The forgotten people of Motukorure island
Motukorure Island
Located around 3hours from Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city sits what appears to be an uninhabited island full of lush fauna and vegetation.
With access to the island forbidden to only a few local people in the Coromandel the tribe relies on for supplies not available naturally I have managed to get exclusive access to learn more about these unique people.
Anonymity guaranteed
Due to the nature of this article and to protect all involved I have agreed to keep the names of all parties supporting the tribe from the mainland anonymous.
Friendly Face
‘To be honest, I ever really see them’ says George Anderson. For thirty eight years George has been making the a two hour return boat trip to the island to drop off supplies from canned goods, batteries and torches to blankets and warm items of clothing. ‘It depends on the time of year really. they don’t give a shopping list, me and my wife pack up what we think will suit them for the month then take it over and leave it on the shore for them to collect’.
George and his wife, Mary, receive a small, subsidised amount of money from the government each ,only to pay for the supplies. ‘We couldn’t do it with out the government support’ says Mary now both of them are retired and living on a pension. ‘I used to go with George on the boat but now I stay behind, the waters can be really rough and there are a lot of rocks surrounding the island’.
Prepping and packing
Using the local four square, a small chain of mini-marts dotted around New Zealand, the couple are able to get everything they need for the Tribe. Its coming into summer so there are plenty of seasonal fruits and vegetables along with some meats and some chocolate. ‘We like to give them a sweet treat now and then… we have no idea what they eat but the tribe are really sustainable and put all not compostable items such as cans and wrappers by the shore side for us to take back to the mainland and recycle.
It takes George and Mary about three hours to do the shop, load it into boxes and then pack up the boat.
Set Sail
From the mainland, the Island looks tiny while retaining an isolated and lonely feeling. The tribe have not made contact, official contact for over 50 years and no one is quite sure of their numbers. Last guesstimates placed it at around twenty to thirty men, woman and children however at the time of writing this could not be confirmed.
George and myself set off at 9am, the customary kiss they give each other like it could be the last. Mary is visible on the shoreline until she slips out of eye site twenty minutes in.
‘On a good day it can take forty five minutes but the average time is n hour due to the strong currents and deep water that surrounds the island’. George who picked up the baton from his father who is the last known person to see and photograph the Kakīānau tribe knows these waters well. ‘You don’t want to mess around out here, besides the water there is also an occasional shark sighting to keep things interesting’.
Land ahoy
After negotiating the rocks and tough waters the initial coastline of the island is tranquil and gives an inviting feeling however George is quick to point out that you need to keep your guard up at all times. ‘They are tribal and with that, the lack of domestication could lead to them feeling threatened and the consequences of this can be deadly’. George and Mary both received elite combat training in the 1980s from the New Zealand secret service while on board the boat is a concealed military grade AK-47 should things ever get out of hand.
With the boxes of essentials placed near the shrub we quickly get back on the boat and my brief hopes of seeing one of the tribe in person is dashed. We hoist anchor and set sail for the mainland.
Kakīānau Tribe
The tribe are originally believed to have come to the shores of New Zealand as part of an ancient maritime exploration of the South Pacific. Given the information we have available to us now, we are of the belief that the people of both the pacific, Asia and South America communicated and also visited each other for hundreds of years.
This resulted in the Kakīānau tribe taking up a residence on the island during a fierce five hundred year storm that resulted in their ability to return home gone.
The photo above is from the last visit to the tribe that ended in a bloody sacrifice of people who, after many warnings to not disturb the Kakīānau people snuck off in the middle of the night and by the end of the following day, set adrift was photographer Niall Masterton who was believed to have been sent back as a deterrent for anyone who thinks about making the trip again.
Of the Kakīānau people who did the reverse, only one known visit has taken place in the last one hundred years. Bemidii Achak was believed to be in his early forties when during a routine fishing expedition he fell from his canoe and was picked up adrift by a local fisherman who brought him to the mainland.
With all the furore around him once he was brought to shore, Bemidii did what came naturally, he pulled a short dagger from his belt and stabbed an oncoming man in the belly. With blood turning the sand red and the natural distress of the crowd rising, Bemidii charged into the wave and swam for the island. To this day no one knows if he made it back or not.
The Tribe today
Despite the food parcels they receive from George and Mary the tribe are left alone and remain uncontactable. My visit to the island to drop off food parcels resulted in no sighting and given the perilous nature of the voyage one I won’t take again.
As I was saying my farewells to the husband no wife relief team George pointed out a faint line of smoke wafting above the tree line. ‘You can confuse it with cloud or mist given the distance but that’s them lighting their fires for the night…’
