Nōti Raureka – path to pounamu

In te ao Māori (the Māori world), pounamu is one of the most treasured of all natural resources, prized for its beauty and strength. For Ngāi Tahu of Te Waipounamu the South Island, pounamu is also valued for its spiritual cleansing function. The Ngāi Tahu path to pounamu began with a daring first crossing of Kā Tiritiri o te Moana the Southern Alps by a young woman named Raureka.

Pounamu is only found on Te Tai Poutini West Coast. When Ngāi Tahu arrived and settled on the east coast, Te Tai Poutini had already been occupied for generations by the Kāti Wairaki people. Kā Tiritiri o te Moana were a major barrier between east and west.

According to oral tradition, around the year 1700, Raureka, a Kāti Wairaki woman, found a route through the mountains from Lake Kaniere, up the Arahura River, over the alpine pass that would later bear her name, and down the Rakaia River. In te ao Māori (the Māori world), pounamu is one of the most treasured of all natural resources, prized for its beauty and strength. For Ngāi Tahu of Te Waipounamu the South Island, pounamu is also valued for its spiritual cleansing function. The Ngāi Tahu path to pounamu began with a daring first crossing of Kā Tiritiri o te Moana the Southern Alps by a young woman named Raureka.

Image: Map showing Nōti Raureka (‘Pass’), drawn from information provided by a Ngāi Tahu kaumatua, 1860s.

European surveyors investigated Nōti Raureka when they were searching for a route over the mountains to the West Coast goldfields.

Image courtesy of Julius von Haast collection. Alexander Turnbull Library (MapColl-q834.44cdc)

Exhausted and starving, Raureka met and was cared for by a group of Ngāi Tahu men from Arowhenua, near Temuka. She showed them her pounamu toki (adze) and revealed the route she had taken through the mountains. With this knowledge, Ngāi Tahu parties crossed to the West Coast and eventually gained control of the valuable pounamu sources.

Image: Painting of Nōti Raureka Browning Pass from the Waitāwhiri Wilberforce Valley on the east side of the Alps, 1866. This trail is still walked as an advanced tramping track.  

Image courtesy of the Julius von Haast Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library (A-149-006)

Earliest alpine travel
Nōti Raureka became one of several mid-alpine passes used by Ngāi Tahu on annual journeys to collect pounamu, and part of an extensive network of ara tawhito (traditional travel routes) across what is now the Selwyn District. Whakamatau Lake Coleridge was an important mahika kai site on this trail, for stocking up on tuna (eels), weka, and waterfowl before tackling the mountain pass.
Māori were well-equipped for the hazardous alpine environment. They wore protective clothing, such as pāraerae (sandals) and parekareka (gaiters) woven from cabbage tree leaves and tussock grass, and fine woven flax pākē (rain capes). They also carried flax ropes, and tools and fire lighting materials in woven kawe (packs). Preserved food such as tuna, ika (fish) and aruhe (fern root) were carried in pōhā (kelp and tōtara bark bags) or gathered along the way. 

He mahi kai tākata

He mahi kai hoaka

It is work that consumes people

As pounamu consumes sandstone

Pounamu was returned to Ngāi Tahu under the Ngāi Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act 1997.

Pounamu is the reo Māori term for nephrite, bowenite and greenstone. There are a variety of pounamu as you can see in this display – spanning the colour range from creamy white, yellow and green to turquoise blue. The names of the different pounamu often describe the colour and characteristics of that variety.

Īnaka – pearly, pale grey-green, varying from strongly translucent to opaque. In nature, īnaka are whitebait.

Kawakawa – rich green to intense dark green, almost black, with small dark inclusions. It gets its name from the kawakawa leaf.

Takiwai/kōkō-takiwai (a deep sorrow that is never completely healed) – olive, browny, yellowish to bluish green. It is translucent, sometimes almost transparent.

Kōkopu – from light to dark browns, creamy whites, light blues, olive greens to yellow. Its distinctive brown spots are similar to the native trout, kōkopu.

A pounamu bowl and examples on loan from the Parata-Goodall whānau can be seen on the right of the display pictured below.

Kei te whakaaturia
On display

Pounamu gathered by Ngāi Tahu from Te Tai Poutini was transported over Kā Tiritiri o te Moana to be worked at settlements along the east coast. Frequently though, pounamu was worked during the return journey and many discarded off-cuts and tools have been found at campsites along traditional travel routes.

Left to right: three taonga on loan from Canterbury Museum:

Pounamu pakuru (hammerstone) used for flaking and shaping stone tools and implements, Kaikoura.

Schist whaiuru (file), used for shaping and smoothing pounamu, Hakaroa / Little Akaloa.

Pounamu boulder in the process of being file-sawn in two, Te Waihora / Lake Ellesmere Spit.

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Nōti Raureka – path to pounamu