Take a break, re-focus, and revise your take on this moment in time by standing it next to the majestic New Zealand Kauri (Agathis australis) and its moments in time. Some Kauri ‘moments’ have endured for 1000+ years. It’s refreshing in a steaming summer to remember what the trees have long known; that they are the cooling lungs of the planet and that we, like they, are all invisibly connected. Kauri were almost wiped out by greed and ignorance, but not quite, so we have the opportunity today to re-establish this magnificent ancient species. Agathis Australis is one of 22 species of the Agathis genus which belongs to an ancient conifer family, the Araucariaceae.

The name, Agathis comes from Greek and refers to the female cone which resembles a ball of string. Australis means south. Northern New Zealand was originally covered in an estimated 1,200,000 hectares of kauri forest. Today less than 4,000 hectares remain. The largest recorded Kauri was just a few kilometres north of Dargaville and named Kairuru. With a girth of 20 metres, and diameter over 6 metres it was twice the size of the Waipoua Forest’s Tane Mahuta, the largest kauri standing today.

• Maori associated Kauri with divine qualities, the tree being significant in their mythology. 
• Agathis Australis was also used for carving  waka, lintels above doorways, and korere, the chief’s tapu feeding vessels
• Fresh kauri resin (kapia) was mixed with the milk of puha and used as chewing gum. Maori also lit fires and torches with resin, and soot from burning old gum made a tattoo pigment.
• The term ricker applied to the masts of the British Royal Navy sailing ships and was transferred to the adolescent trees ideal for ship spars
• Kauri timber is a prized wood-working timber. It is honey coloured, with a speckled silver lustre, straight grain, and without obvious growth rings.
• 400-1000 year old kauri timber dries well, is easily worked, stable, relatively strong and imperishable. 
• The 1861 census listed over 85% of Auckland homes built from Kauri
• Even a slight wound to the bark causes kauri to exude gum
• Gum was used in high quality paints and varnishes until 1925 and at its peak in 1899 11,000 tonnes was exported to Britain for linoleum manufacture, and as a copal substitute in varnishes and paints. Most of this was extracted by Dalmatian settlers.
• Swamp kauri was a major source of gum, much of it extracted from the Omaha Flats where takana native trees is sited today
• Kauri is easily grown from seed collected from mature cones in Feb-March 
• Sow immediately into trays in humid environment
• Germination should occur in 2-3 weeks
• Prick seedlings out when they reach 5cm
• Can be planted out after one to two years
• Seedlings require protection especially on exposed sites, and overhead light
• Young seedlings are moderately frost-sensitive but hardy when older