The Battle of the Lakes

Our storytellers recall a time when Wairarapa Moana used to double in size when the sandspit at Lake Onoke closed over and the autumn rains filled the southern Wairarapa plains. For Māori, this was referred to as the hinurangi – the annual inundation of water which signaled the time when eels migrate. For farmers and catchment managers, it meant flooding and so they open the sandspit to disperse the waters. Today this ‘battle of the lakes’ continues but is increasingly called into question.