" when a War Memorial Plaque was fitted into the body of the Rock.
Sea Caves, also known as a littoral cave, is a type of cave formed primarily by the wave action of the sea. These types of caves are often times formed by the slow erosion of the waves, on a weak area of rock on a coastal line. Most often, the cave will be created under the waterline, due to the currents and wave flows into the rock causing the steady erosion, and removal of weakened rock. In most of the cases where a sea cave is above the water line and open for view from boat or plane, the cave has been exposed because of a shorline shift, and rise in position. The most common size for a sea cave will be anywhere from 5 to 50 meters in length, but have been known to stretch up to 300 meters in length.
To log this EarthCache, you must do the following and email us the results. You can go ahead and log your find, (ie. you don't need to wait for permission) but if we don’t think you have honestly completed the required tasks we will delete your log (after emailing you first of course):
1)Take a measurement of the height and the width(at ground level) of the hole in the rock and email me the answers
2)There is a Plaque Titled " Pohaturoa Rock " - Email me the last 3 words on it.
3)Take a photo of yourself with gps with the hole in the rock behind you
Please email me this info, please DO NOT post it with your log. Just post your photo.
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