Mauke (from ma uke, "Uke's Land"; also known as Akatokamanava) is a raised atoll island, the eastern most of the Cook Islands.
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Mauke is half as big as Rarotonga in circumference. It is 18 kilometres (11¼ miles) around compared to Rarotonga's 32 kilometres (20 mi). The topography, however, is quite different. Mauke consists of a central volcanic plateau which climbs to a maximum height of about 30 metres. It is surrounded by a raised, fossilised coral reef – 'makatea' – which ranges from about 100 metres from the shoreline to about 1000 metres inland. There are no rivers so rainwater which falls inland drains into swamps on the inner rim of the 'makatea' and thence underground to the lagoon, similar to Mangaia.
The central south area of Mauke is quite open. If it were not for the occasional coconut palm, the landscape could almost be rural European. The old airstrip was in the interior and the tropical hardwoods which previously flourished there were cleared to make way for the runway. Now it looks like an overgrown paddock and cattle graze on it.
There are no sealed roads; they are topped with crushed coral sand, much like Rarotonga's roads in the 1950s before the advent of international jets, resort hotels and tourists. As in Aitutaki, there are no dogs. However, wild pigs are prolific. Even the ubiquitous wild roosters are well adjusted compared with their dysfunctional cousins in Rarotonga who start crowing at 10pm and go right through the night as well as most of the next day.
Mauke is a garden island, extremely verdant and fertile with magnificent hardwood trees in its interior. These forests are where the 'maire' bush is found growing wild, Maire leaf is the source of a thriving export industry to Hawai'i where the leaves are used to make welcoming 'leis' – garlands. Each week, the island gets an order from Hawaii and the women head into the interior at the weekend to pick enough 'maire' leaves to be airfreighted out on Monday. The island also boasts the largest banyan tree in the world - a fact verified by a professor from Leeds University in England who is one of the world's leading experts on the banyan.
On the way in from the airstrip at the north-west corner of the island the first village is Kimiangatau. Just before the small hospital lies the derelict house of Robert Julian Dashwood (a.k.a. Rakau), the flamboyant English writer who arrived in the Cook Islands in the 1930s. He worked in Mangaia and Manihiki and eventually moved to Mauke where he married a local girl and ran a store.
The main village is Kimiangatau, located on the northwest coast, with the administration building. Other settlements are Ngatiarua (central area) and Areora/Makatea (northeast). Oiretumu is the location of the church between Areora and Ngatiarua.
Mauke is divided into four districts, two of which are further subdivided into tapere:[1]
There are at least 11 sites which could be described as 'marae'. This word has a different meaning to its counterpart in New Zealand. In Mauke it is a ceremonial structure similar to those found in eastern Polynesia. Usually, 'marae' contain prepared structures with paving, stone walls or platforms and have a 'tapu' or sacred quality. On Mauke the word applies to sites associated with ancestors. However, the people did not build the same type of large stone structures found elsewhere in the southern Cooks and in Tahiti and the Society Islands.
Mauke is named after a settler from Avaiki called Uke or Uki - hence Mauke or Mauki which means "Land of Uke (Uki)". Before the arrival of Europeans, the Maukeans were under the domination of neighbouring Atiu. Raiding parties went over from time to time for food and women. The first European discoverer was missionary, John Williams who landed on 23 July 1823. The British flag was hoisted on 1 November 1888 by Captain Bourke of HMS Hyacinth. Mauke became a member of the Cook Islands Federation until it was annexed to New Zealand in 1901, when the population was recorded as 370.
The three main ariki or chiefs, Samuela, Tararo and Teau Ariki.
Dashwood wrote sensitively and evocatively about the Cook Islands in magazines and books ('South Seas Paradise') under the pseudonym Julian Hillas. He later had a short but eventful career as a Minister in the first Cook Islands Government in the 1960s, but resigned after being convicted on corruption charges. He died shortly afterwards in 1970. His grave lies beside his wife's, Kopu, in the garden behind the house, close to the road. The spacious house is now a ruin, the half-acre garden overgrown with weeds. The high-ceilinged rooms contain remnants of furniture, a wind-up gramophone, bedsteads and small cupboards.
It is not hard to imagine, however, what the homestead would have looked like in its heyday in the 40s and 50s. Rows of huge hibiscus bushes surrounded by cropped green lawns and the massed flowerbeds blazing with color under the big, shady trees. Here Dashwood would have entertained his guests and played the role of lord of the manor in the South Seas. Near the junction of Ngatiarua village on the central area and Areora village on the northeast coast is the huge Zion church which is Mauke's largest and most idiosyncratic structure. The Maukeans call it the 'divided church' because it was built as a place of worship to be shared between two villages. The pulpit is in the centre of the huge nave and the congregation sits on whichever side has been designated for them. At the front of the pulpit, which is in a low railed enclosure, are embedded eight silver Chilean coins a one silver Peruvian coin, which were common currency in the central Pacific in the nineteenth century. Often referred to wrongly as Chilean dollars, there are eight Chilean pesos dated between 1870 and 1881. The ninth coin is a silver Peruvian coin named 'sol' with the inscription: 'Firme y Feliz por la Union', state motto from Peru.
Mauke has a special atmosphere. Its people cleave to the old customs of hospitality – the 'ui tupuna' – and they are very friendly to visitors. People from overseas need to adjust to a different pace and style. Shops are few and far between, are often closed and the range of goods on offer is limited. There are no cafés or restaurants, milk has to be bought in powder form in cans and fresh home baked bread comes from an old gentleman in Ngatiarua village who bakes loaves in a wood-fired oven.
Probably the best way to explore Mauke is by rented bicycle. The coral roads are deserted and peaceful. A day spent cycling slowly round the circumferential road is an absolute delight. The road curves gently through the coconut palms and hardwood trees. Every so often a small, sandy beach comes in sight bordered by rocky outcrops. In the vegetation bordering the track you will find growing wild the 'noni' tree whose fruit is now the darling of the health food industry in the USA and is being touted as a cure-all for every imaginable ailment. Also called the Indian mulberry, it is an ancient Cook Islands herbal medicine. Its botanical name is Morinda citrifolia.
Accommodation on Mauke is limited. The Island Council has decided there should be rooms for no more than 40 visitors.
The island has power 24 hours a day. The adventurous will find a swim in some of the underground caves both refreshing and spectacular. There are also three beaches on the island or you could join the local children for a swim in their favourite place - the harbour.
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