An end to logging
The New Kauri Policy finally came into effect on 26 February 1973. This saw felling finally cease on the Coromandel Peninsula, notably in the Manaia block, which today contains some of the best remnant stands of mature trees surviving on the Peninsula. In the early 1970’s the Forest Service planted about 40,000 kauri in the Coromandel Forest Park as part of a strategy to preserve kauri in natural and managed stands. However many of these did not survive or records of their location were lost with the restructuring of the department.
Giant kauri treeTwo timber workers dwarfed by a large kauri tree.
Photograph taken by the Northwood Brothers ca 1910s. Ref. No. 1/1-011187; G Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
The Coromandel Story
A lasting reminder of the once thriving kauri industry on the Peninsula are the kauri dams of the Coromandel. Estimates of the number of dams constructed in the Kaueranga Valley near Thames alone range from around 60 to over 100, built across most streams in the...
Maori and the Kauri
Professor John Salmon says that to the ancient Maori, kauri ranked second only to the totara in importance. Some of the greatest northern war canoes were constructed out of single massive kauri trunks, felled in the forest after elaborate tapu-lifting ceremonies, then...
Mass Felling
Logs near Coroglen Kauri logs piled up near Coroglen after a log drive down the Waiwawa River. Ref. No. 1/2-022204; G Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of...