Te Patukirikiri are the tangata whenua (local tribe) of Coromandel. Ngāti Whanaunga and Ngāti Pāoa share that status in the wider area.

Kauri have been around long before humans, about 20 million years.

Kauri have had a large part to play not just in the landscape of Aotearoa, but also in our culture, and early history. In a Māori context, kauri are seen as kings of the forest and a taonga (treasure) that connect people and their spiritual world. Kauri played an important role in many aspects of early Māori culture: besides being integrated into creation mythology, rituals, war, art and everyday life, some large trees were given names and revered as chiefs of the forest.

Kauri were prized too by the early European settlers, who felled almost all of the great kauri giants. The timber was valued for its strength and ability to withstand sea-water conditions, ideal for ship masts and hulls.

The almost complete removal as a timber resource over a very short period of time in the relatively recent past had a significant impact on our region’s ecology. On a national scale less than half a percent of all trees are left.

Incidentally, our town as well as the Peninsula, were named after the ship H.M.S Coromandel, which called here in 1820 to collect kauri logs to make spars for the British Royal Navy.

Miners flocked to Coromandel in 1852 and 1862 but, failing to find alluvial gold, soon left. Investment by mining companies from 1868 meant quartz reefs could be mined, so returns improved and the town stabilised. The population was 1,174 in 1874.

Many fine colonial buildings, like the government buildings (1873), have survived. The Coromandel Goldfield Centre and Stamper Battery and the Coromandel School of Mines and Historical Museum are both located in heritage buildings.

Gold mining and logging both declined after 1900. Land was farmed and a dairy factory opened in 1911.

The shallow harbour meant the old wharf could only be used at high tide and was expensive to maintain. The decline in coastal shipping and poor roading left farmers isolated.

Coromandel began to grow again in the 1960s, if slowly. Its old-world charm, relative isolation and cheap real estate attracted retired people, artists and ‘alternative lifestylers’. Hannafords Jetty, in deep water at nearby Te Kouma, is now used by tourist ferries.

The closure of Coromandel Hospital in 1994 – as part of government health reforms – was a blow to the town. Built of heart kauri in 1898, it is the town’s finest colonial building. It is now the site of Patukirikiri marae.

Driving Creek Railway and Potteries, on the road to Kennedy Bay, was developed by potter Barry Brickell, and is open to visitors. The creek takes its name from the driving of kauri logs by the force of water released from dams, down to the harbour for shipping.

The fishing fleet peaked at about 25 boats in the early 1980s when Coromandel wharf was landing the second-largest catch of snapper in New Zealand. The introduction of a New Zealand-wide quota system in 1986 restricted total volume according to catch history and also allowed trading of quotas, so many Coromandel fishers either leased or sold their quotas and the Coromandel fish catch was greatly reduced.

Many turned to mussel and oyster farming as sustainable alternatives. Both are sold fresh; larger volumes of mussels are processed at a plant in Tauranga. Oysters are smoked locally.

Mining settlement, now a ghost town, on a 400-metre-high ridge. Tokatea thrived in the early 1870s. It is located near the summit of the Coromandel to Kennedy Bay road. Disused mine shafts and other relics of the mining days are common. A 30-minute track from the road reaches a lookout where marine surveillance took place during the Second World War.

Manaia, 10 km south of Coromandel town, was gifted by Ngāti Maru to Ngāti Pukenga in recognition of assistance rendered by that Bay of Plenty tribe during the ‘musket wars’. This is one of the few large Māori-owned areas in Hauraki.

Manaia is the largest Māori community on the peninsula north of Thames. The people are of Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Whanaunga and Ngāti Maru tribes. The marae is Te Kou o Rehua.

Manaia was a rich resource area: ‘Ko Manaia, he pataka kai’ (Manaia the food store). Fishing and mussel farming employ locals. Mangrove extension and siltation are problems in Manaia Harbour, as in most other estuarine harbours of the peninsula.

The Manaia Forest Sanctuary, which contains 400 kauri trees, was established in 1972 after local protest against planned logging. It is now completely protected and can not be visited.

The bay bears the name of John Kennedy, a timber merchant who was robbed and murdered by ex-convicts in 1843.

In 1852 Ngāti Tamaterā of Hauraki gifted land at Harataunga to Ngāti Porou. The main reason was to give the East Coast tribe a stopover place on trading voyages to Auckland. Also, the great ancestor of Ngāti Porou, Paikea, made landfall at Ahuahu (Great Mercury Island) from Hawaiki, and is said to have left descendants at Harataunga. This gift was later recognised by the Native Land Court.

Harataunga is the largest area of Māori land in Hauraki. It continues to provide an economic base for a vital Māori community. The school dates from 1894. A new wharenui (meeting house), carved by the late Pakariki Harrison, opened in 1996.