Te Toka-Tapu-a-Kupe / Ninepin Rock

Te Toka-Tapu-a-Kupe / Ninepin Rock
Native name: Te Toka-Tapu-a-Kupe
Geography
Location	Auckland
Coordinates	37°03′02″S 174°30′13″E / 37.050449°S 174.503682°E
Adjacent to	Manukau Harbour, Tasman Sea
Highest elevation	29 m (95 ft)
Administration
	New Zealand

Te Toka-Tapu-a-Kupe / Ninepin Rock is an island at the mouth of the Manukau Harbour, at Whatipu in the Waitākere Ranges area.

Geology

The island is a volcanic plug of the Miocene era Waitākere Volcano, composed of stratified rudite and intrusive andesite.^[1] The rock is what remains of one of the volcano's funnel-shaped vents on the eastern side of the mountain, which was uplifted from the sea between 3 and 5 million years ago.^[2] The island is a volcanic plug of the Miocene era Waitākere Volcano, composed of stratified rudite and intrusive andesite.^[1] The rock is what remains of one of the volcano's funnel-shaped vents on the eastern side of the mountain, which was uplifted from the sea 17 million years ago.^[2] As the volcano aged and eroded, the vent filled with collapsed lava, scoria and volcanic bombs, until it formed into its modern-day shape.^[3]

History

The traditional name for the rock, Te Toka-Tapu-a-Kupe, refers to the Polynesian navigator Kupe. According to Te Kawerau ā Maki oral history, Kupe chanted a karakia (ritual song) and cast his marowhara (traditional clothing) into the sea, causing the Tasman Sea to become too rough for his pursuers to catch up to him.^[4]^[5]

The island was referred to by various variations of the name Ninepin Rock by European settlers, including Ninepins Rock and The Nine Pins.^[5] In the mid-19th century, Te Toka-Tapu-a-Kupe / Ninepin Rock was an island at high tide, however over time joined the mainland, due to the changing sand dunes of Whatipu.^[6]

In the 1860s, a signal mast was constructed on Te Toka-Tapu-a-Kupe / Ninepin Rock, to aid the logging communities of the area,^[7] and ships that navigated the mouth of the Manukau Harbour. The island is now the location of a trig station.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b Hayward, B. W. (1977). "Miocene volcanic centres of the Waitakere Ranges, North Auckland, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 7 (2): 123–141. doi:10.1080/03036758.1977.10427155.
^ ^a ^b Hayward, Bruce (2009). "Land, Sea and Sky". In Macdonald, Finlay; Kerr, Ruth (eds.). West: The History of Waitakere. Random House. pp. 10, 13–14. ISBN 9781869790080.
^ Hayward, Bruce W. (2017). Out of the Ocean, Into the Fire. Geoscience Society of New Zealand. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-0-473-39596-4.
^ Murdoch, Graeme (1992). "Wai Karekare - 'The Bay of the Boisterous Seas'". In Northcote-Bade, James (ed.). West Auckland Remembers, Volume 2. West Auckland Historical Society. pp. 7–28. ISBN 0-473-01587-0.
^ ^a ^b "Te Toka-Tapu-a-Kupe / Ninepin Rock". New Zealand Gazetteer. Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
^ McLean, RF (1978). "Recent coastal progradation in New Zealand". Landform Evolution in Australasia: 168–196.
^ McK. Pegman, Andrew P.; Rapson, G. L. (2005). "Plant succession and dune dynamics on actively prograding dunes, Whatipu Beach, northern New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 43 (1): 223–244. doi:10.1080/0028825X.2005.9512952. S2CID 85119481.
^ "Ninepin". New Zealand Gazetteer. Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 21 May 2022.