Ngā Tohuwhenua Mai Te Rangi: A New Zealand Archeology in Aerial Photographs
Irrigation
Irrigation
The high terrace and coastal flats at Nukutaurua, Māhia Peninsula
At centre is the pā, Waipuna, showing as a distinct rectangle of ditch and bank. On the high terrace to its left is a remnant of the double ditch and bank of another pā. Running along the foot of the slope (commencing bottom right) is a ditch and bank fence. The view is from the south-east, and was taken from above the pā, Maungakahia.
In other seasonally arid areas, such as South Canterbury, schemes specifically for irrigation were not introduced until the 1930s. Their need had been anticipated, but construction did not occur until subsidised labour became available during the depression. A practice known as 'border-diking', designed to achieve economic use of the water, came into use at this time. 18 This practice involved the systematic construction of ponding areas by the raising of banks on near-level ground, such as is depicted in the oblique photograph of Northburn in the following chapter.