Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou members were treated to the annual walk around Pukekura (Taiaroa Head) on 17 September.

Pukekura was the site of a Ngāi Tahu pā established by Waitai and is the scene of many events throughout our hapū history, including Tarewai and his mere pounamu. In more recent European history, Pukekura was used as a lighthouse, flagstaff, and signal station (the light house is still used today); and from the 1880’s until World War II, as a defensive post first against the threat of Russian invasion, then German and Japanese invasion during World War II.

Today, Pukekura is an extensive wildlife reserve and is home to Northern Royal Albatross, one among many threatened or endangered native bird species living on the headland. Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou has recently signed a draft joint management plan for Pukekura, with the Department of Conservation, Dunedin City Council, and the Korako Karetai Trust.

The walk is a rare opportunity to get inside the reserve and witness the work of the Department of Conservation first hand. This whenua is an integral part of our hapū identity.

This year, we were lucky to have Shar Briden, the Otago Conservancy’s Heritage technical officer, join us and talk to us about the visible archaeological features on Pukekura. Head ranger, Lyndon Perriman, told us of the season’s successes within various species and took the tamariki into the old signal station to show them the incubators used to house abandoned albatross eggs and orphaned chicks. Leon, a guide from the Otago Peninsula Trust treated us to a tour through the tunnels that service the underground Armstrong Disappearing Gun, a relic from the 1880’s Russian scare.

We were blessed with perfect albatross weather and saw plenty of adults flying, including a parent coming in to feed a chick. We were visiting at the time of year when the chicks are ready to fledge and thereafter spend the next five years living in the southern ocean.

Although there was a lot of hopping and wing flapping going on among chicks on the ground, we’ll have to cross our fingers in the hope we might actually see one take its first flight next year.

Ngā mihi to the Department of Conservation for their organisation and a special ngā mihi to the rangers at Pukekura, Lyndon Perriman, Colin Facer, and Sharon Hellyer, whose passion for the headland pretty much equals our own.

At Taiaroa Head lighthouse (from left, Colin Facer (DoC), Te Hori Wesley-Evans, Amber Dempsey, Ariah Dempsey, Makareta Wesley-Evans, Mihiata Wesley-Evans, Spencer Hedley.

At Taiaroa Head lighthouse (from left, Colin Facer (DoC), Te Hori Wesley-Evans, Amber Dempsey, Ariah Dempsey, Makareta Wesley-Evans, Mihiata Wesley-Evans, Spencer Hedley.

Looking back towards Waiwhakaheke, with Rerewahine in the distance, from near the summit of Pukekura.

Looking back towards Waiwhakaheke, with Rerewahine in the distance, from near the summit of Pukekura.