Rangitoto (854 ft) is an island volcano of almost perfectly circular outline situated at the entrance to Waitemata Harbour. It serves as a beacon to all overseas ships and, together with nearby Motutapu Island and Waiheke Island, provides a natural barrier against north-easterly storms that would otherwise batter the marine suburbs of Auckland City and sweep into Waitemata Harbour.

Rangitoto means “bleeding sky” or, literally, “blood-red sky”, implying that volcanic activity with attendant outpourings of molten lava and fire fountains of ash and scoria was in progress during early Maori occupancy of New Zealand. This is further substantiated by modern geologic dating methods which indicate that the time of eruption was as recent as 750 years ago. The island is a lava cone spread symmetrically about a radius of 1 ½ miles and surmounted by a series of scoria cones, one within the other. The lava flows (slope 4°–5) are predominantly of the pahoehoe type (a Hawaiian term for basaltic lava flows typified by smooth, billowy, or ropy surfaces) and consists of dense to highly vesicular basalt with abundant green olivine crystals and rare inclusions of sugary white quartz. Although geologically very young, the basalt and scoria is sufficiently weathered and broken to permit the growth of a blanket cover of indigenous forest. This consists of some well-known trees and plants among the 200 and more species, and includes among the commoner flora manuka, pohutukawa, rewarewa, rata, akeake, tutu, and five-finger. The bush extends, with few interruptions, from the summit crater to the coast, where jagged rocks and reefs in the intertidal zone are packed with the succulent Auckland rock oyster (Saxostrea glomerata) or tio para of the Maori.

Rangitoto is a wild-life sanctuary.

by Barry Clayton Waterhouse, New Zealand Geological Survey, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Otahuhu, Auckland.

The Rangitikei River has a catchment area of 1,230 square miles and rises in the Kaimanawa Ranges. Its catchment ranges in width from 18 to 27 miles. While the Rangitikei itself drains the whole of the eastern Kaimanawa and most of the western Ruahine Ranges, its major tributary, the Moawhango River (306 square miles), drains the south-west of the Kaimanawa Ranges.

A smaller tributary, the Hautapu (117 square miles), rises at the southern edge of the Ruapehu ring plain at Waiouru. The total length of the main river is 115 miles. It is a steep-gradient river carrying very large quantities of shingle in its bed. It flows in a steep-walled gorge as far as Marton and has a striking series of climatically developed terraces above the gorge.

About half the catchment lies in an area of rain shadow, and floods are rather small and infrequent.

The meaning and origin of the name are obscure.

by Thomas Ludovic Grant-Taylor, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.

The Rangitata River, 75 miles in length, reaches the sea just north of Temuka and is formed by the confluence of two main tributaries, the Clyde and Have-lock Rivers, which with their tributaries drain the eastern side of the Southern Alps from the Lyell Glacier to the Godley Glacier. Other large tributaries are the Lawrence River, which drains the west side of the Arrowsmith Range, and Forest and Bush Streams, draining part of the Two Thumbs Range, and Potts River. These larger tributaries join the Rangitata in the large glacially excavated basin containing several sheep stations, including Mesopotamia Station, where Samuel Butler established himself in the early sixties.

Before it reaches the Canterbury Plain, the Rangitata runs through a gorge where, since 1945, part of the flow has been directed into a diversion channel and used for irrigation of a large area of the Canterbury Plains. The water in excess of that required for irrigation generates 25,200 kW. (maximum) of electricity at Highbank and is then discharged into the Rakaia River. This scheme could be extended if required, as only part of the flow is used at present. The name Rangitata (Rakitata) has been variously translated “close sky”, “day of lowering clouds”, and “the side of the sky”. It seems evident that the name has come down from very ancient times.

by Alan Copland Beck, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Christchurch.

(c. 1795–1882).

Te Atiawa chief.

A new biography of Te Rangitake, Wiremu Kingi appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Te Rangitake was born about 1795 at the Te Atiawa settlement at Manukorihi on the north bank of the Waitara River and was one of the three sons of Reretawhangawhanga and Te Kehu. About 1833 he joined the main Taranaki Poukena heke or migrating groups in their journey to Whanganui-a-Tara or Port Nicholson. As this involved him in skirmishes, near Foxton and Otaki, with Te Rauparaha and the Ngati Raukawa, Te Rangitake decided to settle his tribe at Waikanae – about 30 miles north of Wellington. When Hadfield opened his mission at Otaki, Te Rangitake became one of his first converts; and, on being baptised, took the names Wiremu Kingi (William King). For some years after he had embraced Christianity, Kingi showed a friendly disposition towards Europeans.

When Colonel William Wakefield arrived in 1839, Wiremu Kingi was one of the first Te Atiawa chiefs to sign the Queen Charlotte Sound deed. By this document Wakefield endeavoured to persuade the tribes to renounce their rights to lands in Taranaki. From his general attitude towards land selling at this time, it would appear doubtful whether Kingi really understood what was involved. Throughout the unsettled years which followed the Wairau Affray, he supported Hadfield against the warlike proclivities of Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata. It is said that the peacemaking efforts of Hadfield and Kingi eventually influenced Tamihana Te Rauparaha, and Matene Te Whiwhi – the two chiefs who founded the Maori “King” movement.

In 1847, while accompanying Grey in the Inflexible on his visit to Taranaki, Wiremu Kingi firmly declined to abandon his land claims at Waitara and, later in that year, was so disturbed and suspicious of European intentions that he evacuated his lands at Waikanae and led 500 of his people back to their Taranaki ancestral lands. On his return he found the old cultivations on the north bank of the river at Manukorihi were occupied by a Maori party from Waikato. In view of this he settled on the south bank. During the following summer of 1849 to 1850 he erected a strong pa at the mouth of the river. By 1854 it was evident that the Maori people in general were becoming concerned about European penetration in the form of settlement expansion and greater land demands for farming. During the following five years a serious dispute arose over the land that Wiremu Kingi occupied. His nephew, Te Teira, suddenly, for no reason whatever, laid claim to this land and agreed to sell it to the New Zealand Government. In the presence of Governor Browne at New Plymouth, on 7 March 1859, Wiremu Kingi declared his determination to oppose this sale by Teira. During the months that followed, Wiremu Kingi, as leader of his people, remained firm. He could do nothing to change the “ture” or law of the Maori. With regard to land, Wiremu Kingi said “that no Maori owned land, the land was owned by all the people to be used communally and individually and not to be possessed. Under Maori custom no land could be sold without the consent of all the people. As leader he must make a decision in accordance with the people's demands”.

In December 1859 Wiremu Kingi refused to accept the Maori King's flag. The sale of the land was completed in early 1860 without the consent of the people and, soon after, surveyors entered into the block. Wiremu Kingi and his people promptly resisted by obstruction, and ignored the order from the Government to stop removing survey pegs and to cooperate. With this refusal, Government troops were sent to Waitara on 5 March 1860, actual fighting breaking out on 17 March 1860, though it died away by 8 April. This was the prelude to the Taranaki War. With the issue still undecided, Wiremu Kingi retired inland to the Ngati Maru district, where he lived in seclusion for the next 12 years in close association with the Maori King. Wiremu Kingi's stand at Waitara had far-reaching effects throughout Maoridom. He set the standard to follow, and Maoris everywhere gained strength in their anti-land-selling movement that had gradually been the main weapon in their resistance to European settlement and penetration since 1840.

Between 1867 and 1868 Wiremu Kingi lived for 18 months with the Taranaki tribe at Warea. He visited Titokowaru but rejected an invitation to join this warrior in his guerilla warfare. Later Wiremu Kingi lived for nearly five years at Parihaka with Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohukakahi. These famed prophets during the 1870s and 1880s were begining their “passive” resistance work. Though he was never again on terms of cordiality with the Europeans, Kingi had business relations with them and did not interfere with the settlers. Parris, on behalf of the New Zealand Government, recommended in 1869 that Wiremu Kingi's people should receive grants of land. It was significant that the New Zealand Government eventually recognised the need to grant compensation for land confiscated in Taranaki. In 1926 Government granted £5,000 annually in perpetuity to the Taranaki peoples, which today is administered by the Taranaki Trust Board.

In his later years Wiremu Kingi preferred seclusion and followed a purely “native life”. For some time he lived at Manutangi and, later, he moved to Kaingaru, where he died on 13 January 1882. The Government's treatment of him over the Waitara Block is a controversial incident in New Zealand history. Sir George Grey was anxious to remedy what he considered an injustice, and both Sir William Martin and Bishop Selwyn warmly championed the chief whose arms in early days had so often protected the English settlers.

by Ihakara Porutu Puketapu, B.A., Administration Officer, Department of Maori Affairs, Wellington.

• New Zealand Herald, 23 Mar 1901
• Taranaki Herald, 18 Jan 1882 (Obit).

The Rangitaiki River has its source on the northeastern slopes of the Ahimanawa Range. It flows north-north-west for 15 miles, crossing the Taupo-Napier Highway at Rangitaiki, then north-east for 40 miles to Waiohau, and then generally north for 25 miles to the Bay of Plenty at Thornton. It flows along a series of fault-angle valleys which separate the Kaingaroa Plateau on the west from the North Island axial ranges on the east. Important tributaries are the Otamatea, Wheao, and Whirinaki Rivers, and on it lie the towns of Murupara, Te Teko, and Edgecumbe.

Between the plains of upper Rangitaiki, Galatea, Waiohau, and lower Rangitaiki, the river flows through narrow gorges. In the lowest gorge the Matahina Hydro-electric Dam is being constructed at Te Mahoe. The mean flow here is 2,500 cusecs and the station will generate 70,000 kW. Another hydroelectric station is planned for the Kopuriki Gorge. The total catchment area is 1,100 sq. miles.

The meaning and origin of the name are obscure.

by James Healy, M.SC., Volcanologist, New Zealand Geological Survey, Rotorua.

After the fall of Meremere in mid-November 1863 the Maori “King's” forces retreated up the Waikato River and took up new positions at Rangiriri. On 18 November General Cameron reconnoitred these in order to plan his attack. The defence works consisted of a main line of entrenchments across the narrow isthmus dividing Lake Waikare from the Waikato River. This line had a double ditch backed by an earth parapet 21 ft high. At the centre it was strengthened by a formidable redoubt. Behind the main line and at right angles to it, a series of rifle pits faced the river. Cameron decided to land part of his force on the peninsula to the rear of the main work and to strike from this direction at the same time as his main body of troops attacked from the landward side. On the morning of 20 November Cameron moved his force of 861 officers and men from Meremere up the right bank of the river. Following a heavy artillery bombardment, his force attacked and occupied the rifle pits on the landward side, but owing to the tricky currents the river landing was delayed. The Maoris fought desperately and by nightfall were cut off in the central redoubt. At dawn on 21 November they surrendered unconditionally to Cameron. Shortly after this a party of 400 Maoris under Wiremu Tamihana Te Waharoa approached Rangiriri from the east. Tamihana wished to surrender to Cameron, but his people forbade him. Cameron's losses in the engagement were 38 killed and 92 wounded. The Maoris lost 36 killed and 183 prisoners. Many more were drowned when they tried to swim across the lake to safety.

Although Rangiriri did not have much military significance, it was very important from the point of view of the chiefs taking part. Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake was present until the riverboats appeared, and Tawhiao escaped through the swamps by night. Rewi Maniapoto was not in Rangiriri, but was entrenched on a hill nearby. Te Heuheu Horonuku was on his way to the scene with reinforcements, but went home when he heard of the defeat.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1863, E. 5A, E. 5D
• The New Zealand Wars, Cowan, J. (1955).

Rangiora is situated on the northern part of the Canterbury Plain about 1 mile south of the Ashley River and about 6 miles inland from the coast of Pegasus Bay. The surrounding country is flat but towards the north-west it rises gradually to the outer foothill ranges of the Southern Alps. The South Island Main Trunk railway passes through Rangiora, but the main highway leading north from Christchurch passes east of the town. An access road branches north-west from Woodend (4 miles) and links Rangiora with the highway. Christchurch, the nearest city, is 20 miles south by rail and the same distance by road via Woodend. Kaiapoi is 7 miles south-east by road (6 miles by rail) and provides minor port facilities.

The main primary activities of the district are dairying, fat lamb production, and mixed farming, including the production of wheat, barley, small seeds, peas, and potatoes. A large proportion of the Christchurch town milk supply comes from the district. Fruitgrowing, chiefly apples, and poultry farming, are also carried on. In an area beyond Ashley, about 6 miles north of Rangiora, some 13,700 acres are being developed and afforested by the New Zealand Forest Service. Screened shingle from the bed of the Ashley River, near Rangiora, is used locally and also marketed extensively in Christchurch for making concrete blocks. Industrial activities of the district include flourmilling, sawmilling, and general engineering, and the manufacture of stock food at Southbrook (1 ½ miles south-east); sawmilling at Ashley Bank (2 miles north); and sawmilling and twine manufacture at Waikuku (6 miles east). Rangiora is the servicing and distributing centre for that part of the Canterbury Plain north of the Waimakariri River; it is also a main centre for livestock marketing. Town industrial activities include general engineering, the manufacture of farm machinery and implements, wheaten flour, crystallised fruit, clothing and joinery, and the production of sawn and dressed timber. There are large grain and seed stores in the town.

Small areas of native bush attracted the first settlers during the early 1850s when timber was in big demand for building and fuel. Rural sections including or adjoining clumps of bush were taken up in 1853. Private subdivision of land into town lots took place later but for some time the town was not recognised officially by the Canterbury Provincial Government. Imperfections in the layout of certain streets and substandard widths are still evident. The first dwelling, the site of which is marked with a memorial plaque, was erected by C. O. Torlesse in 1855. An 18,000-acre swamp lay east and west of the town in pre-colonial days, and the site of the pa of Kaiapohia stood on the south-eastern fringe of this swamp. Captain John Lort Stokes, William John Warburton Hamilton and a party passed through the district in 1849 en route to Mount Grey (about 15 miles north-west) while on a shore reconnaissance during the survey cruise of H.M.S. Acheron. In 1860 Arthur Dudley Dobson was engaged in laying out roads from Christchurch to Rangiora, and in draining the swamp formed by the Eyre and Cust Rivers. Rangiora was constituted a borough on 14 May 1878.

The origin and meaning of the name are obscure.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 2,799; 1956 census, 3,150; 1961 census, 3,540.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

Also known as Mokau (c. 1780–1855).

Chief of Ngati Toa.

A new biography of Te Rangihaeata appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Te Rangihaeata was born about 1780 at Kawhia, the son of Te Rakaherea and Waitohi, a sister of Te Rauparaha. His father, the son of Te Maunu and Kahutaiki, was said to have been killed at Hingakaka fighting against the Waikato tribes. A member of an esoteric school of carving and well-versed in tribal lore and history, Rangihaeata was regarded as one of the fiercest of fighting chiefs. In 1819 he accompanied the Waka Nene – Tuwhare war party on a raiding expedition, via the West Coast and Wellington, as far as Porangahau in the Wairarapa. On their return journey he captured, at Turakina, a Ngati Apa chieftainess named Pikinga. Although he had other wives he subsequently married her.

During Ngati Toa's migration to Kapiti, Rangihaeata was prominent in most of the fighting. In 1832 he started a brisk trade with visiting whalers at Mana Island and, later, took part in the negotiations with Colonel Wakefield for the sale of land on both sides of Cook Strait. In 1841 trouble broke out with the first settlers at Porirua and, although he had signed the Treaty of Waitangi, Rangihaeata began to develop a growing distrust of the Pakeha. When Captain Arthur Wakefield insisted on a survey of the disputed Wairau Plain, Rangihaeata and Rauparaha hastened across Cook Strait to burn the surveyors' huts and so compel them to return to Nelson. A warrant to arrest the chiefs on a charge of arson proved disastrous for the Europeans. Te Rongopamamao, a wife of Rangihaeata, was shot during the affray and the irate chief later ordered the execution of all European prisoners, including Arthur Wakefield himself.

In the Hutt Valley dispute Rangihaeata sided with the rebellious Taringa Kuri, of Ngati Tama. But Sir George Grey's arrival with troops in 1846 brought matters to a head. While Te Rauparaha feigned allegiance to the Governor, Rangihaeata declared open warfare and entrenched himself in a fortified pa at the head of the Pauatahanui arm of the Porirua Harbour. He was eventually forced to retreat into the dense Horokiwi Valley pursued by soldiers, bluejackets, and their Maori allies. Following a series of skirmishes Rangihaeata made a last stand on Pouaha Hill inland from Paekakariki. With the assistance of sympathetic Maoris, allegedly friendly to the Governor, he managed to elude the British and, later, retired to a fortified mound in the swamps of Poroutawhao, where for some years Grey wisely left him alone.

For most of his life Rangihaeata scorned everything that was European, but in the end he saw the futility of trying to stem the tide of Pakeha civilisation. He became subdued in his old age and spent his last years directing the construction of Government-built roads in the neighbourhood of his pa at Poroutawhao. He died at Otaki on 18 November 1855. His only son, Te Kauru, was drowned at an early age in the Mokau River.

by Wattie Carkeek, Journalist, Wellington.

• The New Zealand Wars, Cowan, J., Vol. I (1955)
• An Old New Zealander, Buick, T. Lindsay (1911)
• Maori History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast, Smith, S. P. (1910).

(1856–1933).

Fifteenth Governor of New Zealand (1897–1904).

The Fifth Earl Ranfurly, Viscount Northland, and Baron Welles of Dungannon, Tyrone, Ireland, Baron Ranfurly of Ramphorlie, County Renfrew, in the United Kingdom, was born on 11 August 1856, the second son of the Third Earl. He was educated at Harrow, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated but did not graduate. He succeeded to the titles on 10 May 1875, following the death of his brother who was on a shooting expedition in Abyssinia. On 10 February 1880 he married the Hon. Constance Elizabeth Caulfield, only child of James Alfred, Seventh Viscount Charlemonte, C.B., and by her had one son and three daughters.

Lord Ranfurly acted as Lord-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria (1895–97) and was created K.C.M.G. (1897) for his public services. He was appointed to succeed the Earl of Glasgow as Governor of New Zealand on 6 April 1897, assuming office on 10 August. Once in New Zealand he undertook a leading part in the country's social life. He arrived at a time when the reductions made in the Governor's salary by Sir Harry Atkinson were still in force, and in his first three years he was compelled to subsidise heavily his official emoluments from his private sources. It was his threat to resign on this issue which forced the New Zealand Government to introduce the Governor's Salary and Allowance Act of 1900. Lord Ranfurly became Honorary Colonel of the 1st Wellington Battalion (1898) and of the 1st South Canterbury Mounted Rifles (1902). He was created G.C.M.G. in the Coronation Honours, 1901. His term ended on 19 June 1904, when he personally handed over office to Lord Plunket.

On his return to England he was made a Privy Councillor (1905); then for a time he returned to farm in Mildura, Victoria, Australia. But he soon devoted more and more time to his other great interest, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1914 he was a Knight of Justice, and Registrar of the Order in London, becoming (1915–19) Director of its Ambulance Department. In 1919 the French Government made him an Officer of the Legion of Honour for his services in this connection during the war.

After the partition of Ireland, Lord Ranfurly was made a Privy Councillor for Northern Ireland (1923), also serving as Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for his native County Tyrone. He continued his association with the Order of St. John, becoming Bailiff Grand Cross in 1926. He died on 1 October 1933.

Lord Ranfurly played rather more than a passive role as Governor of New Zealand. He had a strong sense of the dignity of his position as the Queen's representative, and did not hesitate, if occasion warranted, privately to call Ministers to order. Nevertheless he was greatly respected by his Ministers, and universally admired by the people, and his departure in 1904 was an occasion for impressive public demonstrations of affection. His great memorial in New Zealand is the Ranfurly Shield – the premier rugby trophy.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Seddon Papers (MSS), National Archives.

(Spirula spirula).

This is the white, openly coiled shell about an inch across which is washed ashore in great numbers on our west coast beaches. Note the compartments, with pearly partitions, each connected to the next by a tiny tube. This shell is internal in the body of a small squid. Until a few years ago the living animal of Spirula was practically unknown, until it was found that they live in oceanic waters at depths of 100–1,100 fm. They seldom approach the surface and are never taken on the sea bed.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.