Introduction

Before you set out find out about the history and natural features of the area and other activities you can do there.

History

Early history

The Rees and Dart River valleys were well known to the Ngāi Tahu people of Southland and the Otago Coast. Ngāi Tahu and their ancestors used ara tawhito (traditional trails) for mahinga kai (food gathering) and pounamu trading. These ara tawhito crossed the main divide of the Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana.

The Dart River/Te Awa Whakatipu was part of the ara tawhito connecting Whakatipu-wai-Māori (Lake Whakatipu) with Whakatipu Waitai (Martins Bay). This was where one of the largest Ngāi Tahu kāinga (settlements) in South Westland was situated.

Ngāi Tahu travelled great distances to collect the valued, pearly grey-green inaka/koko-takiwai variety of pounamu. Many pounamu artefacts and the remains of several kāinga nohoanga (seasonal settlements) have been found at the head of Whakatipu-wai-Māori.

Today, ownership of all pounamu remaining within the takiwā (tribal boundary) of Ngāi Tahu and the adjacent seas are vested in Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.

From the 1860s

The first Europeans to explore the Rees-Dart area were surveyors, prospectors and run holders looking for grazing land. Surveyor James McKerrow finished his reconnaissance in 1863. By this time, many gold prospectors and miners were based at the head of Whakatipu-wai-Māori.

Sheep runs were established in the Rees and Dart valleys and at Mount Earnslaw during the 1860s.

In 1864, a mining party led by Patrick Caples crossed the Rees Saddle into the Dart River/Te Awa Whakatipu to search for reported gold. Little was found and after days of snow they retreated to the Rees valley. Caples was the first European to refer to the Dart Glacier, which he saw on this trip.

A gold dredge operated on the Dart River/Te Awa Whakatipu from 1899 until 1902. There is still evidence today of the gold sluicing that happened around the Whitbourn/Dart confluence circa 1870s. 

Modern times

The areas remarkable natural landscapes and diversity were recognised in 1964 with the creation of Mount Aspiring National Park and again in 1991 with the establishment of Te Wāhipounamu – South West New Zealand World Heritage area.

More recently the valleys have been used as film locations for The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and Mission Impossible. 

Tōpuni sites

In the mountains at the head of Whakatipu-wai-Māori lie Mount Earnslaw/Pikirakatahi and Te Koroka (Dart/Slip Stream). Both are important to Ngāi Tahu for their cultural, spiritual, historic, and traditional associations.

As part of the Deed of Settlement between the Crown and Ngāi Tahu, these two areas have been given the status of Tōpuni.

The concept of Tōpuni comes from the Ngāi Tahu custom of persons of rangatira (chiefly) status, extending their mana (power and authority) and protection over areas or people by placing their cloak over them or it. Tōpuni provides a very public symbol of Ngāi Tahu customary mana and rangatiratanga (chieftainship) over some of the most prominent landscape features and conservation areas in Te Waipounamu.

Tōpuni does not override or alter the existing status of the land but ensures Ngāi Tahu values are recognised, acknowledged, and provided for.

Access to Te Koroka (Dart/Slip Stream) requires a special permit.

Ngāi Tahu and Pikirakatahi

Sitting between the Rees and Dart rivers is Mount Earnslaw/Pikirakatahi. The creation of Pikirakatahi relates in time to Te Waka o Aoraki, and the efforts of Tū Te Rakiwhānoa.

It is said that during the formation of Pikirakatahi, a wedge of pounamu was inserted into this mountain. This is the highest and most prominent peak in this range.

The mountain is also linked to the travels of Rākaihautū. He dug out the great lakes of the interior with his kō (a tool like a spade), known as Tū Whakaroria and later renamed Tuhiraki at the end of the expedition.

Pikirakatahi was of crucial significance to the many generations that journeyed to that end of Whakatipu-wai-māori and beyond. Pikirakatahi stands as kaitiaki (guardian) over the pounamu resource and marks the end of a trail.

The tupuna (ancestors) had considerable knowledge of whakapapa, traditional trails, places for gathering kai (food) and other taonga. Also, ways in which to use the resources of the land, the relationship of people with the land and their dependence on it. And tikanga for the proper and sustainable utilisation of resources. All these values remain important to Ngāi Tahu today.

Natural history

The Rees and Dart valleys are surrounded by towering mountains made of green and grey schist and have been shaped by glaciation.

The Dart Glacier is now a small valley glacier. At its peak it was part of an enormous system that ended at Kingston, 135 km away at the southern end of Whakatipu-wai-māori (Lake Whakatipu). Huge moraine walls beyond Dart Hut show the previous extent of the glacier and how much it has receded in the past few hundred years.

Native plants

The forest is full of southern beech species, with tawhairaunui/red beech growing along the warm valley floor of the Dart River/Te Awa Whakatipu. Tawhairauriki/mountain beech and tawhai/silver beech dominate the rest of the Rees and Dart valleys.

Cold air from the Dart Glacier has lowered the treeline in the Dart valley to 900 m (200 m lower than elsewhere in the region). Above the tree-line, tussock grasslands dominate with flowering spikes of speargrass or Spaniard dotted between. Flowering herbs like mountain buttercups and daisies are common int the spring and summer.

Native animals

The Dart valley is notable for its populations of the endangered mohua/yellowhead, kākā and pekapeka/longtailed bat. Other forest birds such as kākāriki/New Zealand parakeet, kakaruai/South Island robin, miromiro/tomtit, pīwakawaka/fantail and pīpipi/brown creeper thrive in both valleys.

The cheeky alpine kea is also a significant valley inhabitant, along with the pūtakitaki/paradise shelduck, which is found on the river flats. Mātuhituhi/rock wren can be heard, if not seen, on the Rees Saddle and kōwhiowhio/whio/blue duck may be seen in the turbulent upper reaches of the rivers.

There are many invertebrates. Especially the abundant sandfly in the beech forest and grassy flats, and energetic grasshoppers in the alpine areas. Alpine wētā are found at the Rees Saddle and in the upper Dart valley.

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