History
The Māori population during the Archaic period was sparse. Only two moahunter period sites have been discovered to date. The best known is the Whakamoenga cave near Taupo. The cave was in use about 600 years ago and three moa bones, obsidian flakes, hollow pumice stone ash holders, pumice floats, a fishing net, bird spears, pieces of hue (gourd) and bracken remains have been found. The other moahunter site is at Tokoroa. The tangata whenua are the Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Their paramount chief is Tumu te Heuheu, who was knighted in 2009. They moved into this area after splitting away from the Arawa tribe on the east coast. The boundary between Arawa and Tuwharetoa is a small island 400 metres north of Huka Falls on the Waikato River. Their main marae is on the southern shores of Lake Taupo at Waihi near the Tokaanu geothermal area. They still retain ownership of the peaks of the mountains which are considered sacred, as well as the Ketetahi hot springs on the north slope of Mt Tongariro. The Māori people considered the volcanoes sacred and in traditional times wore woven flax eye shields to avoid looking at the peaks.
The Rangipo region is largely uninhabited. It is used by the New Zealand Army, based at Waiouru in the south, and by the Rangipo prison farm in the north and Rangipo underground HEP station to the east. During the 1960s The Tongariro power scheme redirected the flow of water from many of the streams and rivers that drain the central peaks. The water was channelled into canals, tunnels and storage lakes to provide water for 2 HEP stations at Rangipo and Tokaanu. The water then flowed into Lake Taupo increasing its input by 20%. Most of the Tongariro river flow is not included in the power scheme due to its importance as a breeding area for Brown and Rainbow trout. The extra water boosted the amount of water available to the 10 other HEP stations on the Waikato River which flows from the north end of the lake and is its only exit.
The productivity of pasture on the plateau was greatly improved in the 1950s once it was realised that the "bush sickness" suffered by local livestock was due to cobalt deficient volcanic soils. The cure for this was discovered by an Australian scientist in 1936 but the application of cobalt at the rate of 30cc per Ha was only possible after World War II making use of war surplus planes and ex WW2 pilots for aerial topdressing. The cobalt was mixed with crushed phosphate rock which was obtained cheaply from Nauru Island in the West Pacific. The resulting mix was called Super Phosphate.
The site is close to Tangiwai, the scene of New Zealand's worst railway disaster on Christmas Eve, 1953, when 151 were killed when the rail bridge was destroyed by a lahar flow from Mt Ruapehu. The largest farm in the North Island was established off the Taupo-Napier road and is called Lochinver Station. The station was largely developed by construction millionaire Bill Stephenson and his family using heavy earthmoving equipment in the 1960s and 1970s. The high country sheep and cattle station has several airstrips, 21 houses and 200 km of roading. It normally carries 100,000 breeding ewes and about 8,000 cattle. It has extensive shelter belts of contorta pine, improved rye-grass pasture and grows crops of swedes and barley. The farm is open to tourist and school group bus tours.
Read more about this topic: North Island Volcanic Plateau
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