abundant birdlife. Seabirds included seagull, shags, pied stilts, pied oyster catchers and godwits, and penguins were frequent visitors. There were two villages situated at Ngakuta. The main pā was at the head of the Bay while another situated on the Peninsula served as a refuge when under attack. An urupā was situat ed on the Peninsula. Rihari Tahuaroa, who was living in Ngakuta in the 1880s and 90s, revealed that the Puketapu lived at Mokopeke and cultivated the land there, as they did in other parts of East Bay and the Northern Entrance along with Ngāti Te Whiti. At the top of the hill in East Bay there is a lookout point where messages could be sent across the Straits by lighting a fire. According to Puketapu tradition, an old Te Ātiawa o Te Waka -a-Māui kuia used to live on the hill above Mokopeke and had her own crops, one of which was Māori potato brought from Tara These potatoes are an important species to Te Ātiawa o Te naki. Waka-a- Māui. Te Ātiawa o Te Wa ka-a-Māui harveste d their own mussels and shellfish from gardens (farms) in East Bay. There were large Te Ātiawa o Te Waka -a-Māui settlements at Otanerau, Mokopeke and Oamaru. Ernst Dieffenbach described being offered roast potatoes, pork and ‘excellent dried barracuda [barracouta]’, all procured from the immediate vicinity by the inhabitants of the kāinga. Mangareporepo is a stream flowing into Te Aroha B ay which provided fresh water to the Bay. Fresh waterways provided Te Ātiawa o Te Wa ka-a-Māui with methods of preservation of their tī tī, kererū, pāua and crayfish and the kiekie provided flavour to the kererū when pres erved. The slippery seaweed growing on the rocks was also used as part of the preservation process and in healing methods. Oamaru was a main waka landing for those crossing the Strait and often Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui hauled our waka ashore and then followed a track over the hill into East Bay. Clarke Point, Kōtukutuku, Coopers Point and Paparoa Point up to Cape Koamaru were main lookout points in times of warfare, and these areas held vast quantities of pāua and crayfish. TĀ ka-a-Māui had considerable knowledge of trails and e tiawa o Te Wa tauranga waka, places for gathering kai and other taonga within these areas, ways in which to use the resources of the sea, the relationship of people with the moana and whenua, their dependence on it, and tikanga for the proper and sustainable utilisation of resources. All of these values remain important to Te Ātiawa o Te Waka -a-Māui today. Islands All of the numerous islands and rocks within Tōtaranui, regardless of size, are of great importance, and each has its own unique significance to Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui. These islands were at one time occupied by Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui for defence, papakāinga, urupā, cultivations and/or mahinga k ai. Motuara Island is an iconic national site. On 31 January 1770, James Cook hoisted the British Flag both at Ship Cove and on Motuara Island and officially named Queen Charlotte Sound. On the Hipa Pā, south of Motuara, the tūpuna of Kereopa lived up until around 1893. The last two children born on the Island were Amiria and Richard Arthur. After 1893 the Island became uninhabitable due to sanitary reasons. Both Motuara and Long Island were fortified pā sites, and also had extensive cultivation areas. Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary has blue penguins, South Island saddleback, kererū, yell ow- crowned parakeets (kākāriki), bellbirds and the South Island robin s. Te Ketu (Long Island) was once a fortified pā site and it has sever al wāhi tapu and wāhi taonga. On the rocks around the coastline are numerous oysters, mussels, catseye, pāua, (abalone), kina (sea egg) and crayfis h. Amerikiwhati Island, an old fortified pā site, has twenty -five distinct terraces, most measuring six metres by four, although one is fifteen by five metres. There are pits within the terraces, some of which would have been occupied and others used as Te Tau Ihu Statutory Acknowledgements Page 108 of 163