ROCK OF AGES

The Nelson Boulder Bank Historical Area was listed in the Historic Places Trust in 2013. The bank shelters Nelson and is one of the reasons Māori settled in the region and, later, why it became an early colonial settlement. The lighthouse was built in 1862 and was New Zealand’s second permanent lighthouse. It was built from sections of cast-iron shipped from Bath. The baches are listed as typical examples of Kiwiana, and the owners pay a lease fee once a year. The historical registry describes them as “Dwellings that show the essentials of what New Zealand baches once were before the word ‘bach’ came to mean ‘modern holiday home’. They are small, weathered, quirky and unimproved.

“From time to time, new materials can be spotted, indicating a level of maintenance.” A year after the historical listing, the bank, which has two names in Māori — Te Taero a Kereopa and Te Tahuna a Tama-i- ea — was also given wahi tapu status. This recognizes the significance of the area to several iwi, who historically used the bank for seasonal food harvesting and as a source of rock for tools. Te Taero a Kereopa/ Te Tahuna a Tama-i- ea features in a myth about Kupe the earliest tupuna (ancestor) in Māori culture. The story says Kupe’s warriors Pani and Kereopa fled his waka near Nelson wishing to remain with tangata whenua in Aotearoa. The bank was formed when Kereopa performed a karakia, which prevented Kupe from capturing him.