Te Mata Trust Park
Te Mata – The Legend
The most frequently told legend of Te Mata Peak is that the hill is the body of the chief Rongokako, the ancester of all iwi of Ngati Kahungunu. Although given to warfare, Rongokako was swayed from his plan to attack the Heretaunga people when he saw the beauty of the Heretaunga chiefs daughter. A series of difficult tasks were set for Rongokako to prove his worthiness. He completed all but the last, which was to eat his way through the hill.
Looking towards the Peak from Hastings the huge bite that choked Rongakako can be seen. The outline of his body forms the skyline. The Peak was then know as Te Mata O Rongokako meaning “The Face of Rongokako”. The name commonly used since has been shortened to Te Mata Peak.
The Land
Te Mata Peak, “Te Mata O Rongokako is part of land originally settled by the Ngati Ngarengare, a sub-tribe of Ngati Kahungunu.
The land that makes up Te Mata Trust Park was included in a block purchased in 1862 by John Chambers. In 1927 his sons gifted the 98 hectares which make up the park to the people of Hawkes Bay.
The Park is administered by the TE Mata PTrust Park board and is supported by the Q.E. II National TRust. Other support comes from the Royal Forest and Bird Society, service clubs, and the Hawkes Bay Bay community, with financial assistance from local authorities.
The Look-out
At the look-out you stand 399 metres above sea level. Te Mata Peak is a “hog back” ridge of erosion resistant Limestone dipping steeply to the West. Across the Tukituki valley immediately to the East is another limestone rock ridge. These sedimentary rocks – originally deposited in horizontal layers on the seabed have been tilted and bowed upward by the geological forces of the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates.
The Mata Peak gives a view of Napier to the North, Mahia Peninsula across Hawke Bay, softrock hill country to the South and East, and across the Heretaunga plains a view of the Ruahine, Kaweka and Maungaharuru ranges with the volcanoe Mount Ruapehu often visable behind them.
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