Originally known as Te Motu-tapu-a-Tinirau, this island can be reached by a short boat trip from Rotorua township. Mokoia has fertile soil, and Te Arawa made good use of this to cultivate kūmara (sweet potato). The island’s present name, Mokoia, alludes to the death of Arorangi at the hands of Uenukukōpako, whose weapon was a kō, or digging stick. The death blow caught Arorangi across his tattooed forehead. From the words moko (tattoo) and kō (digging stick) comes the name Mokoia.
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Department of Conservation
Photograph by Peter Morrison
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