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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 4 (July 1, 1939)

A Governor's Choice

A Governor's Choice.

Beyond these nearer islands lies Kawau, loveliest island of them all. It is within a two or three hours’ sail of Auckland and is the Mecca of all cruising yachtsmen. It is neither too remote nor too approximate; its beauty neither too rugged nor too effete. The waters of the Pacific, tired of their long journey, flow into its many bays and harbours to rest there in deep loveliness. Where the hills have not been cleared by farmer or woodman, the bush grows to the waterline where it is fringed with the vigorous, rufously flowering pohutukawas.

Sir George Grey chose Kawau for his home. At Mansion House Bay his old house still stands in its spacious grounds and serves holiday-makers as a boarding-house. Though its ancient glory may have departed somewhat it is still a place of great attraction. Leading southward from the house is the old road along which Sir George used to drive in his carriage. It is now just a wide track where the roots of the tall pines stretch like petrified snakes; but it still leads to the crown of the hill from which a tramper will be rewarded by a panorama of ocean, gulf, island and mainland.

Kawau is rich not only with beauty but with history. Could hills speak and trees give voice they would tell tales of the early Maori occupation of this island. Many Maoris fought in its quiet groves and on its wooded hills in order to gain the full rights of possession, while from its shores sallied forth many parties of Maori raiders. Kawau made an excellent stronghold for the old pirates and in those early days it was a place for sea-wayfarers to avoid.

Later still than the history of the Maori inhabitants is the story of the men who started to mine copper on the island. At Smelting-House Bay and at the entrance to South Harbour there stand ruins of the buildings which were erected for their purposes. No other sign of this past industry remains. The syndicate went out of business in the 1860's and the miners they employed rushed to the newer gold mines farther south. Now neither noise nor dust nor the incongruities of civilisation mar the quietness and the beauty of Kawau.

The bays and bush-clad shores of Port Fitzroy, Great Barrier Island.

The bays and bush-clad shores of Port Fitzroy, Great Barrier Island.