gold rushes, providing all who came to the diggin gs with food and entertainment, although he eventually had to limit his hospitality to Māori miners. As well as providing a base for surveyors and other travellers, Aorere Pā supplied river transpor t. The Aorere goldfields were extensive. Auriferous gravels were found in many tributary rivers, streams, valleys and gullies, from the Aorere river mouth at Collingwood to the headwater s and ranges, more than sixty kilometres inland. Tūpuna used river waka to reach inland sites. Strict tikanga was followed at the Goldfield sites. Traditional Māori prin ciples of manaakitanga were practised by tūpuna to welcome, with appropriate ceremony and hospitality, all extended whānau and guest s. The Aorere River Valley also provided a natural inland pathway or ara to reach Te Tai Poutini. This pat hway was an important greenstone trail, used by tūpuna in search of this valuable taonga and item of trade. The route followed the Aorere River before meeting the head of the Heaphy River and emerging just north of Karamea on the West Coast. PATURAU RIVER AND ANATORI RIVER AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES The Paturau and Anatori rivers are of immense traditional, historical and cultural significance to N gāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu. The rivers flow within Te Tai Tapu, an area of great significance to Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu. The length of occupation, the abundance of natural resources and the prehistoric coastal trail to Te Tai Poutini, along which they are situated, all contribute to the rivers’ importanc e. The settlements in Te Tai Tapu, such as those at the mouth of the Paturau and Anatori Rivers were crucial to the conquest of Te Tai Poutini. On the trail south to Te Tai Poutini, these awa provided important bases for tūpuna to harvest resources and stock up with food for their journey. The name Paturau can be translated as “the place to lie in a long heap” or where a mat of leaves was made. In earlier times there was a large settlement at the mouth of the Paturau River. Associated with this settlement were cultivation areas, mahinga kai urupā and the largest pā south of Whanganui Inlet. A number of Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu whānau had cu ltivation s at the mouth of the Paturau River, prior to the mass departure of iwi from the Te Tai Tapu coast for long-term residency at Mōhua. Altho ugh there is little ar chaeological information on the kāinga and pā at Paturau, oral traditions tell of numerous habitation sites and areas of significant resource use, and this awa remains a taonga of great importance to Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu whānau today. The Anatori River mouth was another locality where generations of tūpuna lived, camped and harvested resources on the Tai Tapu coast. The river was at the centre of extensive alluvial gold mining in the 1860s and Māori owners issued licences to mine in the river. Since the early 1800s, Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu whānau living in Mōhua and Motueka have made seasonal journeys to Te Tai Tap u to collect mahinga kai, rongoā and other natural materials. In earlier times, whole communities or contingents of Māori would relocate their villages to harvest resources from this huge and abundant food basket. Everyone had different tasks. Some would go fishing, while others would collect shellfish, snare birds or collect plant materials from around the river mouth, estuary areas and associated lowland forests, which hugged the rivers from the coast inland. The campsites of tūpuna who travelled north and south between Whanganui Inlet and other find spots were located adjacent to these awa and along the coastline of Te Tai Tapu. In addition to these kāinga, pā sites were plentiful. This provides an indication of the significance of these rivers and of this coastline to tūpun a. Te Tau Ihu Statutory Acknowledgements Page 94 of 163