The Tawatahi River is a short river of the Waikato Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows into the northern shore of Raglan Harbour.
| Tawatahi River | |
|---|---|
 Tawatahi River and Te Teko Island | |
| Location | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • elevation | 176 m (577 ft) |
| Mouth | |
• location | Raglan Harbour |
• elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Length | 2 km (1.2 mi) |
Geology edit
The headwaters are listed as worthy of preservation for their geology - "New Katuku Trig / Pukewharangi Hill Oligocene fossil locality"[1] Most of the rock in the valley is Kotuku siltstone, a massive to crudely bedded, light- to blue-grey jointed, calcareous siltstone. The upper slopes are mainly Mangiti Sandstone and Patikirau Siltstone, also calcareous rocks. All were laid on a deepening mid to outer shelf in the Whaingaroan age, about 41 million years ago.[2]
Alternative names edit
The river has also been called Burgess's Creek, after the farmer who owned Burgess Point to the west,[3] Kerikeri Peninsula,[4] or Puketutu.[5] James Burgess farmed almost 600 sheep in the late C19th,[6] having previously been a shepherd on Te Ākau Station, which had included this area.[7] He had burnt the flax and sown grass on the peninsula.[8]
Wildlife edit
A 2012 survey found the estuary had a wide band of rushes grading into native forest, with mud crabs, titiko, coastal daisy, makaka, oioi, fescue, marsh clubrush, remuremu, sea primrose, sand buttercup, kowhai, kanuka, miro, tanekaha and hangehange.[9]
See also edit
External links edit
- 1:50,000 map http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap/nz53469/Tawatahi-River/Waikato
- most of the river is close to Mangiti Road, so some images are available in street scene on https://maps.google.com/
References edit
"Place name detail: Tawatahi River". New Zealand Gazetteer. New Zealand Geographic Board. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
37°45′S 174°56′E / 37.750°S 174.933°E
- ^ New Zealand Geopreservation Inventory http://www.geomarine.org.nz/NZGI/
- ^ P. J. White, Barry Clayton Waterhouse (1994). Geology of the Raglan-Kawhia Area. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences (N.Z.). ISBN 0-478-08837-X.
- ^ Richards, Bill (1986). Off the Sheep's Back. Lindon Pub. ISBN 0864700148.
- ^ Vernon, R T (1984). Raglan.
- ^ "Tawatahi River, Waikato - NZ Topo Map". NZ Topo Map. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^ "AtoJs Online — Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives — 1898 Session I — H-23 THE ANNUAL SHEEP RETURNS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th APRIL, 1898". atojs.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^ "OBITUARY. (Press, 1930-07-04)". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^ Vernon, R. T. (1981). Around Raglan.
- ^ "Estuarine Vegetation Survey – Raglan (Whaingaroa) Harbour" (PDF). Waikato Regional Council. 2012.