M?ori History
Whitianga has been continuously occupied for more than a thousand years since Maori explorer Kupe�s tribe settled here after his visit in about 950 AD. Following this visit, many of Kupe's tribe settled here. Te Whitianga a Kupe is the original place name of the town, meaning Kupe's crossing place. There is still a passenger only ferry crossing from Whitianga to Ferry Landing, close to Cooks Beach. The alternative to the two minute ferry crossing is a 45 minute drive.
Whitianga Pa, located on the Ferry landing side of the river is a notable site. According to Ngati Hei history the earliest known chief occupying the rock was Hei Turepe. The Pa is protected on three sides by sheer cliffs. The hill leading up to the Pa on the fourth side is defended by a 22-foot man made ditch which is now part of the track leading down to Back Bay where Pa inhabitants had access to shellfish. On Cook's visit to the site in November 1769, the inhabitants who welcomed him believed the Pa had been disused for a generation since it had been attacked by a Tauranga chief who married the slain chief's wife and settled peacefully into the area. Whitianga rock has several holes cut into the stone that were used as firepits, water stores, and palisade holes. Cook noted burnt palisade stumps as evidence that an earlier attack had evicted the ancient Pa's residents.
Captain Cook's visit - 1769
The people of Hei commemorated their leader in a few place names, one being the bay at the head of which he had settled, Te Whanganui A Hei, (the Great Bay of Hei). This large sheltered bay was later renamed by Captain James Cook when he came here in November 1769 to observe the transit of Mercury. Cook was accompanied by Charles Green, the Royal Society expedition astronomer who died on the homeward journey in 1771.
From Cook's journal - "my reasons for putting in here were the hopes of discerning a good harbour and the desire I had of being
