Matemateāonga Range Explained

The Matemateāonga Range is a range of rugged hills in the northern Manawatū-Whanganui region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the western side the Whanganui River between Wanganui and Taumarunui.

-39.4333°N 205°W

The 1970s proposed Cape Egmont to East Cape walkway

Starting in the late 1970s the then Department of Survey and Land Information embarked on a project to link Cape Egmont to East Cape by a walkway.

The Matemateāonga Range section of the ‘Cape Egmont to East Cape’ walkway was completed in the 1970s. The Matemateāonga Range section still remains in use. It was a traditional Māori trail, then dray track in the early 20th century.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Notes and References

1. Barnett . Shaun . 17 May 2015 . Wild Range: Matemateaonga Range . Wilderness Magazine . 51a Riverlea Avenue, Pakuranga, Auckland 2010 . Lifestyle Publishing Ltd . 23 February 2020 . No wonder Maori had a route along it and Europeans planned to build a road over the crest, too. Some work on the road was completed in the early part of the 20th century but, happily for trampers, it never became much more than a dray road..
2. Web site: Matemateāonga Track . 23 February 2020 . www.doc.govt.nz . Department of Conservation (New Zealand) (DOC) (Māori: Te Papa Atawhai) . 23 February 2020 . Penetrate deep into the wilderness of the Whanganui National Park on old Maori trail and settlers’ dray road. .
3. Book: McDonald , Pete . 2011 . Foot-tracks in New Zealand: Origins, Access Issues and Recent Developments . Pete McDonald . 93 . 0473190958 . petemcdonald.co/posts/foot-tracks-in-new-zealand . Ian Church, however, has suggested that ‘it[Matemateāonga Track] was probably along this track [which he calls the Whaka-ihu-waka track] that Wiremu Kingi Te Koroiti led his people to the support of Ihaia Kirikumara at Karaka Pa on the Waitara River during the Puketapu feud of 1857..