Description
Label by Dr B.H. Howard: Position of this feature is on the west side of Tasman Bay between the mouth of the Riwaka River and Stephens Bay, a little to the south of Kaitriteri. Map Reference- NZMS 14 Grid 386565. After investigating the whole of this and adjacent coast, I gave up the search; but late in 1964, N.H. Murray of Motueka unearthed a photo taken in 1877 showing the feature as Fox saw it, and another 1937 showing the arch tumbled in and the mushroom snapped off. It is said that the damage was done in an unprecedented storm in 1810 [sic]. The tidal inlet in which the rock stands has changed shape and configuration since 1845. Transparency shows view from Fox’s approximate position. Black and white photo taken from the other side. B.H
On sketchbook mount in ink: Nelson. Rocks in Blind Bay, near Motueka about 1846; verso: [pencil sketch of landscape]; verso mount in ink: On Wanganui River 80 miles up… [work removed]; on flypage of sketchbook in ink: Thomas Morland Hocken from Sir William Fox. Sir William Fox who well knew the interest I took in old New Zealand & was a frequent visitor at my house, promised to bequeath me these sketches which he commenced to take from the time of his arrival in New Zealand in 1842.