Mauke
Encyclopedia
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
.
Geography
Mauke is half as big as RarotongaRarotonga
Rarotonga is the most populous island of the Cook Islands, with a population of 14,153 , out of the country's total population of 19,569.The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings and international airport are on Rarotonga...
in circumference. It is 18 kilometres (11¼ miles) around compared to Rarotonga's 32 kilometres (19.9 mi). The topography, however, is quite different. Mauke consists of a central volcanic plateau
Volcanic plateau
A volcanic plateau is a plateau produced by volcanic activity. There are two main types: lava plateaus and pyroclastic plateaus.-Lava plateau:...
which climbs to a maximum height of about 30 metres. It is surrounded by a raised, fossilised coral reef – 'makatea' – which ranges from about 100 metres from the shoreline to about 1000 metres inland. There are no rivers so rainwater which falls inland drains into swamps on the inner rim of the 'makatea' and thence underground to the lagoon, similar to Mangaia
Mangaia
Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga.-Geography:...
.
The central south area of Mauke is quite open. If it were not for the occasional coconut palm, the landscape could almost be rural European. The old airstrip was in the interior and the tropical hardwoods which previously flourished there were cleared to make way for the runway. Now it looks like an overgrown paddock and cattle graze on it.
There are no sealed roads; they are topped with crushed coral sand, much like Rarotonga's roads in the 1950s before the advent of international jets, resort hotels and tourists. As in Aitutaki
Aitutaki
Aitutaki, also traditionally known as Araura, Ararau and Utataki, is one of the Cook Islands, north of Rarotonga. It has a population of approximately 2,000. Aitutaki is the second most visited island of the Cook Islands. The capital is Arutanga on the west side.-Geography:Aitutaki is an "almost...
, there are no dogs. However, wild pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s are prolific. Even the ubiquitous wild roosters are well adjusted compared with their dysfunctional cousins in Rarotonga who start crowing at 10pm and go right through the night as well as most of the next day.
Mauke is a garden island, extremely verdant and fertile with magnificent hardwood trees in its interior. These forests are where the 'maire' bush is found growing wild, Maire leaf is the source of a thriving export industry to Hawai'i where the leaves are used to make welcoming 'leis' – garlands. Each week, the island gets an order from Hawaii and the women head into the interior at the weekend to pick enough 'maire' leaves to be airfreighted out on Monday. The island also boasts the largest banyan tree in the world - a fact verified by a professor from Leeds University in England who is one of the world's leading experts on the banyan.
On the way in from the airstrip at the north-west corner of the island the first village is Kimiangatau. Just before the small hospital lies the derelict house of Robert Julian Dashwood (a.k.a. Rakau), the flamboyant English writer who arrived in the Cook Islands in the 1930s. He worked in Mangaia
Mangaia
Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga.-Geography:...
and Manihiki
Manihiki
Manihiki is an island in the Cook Islands known as the Island of Pearls. It is a triangular atoll north of Rarotonga.- History :Polynesians are believed to have lived on Manihiki since at least 900 or 1000 AD. Kupe was the first to explore Aotea Roa. Kupe came from Manihiki, also known as...
and eventually moved to Mauke where he married a local girl and ran a store.
The main village is Kimiangatau, located on the northwest coast, with the administration building. Other settlements are Ngatiarua (central area) and Areora/Makatea (northeast). Oiretumu is the location of the church between Areora and Ngatiarua.
Subdivisions
Mauke is divided into four districts, two of which are further subdivided into tapereTapere
A tapere or sub-district is a low level of traditional land subdivision on five of the Lower Cook Islands , comparable to the ahupua'a of the main Hawaiian Islands. Among the populated raised islands, only Mitiaro is not subdivided into tapere...
:
Their names are:
- NgatiaruaNgatiaruaNgatiarua is one of four traditional districts on the island of Mauke in the Cook islands. It is in the north of the island, and is subdivided into five or six tapere....
(north, subdivided into 5 or 6 tapere) - VaimutuVaimutuVaimutu is one of four traditional districts on the island of Mauke in the Cook islands. It is in the east of the island....
(east, no further subdivision) - AreoraAreoraAreora is one of four traditional districts on the island of Mauke in the Cook islands. It is in the south of the island, and is subdivided into three tapere....
(south, subdivided into 3 tapere) - MakateaMakatea (district)Makatea is one of four traditional districts on the island of Mauke in the Cook islands. It is in the west of the island....
(west, no further subdivision)
History
There are at least 11 sites which could be described as 'marae'. This word has a different meaning to its counterpart in New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. In Mauke it is a ceremonial structure similar to those found in eastern Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
. Usually, 'marae' contain prepared structures with paving, stone walls or platforms and have a 'tapu' or sacred quality. On Mauke the word applies to sites associated with ancestors. However, the people did not build the same type of large stone structures found elsewhere in the southern Cooks and in Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
and the Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
.
Mauke is named after a settler from Avaiki called Uke or Uki - hence Mauke or Mauki which means "Land of Uke (Uki)". Before the arrival of Europeans, the Maukeans were under the domination of neighbouring Atiu
Atiu
Atiu, also known as Enuamanu , is an island lying at 187 km to the northeast of Rarotonga, in the Southern Islands group of the Cook Islands Archipelago.-Geography:...
. Raiding parties went over from time to time for food and women. The first European discoverer was missionary, John Williams who landed on 23 July 1823. The British flag was hoisted on 1 November 1888 by Captain Bourke of HMS Hyacinth
HMS Hyacinth (1881)
HMS Hyacinth was an 8-gun Satellite-class composite sloop built for the Royal Navy, launched in 1881 and sold in 1902. She and the rest of her class were re-classified as corvettes in 1884.-Design:...
. Mauke became a member of the Cook Islands Federation until it was annexed to New Zealand in 1901, when the population was recorded as 370.
The three main ariki or chiefs, Samuela, Tararo and Teau Ariki.
Significant inhabitants
Dashwood wrote sensitively and evocatively about the Cook Islands in magazines and books ('South Seas Paradise') under the pseudonym Julian Hillas. He later had a short but eventful career as a Minister in the first Cook IslandsCook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
Government in the 1960s, but resigned after being convicted on corruption charges. He died shortly afterwards in 1970. His grave lies beside his wife's, Kopu, in the garden behind the house, close to the road. The spacious house is now a ruin, the half-acre garden overgrown with weeds. The high-ceilinged rooms contain remnants of furniture, a wind-up gramophone, bedsteads and small cupboards.
Near the junction of Ngatiarua village on the central area and Areora village on the northeast coast is the huge Zion
Zion
Zion is a place name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem. The word is first found in Samuel II, 5:7 dating to c.630-540 BCE...
church which is Mauke's largest and most idiosyncratic structure. The Maukeans call it the 'divided church' because it was built as a place of worship to be shared between two villages. The pulpit is in the centre of the huge nave and the congregation sits on whichever side has been designated for them. At the front of the pulpit, which is in a low railed enclosure, are embedded eight silver Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an coins a one silver Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian coin, which were common currency in the central Pacific in the nineteenth century. Often referred to wrongly as Chilean dollars, there are eight Chilean pesos dated between 1870 and 1881. The ninth coin is a silver Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian coin named 'sol
Peruvian sol
The sol, was the currency of Peru between 1863 and 1985. It had the ISO 4217 currency code PEH. It was subdivided into 10 dineros or 100 centavos.-History:...
' with the inscription: 'Firme y Feliz por la Union', state motto from Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
.
Tourism
Mauke has a special atmosphere. Its people cleave to the old customs of hospitality – the 'ui tupuna' – and they are very friendly to visitors. People from overseas need to adjust to a different pace and style. Shops are few and far between, are often closed and the range of goods on offer is limited. There are no cafés or restaurants, milk has to be bought in powder form in cans and fresh home baked bread comes from an old gentleman in NgatiaruaNgatiarua
Ngatiarua is one of four traditional districts on the island of Mauke in the Cook islands. It is in the north of the island, and is subdivided into five or six tapere....
village who bakes loaves in a wood-fired oven.
Probably the best way to explore Mauke is by rented bicycle. The coral roads are deserted and peaceful. A day spent cycling slowly round the circumferential road is an absolute delight. The road curves gently through the coconut palms and hardwood trees. Every so often a small, sandy beach comes in sight bordered by rocky outcrops. In the vegetation bordering the track you will find growing wild the 'noni' tree whose fruit is now the darling of the health food industry in the USA and is being touted as a cure-all for every imaginable ailment. Also called the Indian mulberry, it is an ancient Cook Islands herbal medicine. Its botanical name is Morinda citrifolia.
Accommodation on Mauke is limited. The Island Council has decided there should be rooms for no more than 40 visitors.
The island has power 24 hours a day. The adventurous will find a swim in some of the underground caves both refreshing and spectacular. There are also three beaches on the island or you could join the local children for a swim in their favourite place - the harbour.