When Toawaka Met Cook

(Paperback)

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2019 marks the 250th anniversary of Captain Cooks first landfall in New Zealand. But how much is really known about the 12 days that Captain Cook and the crew of the HMS Endeavour spent in Mercury Bay 250 years ago, the Ngti Hei people were shocked when the HMS Endeavour first sailed into Te Whanganui o Hei-Mercury Bay, where they had been living undisturbed for the last 400 to 500 years. When Toawaka Met Cook explores the 12 extraordinary days that Cook and his crew spent with the Ngti Hei people. It goes into detail on remarkable events such as the introduction of the potato to New Zealand, Te Horetas special gift, and the build-up to the first pwhiri. of meeting between the crew of the Endeavour and the Ngti Hei people. When Toawaka Met Cook is the first book to go into depth on this time that very literally shaped our shared culture. In October 2019, a replica Endeavour ship will be visiting Mercury Bay to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Captain Cooks first landfall in New Zealand.

Author Bio

Richard Gates is a retired company director and airline executive with a lifelong interest in New Zealand history, aviation and art. He is well known in the wider Mercury Bay region for his support of local history activities, his involvement with the Mercury Bay Museum, where he is a former trustee of its trust board, and for many articles of local history written for the Mercury Bay Informer newspaper. These have covered a wide variety of significant or interesting New Zealand and Mori historical events including the Cook expeditions, the astronomical and transit observances, and many items of Polynesian or New Zealand cultural relevance. John Steele enjoyed an active commercial life spanning 40 years mostly in the motor industry, after starting in the newspaper and broadcasting industries (NZ Herald, NZBC) as a news and current affairs journalist. In retirement he has returned to writing, having first published an historical biography (Smales Trail) in 2012. A new book No Ordinary Man, is to be published in September. Other writing includes numerous articles and editing roles for a variety of papers, books, and journals, including the international Captain Cook Society journal.