The Tuia Mātauranga Pōkai Whenua GeoTour follows the footsteps of early explorers of Aotearoa New Zealand taking you to places where leaders of the past searched for food, resources and ways to adapt and survive in this new land.
Use the Pōkai Whenua GeoTour as your classroom to explore the stories of the past, in the present, to preserve what is unique in Aotearoa New Zealand for the future.
Collect the codewords to get the Geocoin puzzle pieces.
To be able to complete this GeoTour and receive your special Geocoin collectable, remember to take a note of the codeword placed in the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded here.
63 of the 150 Pōkai Whenua GeoTour caches will contain a randomly placed special FTF token (a replica of the Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour commemorative coin). This is yours to keep! If you find more than one, you might consider leaving it for the next person who finds the cache.
Born in Ireland, Richard Treacy Henry migrated to New Zealand from Australia when he was about 29, in 1874. Working on Te Anau Downs Station and the surrounding area he took a keen interest in the wildlife that lived in Fiordland. In his spare time Henry observed, collected and preserved birds, often analysing their stomach content to determine their feeding habits.
In 1868, in what is generally regarded as the first conservationist speech in the New Zealand parliament politician Thomas Potts called on the government to “ascertain the present condition of the Forests of the Colony, with a view to better conservation”. Potts had “his heart in his hobbies—ornithology, entomology, and botany”. He understood the fragility of the native birds and despaired at the apparent lack of interest in their plight. He criticised the attitude of collectors and scientists: Bird dealers, agents and collectors for museums. One collector alone had killed and disposed of 2000 specimens of the harmless kiwi.
In 1872 Thomas Potts sailed on the government steamer round the bottom of the South Island to Fiordland. The remoteness and vastness of Resolution Island struck him as fulfilling the practical requirements of an island sanctuary. He proposed that both D’Urville Island and Resolution Island ‘might be placed under tapu from molestation by dog and gun’, so that ‘wingless species, and birds of feeble powers of flight, might there find a refuge for some of their representatives’.”
By the mid-1870s rampant rabbit were hurting sheep farmers’ wallets. Instead of reviewing the introduction of new species, farmers searched for a “natural enemy”. Many facing ruin, they formed a powerful lobby. The biological controls they sought were mustelids—stoats, weasels and ferrets.The government ignored all pleas and scientific warnings. In 1882 government-supported shipments of ferrets, stoats and weasels arrived on the country’s shores.
Soon after Henry, from his regular forays across Lake Te Anau, noted the declining populations of kākāpō, weka, kiwi, teal and whio after the deliberate introduction of the mustelids. He noted on the western side of the lake, “From the mouth of the Waiau for 25 miles of beach, there are neither signs nor sounds of kākāpō, weka or kiwi…but there are plenty of ferret tracks.”
Flightless birds, many nesting in tree trunks were easier prey than rabbits. Without intervention, he predicted the kākāpō extinction. He started writing articles about his observations including the rabbit problem.
Henry believed there was no stopping the onslaught and the only solution was to create safe havens for kākāpō and kiwi on remote islands. “On the islands the birds may survive for half a century,” he wrote, “and by that time people in every corner of the world will realise their interest and value, and then there will be no fear of their becoming extinct. If we had a pair of live dodos now or even a pair of takihis they would be valued at almost their weight in diamonds…”
After much debate Resolution Island was proclaimed a reserve in 1891. Henry was employed as the first curator, living on the nearby Pigeon Island. The job was both physically and mentally hard. Out of his own pocket he paid an assistant. In the 14 years he worked there he shifted over 570 birds onto the island. During this time he carefully observed their behaviour, recording notes that are still used in the preservation of native bird populations. He also searched for the elusive takahe.
By 1900, stoats had found their way to the island causing him to despair.
A man before his time, Henry had no formal training but continues to make an amazing contribution to conservation in particular kākāpō. He lived in and around Te Anau for a lot of his life, building a place at Patience Bay.
Aotearoa New Zealand continues their attempts to eradicate mustelids, rats and rabbits today.
Richard Treacy Henry outside his boatshed on Pigeon Island, Dusky Sound.