The 2012 Te Ara o Kōpū (the Transit of Venus) brought full-circle events which began over 240 years ago with the first positive contact between Māori and Captain James Cook at Ūawa-Tolaga Bay.

With support from Te Puni Kōkiri Te Tairāwhiti, Te Aitanga a Hauiti and the Tolaga Bay community developed science and technology, education, employment, and environmental initiatives. All of this mahi was celebrated when Ūawa hosted the 2012 Transit of Venus as the national centre of observation on Wednesday 6 June 2012.

Tolaga Bay provided the setting for some of the earliest positive encounters between Māori and Pākehā, and the first collection of indigenous flora and fauna when Captain James Cook anchored the HMS Endeavour at Ōpoutama-Cook’s Cove to replenish water, firewood and fresh supplies in 1769.

Tolaga Bay Transit of Venus steering group co-chair Victor Walker said the steering group recognised the Transit of Venus provided “opportunities for advancement of our communities”.

“Observing the Transit of Venus was the reason Captain Cook ventured into the Pacific,” Victor says. “Good relationships were imperative to the exchange of information and knowledge, and technological advancement. The cultural traditions of Te Aitanga a Hauiti and fine gardens impressed Cook and his crew. Celebrating this dual heritage and learning what this may mean for our shared future is the theme for present-day Tolaga Bay.”

Te Puni Kōkiri also assisted representatives from five Tolaga Bay marae to attend the science forum ‘Lifting our Horizons’ hosted by the MacDiarmid Institute, the Royal Society of New Zealand and Victoria University of Wellington, held in Gisborne, over two days following the transit.

“Like those first positive encounters between Māori and Pākehā, in 2012 relationships and manaaki are still very important,” said Te Puni Kōkiri Regional Director Mere Pohatu. “We supported Ūawa to strengthen its capability and knowledge base, and engagement in the sciences – our relationship with that community has flourished as a result.”

Scientists from the Alan Wilson Centre for Ecology and Molecular Evolution worked with the community to develop a sustainability plan for the Ūawa River catchment. That research focused on different land uses and examined the agriculture, horticulture and forestry industries contribution to the local economy, alongside strategic sustainable practices for the land, water-ways and bay.

Around 1000 people from the local and international science and academic community, politicians, dignitaries, other iwi, schools, and the hau kainga turned out to witness Kōpū (Venus) pass directly between Earth and the sun. It will be another 105 years before the astronomical phenomenon will be seen again.

“We intend that Te Aitanga a Hauiti and the wider community will create a legacy that will still be felt by our mokopuna in 2117, and reaches back to our tīpuna honouring the spirit of manaaki they extended to those first visitors to Aotearoa and reminiscent of their entrepreneurial nature,” says Victor.