Placenames file

UnderConstruction

The following section is an attempt to provide some meaningful explanation of New Zealand and Australian placenames for those readers from other places.

Adelaide
Adelaide is the state capital of South Australia, and in our genealogies a recurring port of arrival, for many German people, Lutherans and others, chose to emigrate there after experiencing difficulties in their homeland.
It was also a place where many English settlers came, and today it is considered to be the most 'English' of the Australian cities.
Amberley
Amberley is nowadays a suburb of Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is also the location of one of New Zealand's Air Force bases.
Auckland
Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand, both in population and in physical size. It is located in the narrowing part of the upper North Island, and boasts two harbours, one on the west coast and one on the east. If politics had not dictated otherwise, Auckland could well have been the capital city of New Zealand.
It is currently the location of the races for the America's Cup, a yachting trophy of some renown.
Aupouri Peninsula

The Aupouri Peninsula extends from Kaitaia north to the three capes, with the 90 Mile beach along virtually the entire western length, and a series of beaches and bays indent the eastern side.
In essence the whole area is one great sandspit, built up and consolidated over the centuries. High points like Mt. Camel and the hill country right at the top are rocky outcrops that may originally been islands. The swamps are full of toppled Kauri trees and their resin, a resource that was once sought as eagerly as gold.

There are two harbours on the east coast, Parengarenga and Houhora, each with very narrow entrances and extensive, wide interior mud flats. The sand at Parengarenga is so high in silica that it is seriously discomforting on a bright, sunny day. It is intermittently mined and transported south for glass making.

The name Aupouri is taken from the local Maori tribe, and they in turn assumed it from the name of one of the several canoes that took part in a migration from islands in the central Pacific, probably about 900 AD.

 Aupouri Peninsula
Awanui
Meaning;
'Big River'
Awanui township is at the southern extremity of the harbour of the same name, about 8 km north of Kaitaia and at the point where the main east coast road and the main highway north meet. It is also the original river port, where steamers once used the tide to ease their way in through the mangrove-lined channels to berth at a ricketty old wharf. This wharf was in fact a very important loading point for kauri gum going out and rare manufactured goods coming in.
Most of the early ships were Subritzky ships, and much of the commerce was a part of their northern 'empire'. Today the township is a mere whistle-stop for tourists heading north to Cape Reinga, or for those who know about Glen Srhoj's range of icecream at the Awanui Dairy....
Banana
Banana is a small truck stop on the road between Moura and Rockhampton. Nowadays it consists of a handful of houses and two service stations, but in days gone past it was an important staging post for settlers travelling north inland from the downs country behind Brisbane to Rockhampton. Banana lies in the shallow Dawson valley, and is about halfway between Biloela and Moura. See also the Banana cemetery.
Basle (Basel)
Basle is a city-state on the River Rhine that dates from the early Middle Ages. It lies at a strategic crossing of that river, and is the farthest point up-river for large vessels. Across the river is Germany, and down-river a few hundred meters is France.
Bowen
Capella
A small junction town some 300 km inland from Mackay, on the road between Emerald and Clermont. Has a grain loading facility for the railways, is quite near several coal mines such as Gregory, Oaky Creek, and German Creek. See also the cemetery.

Cape Maria van Dieman
The westernmost cape of the three that project from the very tip of the North Island. An automated light has replaced the original manned station that had to be supplied by 'flying fox' cable. Easily visible from Cape Reinga.
Cape Reinga
The central cape of the three that project from the very tip of the North Island. Has a lighthouse and easy road access, plus a nearby camping cove. On the ultimate spit is the lone Pohutakawa tree sacred to the Maori as it is the point at which the spirit enters the underworld.
Cassel
Dargaville
Located on the Wairoa River at the northern end of the Kaipara Harbour. Close to the west coast beaches and essentially on the opposite side of Northland's land mass to Whangarei
Duaringa
Emerald
Gisborne
Located on the East coast of the North Island in what is known as the Hawkes Bay region, north of Napier. It is a substantial town perhaps most famous in recent times as the home town of Murray Ball, the creator of 'Footrot Flats'.
Gt. Barrier Island
Great Barrier is a surprise to all who take the trouble to visit. Some 80 km to the east of Auckland city the Coromandle Range extends into the sea northwards, and the first island so formed is Great Barrier.

It is a wild place, with beautiful white and empty beaches on the eastern side, and wild pohutukawa clad coves facing the west. The interior claws upward to a single dominant peak, once wholly clad in kauri forest, but now more modestly in second growth scrub and younger bush, for the entire place was systematically stripped by the pioneer bushmen. There are still dam remnants in the gullies flanking the mount, and in one place there is a small hot spring.

Because of its wild remoteness the people who permanently live there are a special breed. There are fishermen, farmers, and an ever-growing clique of pot growers. The swamps and forests provide cover for a number of unusual birds, plants and animals, and it is well worth visiting at any time of the year. There are both kinds of New Zealand bat, parrots and parakeets, and persistent rumours of the extinct Huia. Offshore are island stacks with colonies of gannets, while on the central mountain itself the seabirds flop in every night in the breeding season, returning to ancestral burrows.

In the north Fitzroy Harbour is virtually a fiord, with incredibly sudden depths, while down the western flank of the island is a cove called Whangaparoa, sometime haven for boaties trying to return to Auckland in a sudden sou-wester. The two airstrips (at Okiwi and Claris) both exhibit an alarming and exhilarating closeness to their respective beaches.

Access from Auckland is by aircraft or by high speed catamaran, but in each case organise your accommodation ahead of time or you will be camping under a flax bush...
Herekino
Herekino is on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, the first one south of the Ninety-Mile beach. Like all such west coast harbours it has a bar at the entrance, and inside the cool and winding arms of the harbour were once clad in dense bush.

Sadly this is no longer true, but at one time it was considered a suitable place for pioneering and many families bought property under a land scheme called the Balance Scheme, usually sight unseen, and only when they arrived there did they discover the rugged bushland was unwilling to allow economic farming. If it had not been for the local Maori people these white Pakeha settlers would have starved.

Today it is a predominantly Maori area, closer to Kaitaia than Kaikohe, connected thus by a narrow winding road over the substantial hills.

Houhora
Meaning;
'The drying of the feathers'

There are two stories given for the origin of the name, which for the Maori applied to what we now call Mt. Camel. The first explanation refers to the preparation of special birds' feathers laid out on a rock to dry.

The second explanation concerns the chasing up the 90 Mile beach of a young chieftain who had been a member of a raiding party against the people at the southern end of the beach. He was pursued up the beach, and when he in desperation ran across the peninsula and swam across to the Pahs on the Mount side, he was caught and slain, and his wet headdress subsequently laid out to dry...

Even today the fortifications are plainly visible on the ridges of the Mount.

In the picture the nearest projection of the bulk of the Mount into the harbour, on the inner shoulder of the narrow entrance, is the location of the Mt. Camel cemetery. See also the Houhora cemetery.

 
Houhora Harbour
Houhora Harbour,NZ

Houhora Harbour is located on the east coast some 40 kilometers north of Kaitaia, where the North Island of New Zealand projects a narrow peninsula northwards to North Cape and Cape Reinga. The narrow entrance has Mt Camel on one side, and East Beach stretching some 15 km on the other, while just inside on the flat southern shore is the camping ground and Wagener museum. Kaitaia lies about 40 km away to the right.

Hukerenui
This is a small township on the main road north of Whangarei, in the North Island of NZ, now a center for dairyiong and forestry.
Invercargill
This is the southernmost township in New Zealand, situated close to the port of Bluff, and within sight of Foveaux Strait, the stretch of water separating Stewart Island from the 'mainland'. The main industrial installation is an aluminium smelter which is located there to take advantage of cheap hydro power from the nearby Manapouri Power station. In other respects the area is all agricultural, with sheep the mainstay, followed by tourism as it is an obvious starting point for those intending to 'do' NZ in three weeks...
It is also noteworthy for the fact that it is the only location in NZ apart from Dargaville and the 90-Mile Beach where toheroa are found. These are a surprisingly large shellfish that burrow into the hard beach sand, leaving only the siphon tube showing just before the tide begins to come in again.
Kaeo
A small village on the east coast road from Kerikeri, in the Bay of Islands, located at the southern extremity of the Whangaroa Harbour. Once this was a much larger center, with several hotels and many services, but nowadays there is a small shopping center and a hospital under threat of closure. The timber is gone, and the new pine forests not yet established.
The town nestles in a narrow green valley that opens northward to the harbour, with steep hills all around.
Kaipara Harbour
 This is the second largest harbour in the Southern Hemisphere, stretching from Helensville in the south to Dargaville in the north. There are unsubstantiated rumours of an ancient Portuguese caravel shipwreck on the wild bar at the harbour mouth, suggesting the known histories of New Zealand may one day be adjusted...
Kaitaia
Located at the base of the Aupouri Peninsula on the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the major regional centre in spite of its apparently small size, and has a strong pioneering history as well as an even longer one in Maoritanga. The first permanent 'Pakeha' (white) settlers included the missionary Matthews, who founded the St. Saviour's church and established at that church the first local cemetery.
Kaitaia On Line
Kassel
(Cassell)
A central German town known for its university and its Spas.
Kassel On Line
Kawakawa
and
Moerewa
Originally known as 'Irishtown', Kawakawa is famous as the town 'where the railway runs through the main street', Kawakawa is in the Bay of Islands, on the northern part of the North Island of New Zealand. The town is a service center for the local farming industry, and the southern gateway for visitors turning off the highway to the picturesque Bay of Islands. The rail line originally shipped produce to the port of Opua, but is now used as a tourist attraction.
Moerewa is a few kilometers farther up the same river valley, and the location of the local freezing works (abattoir), plus a link point for the battered, old, but still functioning single line rail track south to Whangarei.
Kawhia
This is a harbour and village on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, west and south of Hamilton. It is the harbour immediately south of Raglan Harbour, and the second port south of Auckland's Manukau Harbour. It is notable for being on that line of latitude that defines the southernmost point kauri trees will grow naturally, and is also the last port south for mangroves, which are here mere centimeters high compared with the 4-5 meters in the northernmost Parengarenga Harbour. Inland from Kawhia the hills are all limestone, and it is here that the famous glow-worm caves can be seen.
Kennedy Bay
The Coromandle Peninsular is a range of mountainous ridges projecting northwards along the NE coast of New Zealand's North Island. In fact, it extends out to sea as Great Barrier Island, and historically the entire length of it has been mined for gold and silver, and the original forest is only found in patches.
On the eastern coastline of this range are several beautiful little inlets and bays, amongst them Kennedy Bay. There is a torturous winding road westward over the range to Colville, and down the Bight to Thames.
Kerikeri
One of the oldest towns in New Zealand, located on the waters edge of The Bay of Islands and originally named 'Gloucester Town'. Today it is a thriving center for horticulture and for tourism.
Kerikeri On Line
Lüneburg
 A city in northern Germany just to the south of the Mecklenburg region, on the Elbe River. This is a key location for the European roots of many of the families in our genealogy files.
German Flag
Maldon
Maldon is approximately 2-3 hours drive from Melbourne and is near Castlemaine. Maldon is in the gold mining area of Victoria and is now classified as "Australia's First Notable Town".  Mount Tarrengower is a dominant feature. Mike S. suggests that Maldon's picturesque and historical aspect may have more to do with g'g'grandfather Wagener's bricks than any innate beauty of its own...
Kaiangaroa/Mangatete
A small village on the road between Mangonui and Awanui, originally a sawmill town. At the time the Europeans first came the Maoris called the place 'Mangatete', but in time a man by the name of LONG came to live there, and in part due to his personal influence in the fledgling governmental structure he somewhat cunningly promoted the name 'Kaiangaroa', which means literally 'the long house', or perhaps 'the LONG house'... Certainly he was known for his practice of simply adding another room every time his wife produced another Long, and it is now very unlikely we will ever know the truth behind the name change.
Many of the pioneer families first moved to what was Mangatete from Mangonui, and established their families in houses built from local timber. The parents tended to live out their years there, and the children coming back did so to 'Kaiangaroa'. It is actually located quite close to an arm of the Awanui Harbour, with what was originally bush-clad ridges running away to the south and east. Now the area is largely grasslands, with mere remnants of bush tucked away in the steepest gullies only.
Mangonui
Meaning;
'Big shark'
Mangonui is one of the oldest ports in New Zealand, dating from the early 1800's when it was a whaling base. It is located on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, on Doubtless Bay, and is the fourth navigable harbour south of the northern Capes. Even today it is a port of entry, with Customs facilities, although it remains a small, sleepy retirement village where the main east coast road now bypasses the historical center.
Because early development of New Zealand was essentially driven by coastal shipping, Mangonui remained an important port for many years, providing the first access to the hinterland and only relatively recently overtaken by Kaitaia as the regional center. Because of its history as a sailors' town, it has at times shared the reputation of Korerareka (today's Russell) as a bawdy place where anything and anyone could be bought, for a price, and where hard liquor was available.
Many of the pioneering families came to the Far North on a coastal steamer via Mangonui, and as it was the only courthouse in the area, it records many of the early marriages (and deaths).
The Doubtless Bay region was well populated by the Maori, who occasionally passed out rights to land to selected 'Pakehas', and who first accepted the concept of Christianity from missionaries who landed there. It should also be noted that Maoris were clever, articulate people, perfectly willing to travel overseas to Australia and to England, as long as they knew they could return. Such Maori came from Doubtless Bay, from the Bay of Islands, or from the Bay of Plenty (Napier area).
Maungatoroto
Some 45 km south of Whangarei lies the Brynderwyn range, just south of Waipu. On the SW extremity of these ranges lies the small dairying township of Mangatoroto. It actually lies on an inlet of the Kaipara Harbour, and today's dairying is focused on farms around the inlets and peninsulas of this same immense harbour.
In the past it was a center for the timber industry, but today the lime hills are bare-green except where new 'pinus' plantations are slowly re-stabilising the seeping faces. For travellers wishing to turn off for Ruawai, Matakohe and Dargaville Maungatoroto is the turn-off westwards from the main No. 1 highway, and the way north to the Waipoua Forest and its immense Kauri trees, including the single largest tree known,'Tane Mahuta'.
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is now a province of modern Germany, but before that it was a self-governing area. It extends southwards from the Baltic Sea towards the mountains, with the SW border the Elbe River. More details and an historical map can be found here.
German Flag
Mt. Isa
Mt. Isa is a mining town far to the west in Queensland, Australia. The mine and smelter there deals with lead, copper and gold ores, and now there is also a plant producing acid that is used in a fertiliser plant at Monument, about 80 km south. The town lies in folded hill country that is at once beautiful and barren, but which has some spectacular gorges and fishing rivers. To the NW are the famous Riversleigh fossils, where traces of giant wombats and meat-eating kangaroos are being found.
Mt. Larcomb
 Located on the main north highway just inland from Gladstone, in Australia's Queensland. Historically it was one of the first dairying areas in the state.
Motueka
Motueka is a small settlement west of Nelson, in the northern part of the South Island of New Zealand. Historically it has grown potatoes, tobacco and apples.
Motutangi
Motutangi is nowadays barely known, marked only by a plaque at the site of the old school where the road abruptly curves. It is located about 8 km south of the Pukenui turnoff to 90 Mile Beach, or about 7 km south of the Houhora Heads turnoff. The name apparently derives from how the mists hung over the swamp in layers, leaving the ridge tops projecting and reminding the Maoris of the mists of the dead.
Nelson
Nelson is famous for having the greatest number of hours of sunshine per year in the whole of New Zealand. It is located at the most north-western part of the South Island of New Zealand. It was settled in conjunction with Wellington (on the southern tip of the North Island) and is particularly well known for the growing of fruit and tobacco.
Ohaewai
On the main highway south - or north - approximately halfway along the inland spine of hills behind the Bay of Islands are the small volcanic cones that were in older times fortified Maori Pas. Although there is a small modern village of the same name nowadays, at one time the Pa was the stronghold for local tribes. It is visible from the road as a grassy hill, but a closer look on the northern side reveals a scoured gully that is all that remains of the trench dug up towards the fortifications in the final battle. Just to the east is the early settlement of Waimate, now known as Waimate North, where the first missionaries began to farm.
Nebo
 Nebo was once known as Fort Cooper. It lies about 80 km almost directly inland from Mackay, in Queensland, and is nowadays a cattle town, although there are service industries for the nearby coal mines. Just south of Nebo the rail line from the coast to the inland mines crosses the quite forested rolling uplands. See also the cemetery details.
Paeroa, Thames
& Waihi
Paeroa is a country town about halfway between Thames and Waihi, on New Zealand's North Island. Thames is at the top of the Thames Bight, that chunk of water on the western side of the Coromandel Ranges, while Waihi is a town central to those same ranges, but located farther to the south. In fact, the entire bight is the original mouth of the Waikato River which for reasons best known to itself some millions of years ago changed course and now flows out to the west coast near Waiuku.
Paeroa is 'world famous in NZ' as the town that created the 'Lemon and Paeroa' carbonated water soft drink. Today it is mainly a town focused on the rural scene, plus a stopover point for tourists travelling up or down the coast to Tauranga.
Waihi has always been a mining town, and was created as a result of one of the gold rushes of the 1860's. This has been continued today with modern equipment and methods, much to the anger of the environmentalists who bemoan the destruction of the regrowth bush on the range. There is less danger of deforestation than there is of a dam failure, as recently the tailings dam was found to be slowly slipping. This is being addressed, but should the richly cyanided water reach the normal streams and waterways there will indeed be a disaster.
Paihia,
Bay of Islands
Paihia is a sister town to what is now called Russell, across the inlet. It was the arrival point for many pioneers who then moved inland to settle at places like Waimate North. Today it is an up-market retirement area, and a tourist point for those 'doing the cream trip' around the Bay.
Parengarenga Harbour
Meaning;
'The five fingers of the hand'

 This is the most northern harbour in New Zealand, located a mere 9 km from North Cape. It is also the warmest, and the mangroves growing in the secluded arms of the harbour are the tallest to be found in the country. In addition, there are limited quantities of tropical shellfish, and even some of Queensland's famous 'muddy' crabs, some 150mm across the shell.
The two settlements on the harbour are Te Hapua, on the northern reaches, and Te Kao, on the southern extremity.
Pawarenga
This is a small village on the second harbour (Whangape) down the west coat of the North Island of New Zealand. In common with all the west coast inlets the wild surf has created a bar while inside the hills provide protection on three sides, leaving the western barrier dune to keep out the Tasman Sea.
This area is relatively undeveloped, and home to a large number of Maori families and their whanau.
Peria
This is a small farming community just inland from Mangonui, and east of Kaitaia.
Pukekohe
Just south of Auckland's isthmus is an east-west range of rolling hills called the Bombay Hills, used extensively for market gardening. Pukekohe is a township huddled around one particularly conical hill. Although the area is not really very high, the view northwards encompasses much of the western harbour of Manukau as well as the city itself, some 40 km away. To the SW is the town of Waiuku, and the mouth of the Waikato River, the longest in New Zealand.
Pukenui
Meaning;
'Big hill'
Now a village on the shore of Houhora Harbour, and the location of the only wharf. Once the port of call for coastal steamers and the shipping point for many tons of Kauri gum. Now most of the craft anchored there are coastal fishing vessels and pleasure boats awaiting the summer holidays. The name is derived from the single fossilised sand dune that runs east-west at that point.
Rawene
and the
Hokianga Harbour
Rawene is on the Hokianga Harbour, on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, roughly opposite the Bay of Islands. Like all the west coast harbours, it has a wild bar, and still, beautiful inlets around a vast mud harbour.

Amongst the several small townships on the harbour is Opononi, famous in yesteryear as the home of a dolphin that preferred and played with humans. South of the narrow mouth of the harbour is the Kauri forest and the largest kauri tree remaining.

Hokianga On Line
Rorschach,
Goldach &
Flawil ('Fla-vil')
Rorschach and Goldach are both villages in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen. Rorschach is on the edge of Lake Constance, huddled between the shoreline and the steep hills beyond, while Goldach was once a separate village just inland which nowadays is virtually part of the municipality of Rorschach. Flawil is yet another small village a little more inland, and on the route between St. Gallen and Zuruck.

The whole area is picturesque and green, with forested ridges and deeply fissured canyons. In the summer paragliders and hang gliders leap from the meadow highlands and slowly spiral down to land in the churchyard grounds far below. For the energetic who choose to walk the wanderweg, the walking paths that wind everywhere, a climb to the 'Fünfländerblick' (literally 'view-of-5-countries') provides sweeping views of the lake below, and of Hindenburg on the opposite German shore, the town where the famous airships were built.

Swiss Flag
Stanwell
Stanwell lies on the inland route from Rockhampton, in Queensland. Nowadays it is the main coal-fired power station for the region. Check out the cemetery here.
Tangowahine
A small village north of Dargaville on the west coast of the North Island of NZ. Not far from the Kai Iwi Lakes, with Donnelly's Crossing and the Waipoua Forest to the north.
Taupo
Taupo is the large town on the shores of Lake Taupo, in the center of New Zealand's North Island. It lies above the same volcanic terrain as nearby Rotorua, and along the lake shore there are bubbling hot springs. A short distance along the road towards Auckland is the Wairakei Geothermal Power station, where underground steam is harnessed for electricity. The lake outlet is over the Huka Falls, a tourist attraction right beside that same highway. In the distance, across the lake, can be seen the volcanos of the central plateau. Mount Ruapehu has erupted quite recently, and it is only in recent years that Mount Ngarahoe has gone quiet. Perhaps temporarily.
Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu is located just to the south of Hamilton, in New Zealand's North Island. It is lowlands country, and historically has been a center for dairy farming in the Waikato region, but has more recently evolved to include light industry.
Te Hapua
 This is the northernmost township in New Zealand. It is located on the northern edge of the Parengarenga Harbourand was probably one of the very first Maori settlements to experience on-going contact with white people. Many of today's family names are believed to be Maori versions of what had to be English surnames, possibly taken from early whalers.
Te Kopuru
Te Kopuru is a small township just south of Dargaville, at the northern end of the Kaipara Harbour and at the mouth of the Wairoa River.
Te Kao
 Te Kao lies on the southern extremity of the Parengarenga Harbour, the most northern in New Zealand. it is quite a small place, but with a very strong Maori cultural background. It is also a center for the Ratana faith.
Tokoroa
Meaning
'long rock'
Located in the forested plateau country of the central North Island of New Zealand, the main industry is derived from the man-made pine forests.  
Totara North
On the shores of the Whangaroa Harbour grew an apparently endless supply of kauri timber, and our pioneers were so diligent in cutting and removing this that there is remaining to see, except perhaps the remnants in the nearby Puketi Forest Reserve.
Since the harbour was ideal for access, and since the raw materials were available right at hand, a small but long-lived ship-building enterprise was established at a small cove on the inner harbour, initially building coastal vessels such as scows and schooners, but sometimes more substantial ships like the 'Greyhound' that plied regularly to Australia and beyond. In later years there were modern launches.
Waiharara
This is now a dairy farming chunk of the Aupouri Peninsula located some 25 km north of Kaitaia. The land was transformed from swampland and gumfields virtually by hand by what were called 'dallies' at the time, people who have their roots in what is now known as Croatia. There are many names such as 'Vuksich', 'Katavich' and 'Susich', and even today the descendants of these people go to make up a significant proportion of the population of the Far North.
Waihopo
At the head of the Houhora Harbour are a scattering of once quite densely populated rural centers. In their day thousands of people came to the Aupouri Peninsula to seek their fortunes 'digging gum', with the result that dance halls, bakeries, shops and hotels quickly sprang into being. Waihopo is such a place, although today there are only a few houses left. It is located about 5 kilometers north of the Houhora Tavern, the last pub north.
Waimate North
Waimate North is an early settlement in the Bay of Islands of New Zealand. It is on the higher ridge areas some distance from the actual bay.
It has the addition 'North' because there is another Waimate farther south... a popular name!
Wanaka
(Lake Wanaka)
Lake Wanaka is one of the glacial lakes huddling against the eastern side of the South Island's Southern Alps. It happens to be the starting point for any journey across the Alps and up the sopping West Coast, requiring one to wind upwards through arid snowgrass country until the road humps through Haast Pass and abruptly into rainforest and river country.
Wanaka the township was originally named Pembroke, and is an attractive lakeside village that in winter hosts cross-country skiing, for the mountains here are round-humped monsters littered with immense boulders but without sudden drops of the type more evident at nearby Queenstown.
Warkworth
and
Mahurangi
On the main highway north from Auckland there is a pleasant little town called Warkworth which has a large impact on NZ history. Today the Mahurangi inlet supports large areas of oyster farms, but in pioneering days the same waterways carried away the timber riches of the bushland. Now the hills are bare and green with pasture, with only small decrepit strips of darker forest remaining on parts of the hills inaccessible by the tractors, and in some places the wetback limestone sheds the poorly held topsoil.
As part of the commercial process of stripping the gentle forest, the pioneers used some of the same kauri timber to make scows, large, flat-bottomed vessels that transported the logs to Auckland and waiting ships.
Westwood
Nowadays just a service station on the inland road from Rockhampton to Blackwater and Emerald, but in the past it represented one more days journey by horse. Find the cemetery details here.
Whakatane
(Said 'Fock-a-ta-nay')
The Bay of Plenty stretches from the East Cape of the North Island up towards the Coromandel Peninsula, and in the innermost arc is the picturesque town of Whakatane. Offshore the plume of White Island's active volcano can sometimes be seen, and Rotorua is only an hour by road to the west.
Whangarei
(Said 'Fong-a-ray')
This is the largest urban center north of Auckland, located on the east coast on the extensive Whangarei Harbour. The town itself huddles in a cleft in bush-clad hills and has several satellite centers such as Kamo and Maunu.
Whangaroa
(Said 'Fong-a-roar')
Whangaroa Harbour is a fiord-like indentation on the east coast of Northland, on the North Island of New Zealand. The entrance is very narrow and deep, and is protected by the unfortunate placement of an island. Early pioneers recognised the usefulness of a port so close to the kauri spars they needed for sailing ships, and a shipyard was established there, at a place now known as Totara North.
Other Explanations

*

 This asterisk generally indicates that the child has been officially adopted by the parents. A double ** asterisk means the person has been fostered out or into a family. This was a cultural practice of the Maori people in particular, and has proven a blessing and a curse at the same time. It creates a particular nightmare for family history matched only by the Scandinavian practice of naming their children after the father's personal name (Han's sen = son of Hans, Hansdatter = Hans daughter).'Te Awe Mei ' means adopted in the Maori language.
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