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Description
The largest island in the Mercury Islands group, located approximately 8km north of Opito Bay, off the east coast of Coromandel Peninsula. Feature shown on: NZTopo50-BA35 507436; 'So named for its vicinity to Mercury Bay. The largest island in the Mercury Islands, q.v. Maori name: Ahuahu. On the final leg of its voyage the Takitimu canoe landed on the island. Used to the heat of the tropics, the crew were suffering from the cold, for the marangai was blowing from the east. Finding that the sand dunes were warm, they lay down and heaped sand over their bodies, thus giving the name Ahuahu (Heaped up) to the island. The same incident has also been ascribed to Paikea. However, F.L. Phillips translates the name as A place of cultivation, so called because the warm microclimate here made it an ideal base for the propagation of kumara. According to Judge J.A. Wilson, the name was bestowed when the crews of Mataatua, Aotea, Te Ririno and Kurahaupo made rendezvous at the island and the leaders agreed on plans for settlement. He believed the name Ahuahu meant To shape a course. The island is also said to have been named after a locality in Hawaiki, the Maori homeland.' Source: Reed, A.W. & Peter Dowling, Place Names of New Zealand, 2010.
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