Resolution Bay

There was likely Māori settlement in the bay prior to the 1850s. Midden sites have shown a large amount of bone, pahoke, & shellfish remains, though this could also indicate a popular Māori gathering or lunch spot.[3] Atapu / Resolution Bay was part of the Waitohi Purchase in 1850, along with Waitohi / Picton. No Māori reserves were set up at the time, and the majority of the land was taken over by farmers. William Woodgate is said to have been the first to find stibnite in the bay, and mining it for antimony would become a thriving local industry in the neighboring Panaruawhiti / Endeavour Inlet.[4] A timber mill, several farms, and an on and off aided school operated in the bay over the years. Family names such as Turner, Ewing, Vipond, Adams, Pullman, McManaway, and Annear are found throughout the bays history.[4] According to the McManaways the Murchison earthquake had dramatic effects, reporting it felt as if the hills were going to come down.[4] The farms produced a large amount of butter, which was exported to Waitohi / Picton in such quantities as 58.9kg (130 pounds) a week.[4] Eventually a holiday camp was established, owned and operated by Douglas and Libby Brown from the 1960s after leaving an architecture business in Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington. Today the majority of the land has gone back to the Crown, and the Resolution Bay Lodge is a notable coffee stop along the Queen Charlotte Track.[4]

G. C. Hayter reports the bay just within Scott Point was once home to a fisherman who "developed the unpleasant habit" of killing his children. Hayter reports the man eventually fell to his death in Picton gaol.[5]

Atapu is a name of some debate. It has been suggested it should be spelt Ātapu,[4] Otapu[6][7] meaning "a sacred place", or Atapo[8][9] meaning "early dawn".[4] Alexander Wyclif Reed calls it futile to speculate the name Atapu, as both ata and pu have a plethora of meanings.[10]

Resolution Bay is a reference to James Cook's ship the HMS Resolution which he brought on his second and third voyages. The bay was likely dubbed such by Captain John Lort Stokes in the early 1850s.[4] Cook initially dubbed the bay Shag Cove during his first expedition, a name seconded on Peter Fannin's map from his second voyage, aboard the HMS Adventure.[4]

Akatārewa / Bottle Rock[11][12][13] sits east of Atapu / Resolution Bay, just south of the bays eastern tip. Beneath the waves Akatārewa / Bottle Rock connects to the point.[14]

Akatārewa can be split into 2 Te Reo Māori words, aka,[15] meaning "vine/climbing plant" or ", and tārewa,[16] meaning "dangling", "hanging", or "suspended". Together akatārewa means "hanging vines" or "trailing vines".[10]

Bottle Rock is an unofficial name.[11] The peninsula adjacent to it has been dubbed "Bottle Rock Peninsula" and was home to a ZIP (Zero Invasive Predators) research facility as of March 2020.[17]

Schoolhouse Bay[2][18] sits at the back of Atapu / Resolution Bay. The bay was formerly home to the local school, which operated on and off, having 12 pupils in the 1920s from families in Panaruawhiti / Endeavour Inlet and Atapu / Resolution Bay.[4] The school building was eventually washed away by a slip. Parts of the Queen Charlotte Track were once bridle paths children rode ponies on to the school.

[19]

Whātapu[12] can be split into 2 Te Reo Māori words. Firstly, whā,[20] meaning "harakeke leaf", and tapu,[21] meaning "sacred". Together whātapu means "sacred harakeke leaves". The Atapu name may have been derived from this point.