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Port Nicholson from the hills above Petone, by Charles Heaphy, 1840. Alexander Turnbull Library. PUBL-0009
Port Nicholson from the hills above Petone, by Charles Heaphy, 1840. Alexander Turnbull Library. PUBL-0009

Description

When the first New Zealand Company settlers arrived in Port Nicholson, the Hutt Valley was a large hinterland of swamp and dense forest. Maori called this Awakairangi -the river of food from the sky. Today little remains of this lowland forest except Barton’s Bush in Trentham. From the 1840s the valley floor forest was rapidly replaced by farms, market gardens suburbs, roads and industry.  It is estimated that since the arrival of humans, New Zealand has lost over 95 percent of its forest cover.
 

Discussion

What was the Maori name for the Hutt River?

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