Remembering 1642 and the meeting of two worlds
Chris Petyt, Addo Mulders Jr., Addo Mulders Sr., Robert Jenkins discussing location of Tasman’s anchorage. Photo: Em Hofstede.
Imagine a fine summer’s day. Stratocumulus clouds float above your head in one direction; a bit of feathery cirrus and lofty nimbus in the other. With swells of less than one metre, the water seems friendly, the colour inviting.
You sail from one hitherto uncharted shore to another, rounding unknown landmasses from a safe distance, averting unseen rocks, never knowing what lies ahead or below.
At your anchorage you view a cliff, a few small islands, hills, and more hills, dense with greenery from tip to toe – a lush land. There is nothing else to see. The air is quiet with the familiar sounds of wind and water and hushed on-board conversations.
Such may have been the day in 1642 when Abel Tasman arrived in the waters of what we now know as Golden Bay.
This year marks the 370th anniversary of the European discovery of New Zealand and the placement of New Zealand on world charts ever after. More importantly, it is a rare birthday of sorts. Few cultures on the planet can pinpoint the day when they encountered another and acknowledge that day as a turning point in their respective histories.
For Maori in particular, after 400 years of undisturbed occupancy, life on these islands has forever changed.
To mark the occasion, a group of 20 history and ecology buffs, headed by Penny Griffith, volunteer coordinator of the Abel Tasman 370th Commemoration, took the opportunity to tour Abel Tasman Point, located between Tata Beach and Wainui Bay, near where Tasman moored his merchant ships on December 18, 1642. This is the location where Maori and Europeans first encountered each other.
Throughout this year, events will be organised around the nation marking the meeting of these two significant cultures of contemporary New Zealand. (Please go to www.abeltasman370.com to see more.)
The next event is an exhibition at the Suter Gallery in Nelson, entitled Wish You Were Here: Views from Golden Bay and the Abel Tasman National Park.
Penny will be writing a monthly column for The GB Weekly this year to keep us abreast of our local history. Watch this space.
Em Hofstede
