Mount Tarawera Eruption (1886): The Lost Pink and White Terraces

Mount Tarawera erupted violently in the early hours of 10 June 1886, splitting open a chain of craters about 17 km (11 miles) long across the volcano and Lake Rotomahana, near Rotorua in New Zealand’s North Island. The eruption killed about 120 people, buried several Maori villages under ash and mud, and destroyed the Pink and White Terraces, a natural wonder that had attracted visitors from around the world. It was New Zealand’s deadliest volcanic eruption in historical times.

Background: the terraces and tourism

Before 1886 Lake Rotomahana was famous for two great staircases of silica terraces created by mineral-rich hot springs. The White Terrace, Te Tarata, and the Pink Terrace, Te Otukapuarangi, descended in pools and ledges to the lake. Visitors called them the eighth wonder of the world.

The land belonged to Maori iwi (tribes), mainly Tuhourangi, part of the Te Arawa confederation of tribes. They guided tourists, ran canoes across Lake Tarawera and charged fees. The village of Te Wairoa, on the shore of Lake Tarawera, was the base for the journey, with hotels, a mission and a school.

Mount Tarawera itself, a flat-topped massif of three domes, had not erupted for about 700 years and was not thought to be dangerous.

Warning signs

On 31 May 1886 tourists and their guide, the well-known Sophia Hinerangi, reported seeing a war canoe (waka) on Lake Tarawera that vanished. Many local Maori interpreted the “phantom canoe” as an omen of disaster. Water levels in the lake were also reported to fluctuate in the days before the eruption.

The eruption

Shortly after midnight on 10 June, people in the area felt strong earthquakes. At about 2 a.m. the three domes of Mount Tarawera erupted, and over the following hours the fissure extended southwest through Lake Rotomahana. When the eruption reached the lake and its hydrothermal system, water flashed to steam in huge explosions that blasted mud and rock across the surrounding country.

Ash and mud rained down on Te Wairoa, Te Ariki, Moura and other settlements. Roofs collapsed under the weight; people sheltered in whatever buildings held. In Te Wairoa many survived inside the carved meeting house Hinemihi and in Sophia Hinerangi’s house. The eruption was largely over by about 6 a.m., but dark clouds kept the area in gloom well into the day.

Victims and survivors

Most of the dead were Maori from the villages closest to the vents; Te Ariki and Moura were obliterated. Among the European victims at Te Wairoa were the schoolmaster Charles Haszard and several of his children, and a young English tourist, Edwin Bainbridge.

The elderly tohunga (priest and expert) Tuhoto Ariki, whom some blamed for the disaster, was dug out alive from his buried hut several days later but died soon afterwards.

Consequences

The Pink and White Terraces were destroyed, and Lake Rotomahana’s basin became a huge crater that later filled with water to form a much larger lake. A new geothermal area, now the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley, formed along the line of the eruption.

Tuhourangi lost lives, homes, land and the tourist income on which they had depended, and survivors were resettled elsewhere, largely around Whakarewarewa. Tourism shifted to Rotorua. The meeting house Hinemihi was later sold and taken to England, where it stands in the grounds of Clandon Park in Surrey.

The eruption also gave scientists their first detailed record of a large basaltic eruption in New Zealand. Scientists and surveyors, including Professor Algernon Thomas of Auckland and the government surveyor S. Percy Smith, examined the new craters within weeks.

Myths and facts

Since the 1880s people have hoped that the terraces might have survived. Sonar surveys of Lake Rotomahana in 2011 found what researchers suggested were remains of the lower Pink and White Terraces under the water. Later studies using a nineteenth-century survey argued that the terraces lay elsewhere, possibly buried on land. The question remains unsettled.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1859: Geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter surveys the Rotomahana area.
• 1886, 31 May: Tourists report a phantom canoe on Lake Tarawera.
• 1886, 10 June, after midnight: Earthquakes shake the area.
• 1886, 10 June, about 2 a.m.: Mount Tarawera erupts; the fissure extends through Lake Rotomahana.
• 1886, 10 June, about 6 a.m.: The main eruption ends.
• 1886, mid-June: Tuhoto Ariki is dug out alive from his buried hut, several days after the eruption.
• 2011: Sonar surveys report possible terrace remains under Lake Rotomahana.

Why it matters

The Tarawera eruption devastated Maori communities and wiped out one of the world’s great natural wonders within a few hours. Along with Krakatoa three years earlier and the Laki eruption a century before, it is studied for what it reveals about how volcanoes affect the people who live beside them.