Tawatahi River

The Tawatahi River is a short river of the Waikato Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows into the northern shore of Raglan Harbour.

Tawatahi River
Tawatahi River and Te Teko Island
Location
CountryNew Zealand
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • elevation176 m (577 ft)
Mouth 
 • location
Raglan Harbour
 • elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Length2 km (1.2 mi)

Geology

The headwaters are listed as worthy of preservation for their geology - "New Katuku Trig / Pukewharangi Hill Oligocene fossil locality"[1] Most of the rock in the valley is Kotuku siltstone, a massive to crudely bedded, light- to blue-grey jointed, calcareous siltstone. The upper slopes are mainly Mangiti Sandstone and Patikirau Siltstone, also calcareous rocks. All were laid on a deepening mid to outer shelf in the Whaingaroan age, about 41 million years ago.[2]

Alternative names

The river has also been called Burgess's Creek, after the farmer who owned Burgess Point to the west,[3] Kerikeri Peninsula,[4] or Puketutu.[5] James Burgess farmed almost 600 sheep in the late C19th,[6] having previously been a shepherd on Te Akau Station, which had included this area.[7] He had burnt the flax and sown grass on the peninsula.[8]

Wildlife

A 2012 survey found the estuary had a wide band of rushes grading into native forest, with mud crabs, titiko, coastal daisy, makaka, oioi, fescue, marsh clubrush, remuremu, sea primrose, sand buttercup, kowhai, kanuka, miro, tanekaha and hangehange.[9]

See also

References

"Place name detail: Tawatahi River". New Zealand Gazetteer. New Zealand Geographic Board. Retrieved 12 July 2009.

  1. New Zealand Geopreservation Inventory http://www.geomarine.org.nz/NZGI/
  2. P. J. White, Barry Clayton Waterhouse (1994). Geology of the Raglan-Kawhia Area. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences (N.Z.). ISBN 0-478-08837-X.
  3. Richards, Bill (1986). Off the Sheep's Back. Lindon Pub. ISBN 0864700148.
  4. Vernon, R T (1984). Raglan.
  5. "Tawatahi River, Waikato - NZ Topo Map". NZ Topo Map. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  6. "AtoJs Online — Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives — 1898 Session I — H-23 THE ANNUAL SHEEP RETURNS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th APRIL, 1898". atojs.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  7. "OBITUARY. (Press, 1930-07-04)". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  8. Vernon, R. T. (1981). Around Raglan.
  9. "Estuarine Vegetation Survey – Raglan (Whaingaroa) Harbour" (PDF). Waikato Regional Council. 2012.


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