Tolaga Bay

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Tolaga Bay (M¿ori: Uawa) is both a bay and small town on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island located 45 kilometres northeast of Gisborne and 30 kilometres south of Tokomaru Bay. It was named Tolaga Bay by Lt. James Cook, but the original M¿ori name is Uawa, and some local residents now refer to the area as Hauiti, and themselves as Hauitians from the local iwi Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti. The region around the bay is rugged and remote, and for many years the only access to the town was by boat. Because the bay is shallow, a long wharf - the longest in New Zealand (600m) - was built to accommodate visiting vessels. In the 1830s there was a thriving flax trade involving early European traders like Barnet Burns. This wharf is now in threat and a committee from the township are appealing for funds and technical help to restore and save it.