Places of Historical and Cultural Significance in Rarotonga, Cook Islands: A Guide for the Curious Adventurer

By C A Tucker

Picture-perfect images of enticing tropical lagoons, and coconut palm-rimmed beaches, set against a rugged and majestic mountainous backdrop: an understandably huge drawcard for visitors to Rarotonga! What many travellers to these shores are unaware of are fascinating and at times conflicting or controversial stories, about various landmarks around the island. This guide will tell you about:

why people were urged by the early forebearers of Christianity to move from their inland homes in the mountains and valleys to the coast;
significant marae where chiefly titles were invested and offerings made to the many deities;
the intriguing stories of tūpāpāku (ghosts / spirits);
the story behind the ‘curse’ of the never-completed ‘Sheraton Hotel’; and so
much more.

This is the ultimate guide to uncovering some of Rarotonga’s historical and culturally significant sites and stories. Explore the island following the simple directions and location information provided in this book, while learning about the fascinating history of this small island paradise.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Sep 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398499355

C A Tucker

Dr Corrina Tucker is an eco-adventure tourism operator in the Cook Islands. She was born in Hawkes Bay and lived in New Zealand up until 2018. Corrina was an Environmental Sociology Lecturer in New Zealand, prior to moving to Rarotonga and purchasing Storytellers Eco Cycle Tours in 2019. She moved to Rarotonga after having been a regular visitor over an eight-year period and after having spent four months in Rarotonga in early 2018 on her research sabbatical, where she looked at tourism and environmental impacts and practices on the island. During the COVID-19 border closure, she did research work for the Cook Islands Government and taught at the University of the South Pacific (USP). This book (and a series of booklets) was written while the Storytellers business was not operating due to the borders being closed.

Book preview

About the Author

Dr Corrina Tucker is an eco-adventure tourism operator in the Cook Islands. She was born in Hawkes Bay and lived in New Zealand up until 2018. Corrina was an Environmental Sociology Lecturer in New Zealand, prior to moving to Rarotonga and purchasing Storytellers Eco Cycle Tours in 2019. She moved to Rarotonga after having been a regular visitor over an eight-year period and after having spent four months in Rarotonga in early 2018 on her research sabbatical, where she looked at tourism and environmental impacts and practices on the island.

During the COVID-19 border closure, she did research work for the Cook Islands Government and taught at the University of the South Pacific (USP). This book (and a series of booklets) was written while the Storytellers business was not operating due to the borders being closed.

Dedication

To Sage, Lenaia and Finnley.

Copyright Information ©

C A Tucker 2023

The right of C A Tucker to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398499348 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398499355 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

Thank you to everyone that has supported or encouraged me in some way during the writing of this book. Special thanks to those who have given me their time, knowledge and experiences. A huge thank you to my ‘Rarotonga family’, and my family in New Zealand and England. I particularly want to acknowledge Joe, who read the first complete draft and gave me helpful feedback and suggestions; Kura for her wonderful knowledge, enthusiasm, and huge heart; and Ken, who will be sorely missed for his support and laughs along the way. The excitement and support of friends has been a great reassurance and motivation for me: meitaki ma’ata kātoatoa.

Preface

When I first began visiting here more than 10 years ago, and while I did do a bit of background ‘research’ to learn a bit about what there was to see and do in Rarotonga, I was pretty much oblivious to much of what was around me. A prime example of this is the Taputapuatea Marae in town: these large grounds, fronted by a thick wall that runs along the main road, are home to the palace of the Makea Nui ariki (traditional paramount chief of Te o Au Tonga—more commonly known these days as Avarua), and is where significant historical events have taken place (Wikipedia, 2021a).

The inspiration to write this guidebook has its roots back in 2019 when the idea to put a series of booklets together first occurred to me. At the time, I was too busy with running a relatively new business, and did not have the time to do more than make a few rough plans. Then when the Cook Islands borders shut in 2020, and after a few months passed and it became clear that things were not likely to return to ‘normal’ anytime soon, the research and writing of the booklets began. As I was working on the booklet about the cultural and historical sites of significance on the island, I became increasingly uneasy: nearly every time that I would seek to find out about the simplest of things or would try and gain some clarification around something, I would stumble across all kinds of information and hear all kinds of stories. I was constantly getting sidetracked by information that I was not necessarily seeking, but that was so engaging that I did not want to leave anything out. On top of that, was how much variation of accounts, or how many contradictory stories there were. This culminated in the decision to keep the booklet simple, but to begin work on a book based on the booklet, but that included far more information. Because I was also aware that there were conflicting accounts, I decided that there needed to be referencing throughout, so that anything I relayed could be crosschecked. This book ended up being started in mid-2021.

An interesting and compelling aspect for me personally in writing this book, is that I am a papa’a—a European ‘outsider’ to the Cook Islands—that has spent over four years here now, working mainly in land-based tourism. Prior to this I worked as an academic in the tertiary sector in Aotearoa/New Zealand where people, environment and politics have been my key areas of interest. This has given me, what I now believe to be an ‘advantage’ in writing about a culture or history other than my own. Firstly, I bring with me a keen and genuine interest in learning about and understanding as much as I can about this place that I currently call home given my standing interests in education and research; and secondly, I do not have some of the same constraints that other local writers may experience because of their historical lineage and relationships, religious or other affinities that may serve to limit or sway a ‘perspective’ to a point where accuracy (in as much as this is possible) may be thwarted. To the latter point, I can recall many instances where information relayed (mainly to tourists) has been stifled, has been completely inaccurate by any account, or simply ‘ignored’ as it may not fit with the world view of the individual imparting the information. I have also had personal interactions whereby locals have approached me expressing concern about reporting or relaying particular accounts of concerns or events here in Rarotonga, as they feared that it would upset other people, namely other family members, particularly if they hold some position of authority or power. I anticipate that as an ‘insider-outsider’ writing about historical and cultural matters specific to Rarotonga, that I will receive some criticism. My hope is that I have provided as much of an accurate account as anyone else could.

Introduction

Originally intended as a booklet for use by visitors to Rarotonga, this title has evolved into a book designed as a guide to important cultural and historical sites on the island of Rarotonga. The primary reason for its evolution into a book, is that, as with countries that have had oral traditions for centuries and a relatively new written tradition, there are many different versions of events, and many stories that accompany sites of importance on the island. The basic purpose of this book is to guide and educate interested people about Rarotonga history and the significant moments or events over time, that in turn speak to the culture of the island, or the Cook Islands more broadly.

This book provides images and basic information about a selection of historical and culturally significant sites around the island. Many of these sites have stories associated with them—some have clearly been embellished over time, others occupy the realm of mythology or folklore, and some are a bit more ‘evidence-based’, relating to a time where written records or some forms of documentation are available to help verify information. While written language begun being taught in 1824, there was little encouragement initially for documenting matters relating to the pre-Christianity era; instead, it was not until Rev. Wyatt Gill (missionary and ethnographer) arrived in 1852, spending 30 years in the Cook Islands, that there was active encouragement for pre-Christian history to be documented. To make things even more interesting, there are oftentimes many variations to the stories—this is pointed out throughout as necessary (and I cannot emphasise this point enough—it seems at times that the different versions of historical events are endless! I wonder at times if there will ever come a ‘saturation’ point where I have finally heard or found ALL variations, but I suspect not).

The Rarotongan dialect of Cook Islands Māori is used unless otherwise specified, as the main focus is Rarotonga rather than all of the Cook Islands (each island has its own stories to tell). Also, just for the record, Rarotonga (which means ‘down south’) has several alternate traditional names, including Nuku-tere or floating island, and Pukaikai-o-Papa/Te Pukai-taringa-o-Papa or The ear lobes of Papa, among others (Coppell, 1973).

This book is laid out so that it can be used as a guide to important cultural and historical sites on the island of Rarotonga. In this instance, the starting point is on the west of the island in Arorangi/Puaikura at Tuoro, also known as Black Rock.

Before beginning, a brief historical overview of key moments in the history of the Cook Islands with particular emphasis given to Rarotonga, and some more contemporary, contextual information, is provided. This is intended to give the reader a brief ‘orientation’ to Rarotongan history,