WAIHEKE ISLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 16, 19 January 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAIHEKE ISLAND.

STORIES OF THE BAYS.

SOME MAORI PLACE-WAMES.

HISTORY PRESERVED

(By J.C.)

(Continued.)

The last of the venerable warriors of Ngati-Paoa that one used to aee at Waiheke and at such places as the Miranda, on the Gulf mainland, were wonderful specimen* of old New Zealand face-carving with the tattooer's chisel. Wiremu Kepa, of Tβ Huruhi Bay, and Aperahama PoKai, of Pukorokoro, Miranda, were so closely and deeply incised and thickly pigmented with the kauri tattoo-ink that they were quite black of visage, and their glittering eyes looked out as from a mask. Both these old fellows were tattooed from the roots of their hair to their necks, and no doubt were "moko'd" on their bodies as well. Living monuments of fortitude! They were in the war-party of their tribe which assembled at Te Huruhi Bay in 1851 and invaded Auckland to demand redress for the wrongful arrest of their Chief Hoera. A story I have heard concerning that bloodless invasion described the wardance of the Ngati-Paoa when they landed from their canoes on the Waipapa beach, Mechanics' Bay. A number of Auckland pakehas went to the bay for a close-up view of the warriors, who were vastly enjoying themselves singing wild songs and performing their leapingdrill while the chiefs were up Constitution Hill conferring with the Governor. The tattooing on the flanks of one of the naked braves greatly interested a new-chum white man, who made come loud facetious remark about it to a companion. The warrior, who was armed with a basket-hilted eword, some old trophy of war or barter, resented the pakeha's too-free interest in his "rape" adornment, and drove the hilt of his weapon into the critic's mouth. The pakeha tumbled over on the sand, and when he recovered scrambled off to a safer viewpoint; and one warrior at least could boast afterwards that he had •truck a blow against the English. Lor* of Coast-names. In til* previous article a number of Waiheke coast-name* were put on record. In addition iom« of those along the southern shore, facing Tamaki Passage, may be mentioned and explained. The south-west point of Waiheke was named of old Te Rore-a-Maeaea. "Rore" means a snare, such a* the Maori aforetime set for the capture of wild duck, teal, herons, snipe, and other waterfowl and wading birds. These snares, often fc*t in sedgy shores, were sometimes •unches of growing rushes tied in slipknots, sometimes running nooses made of cabbage-tree leaves. Thir long-gone ancestor, Maeaea, seem* to have specialised in bird-hunting, for further along the coast, a short distance before the entrance to Awaawaroa Bay is reached, there it a small bay known by the same name u the headland just mentioned. Other place-names carry references to the "kal-mataitai" of the olden people. Kaikuku, meaning a meal of mussels, is a little bay where a streamlet runs in just to the east of Rocky Bay, the modern name of Whakanewha. On the south-east side of the island, just north of Omaru Bay, is a point called Patio, which reminds us of the era when oysters (tio) were to be had for the trouble of knocking them off the rock?, before regulations and inspectors were invented. Away at the other end of Waiheke, Hakai-mango Point, the west headland of Oneroa Bay, recall* the great sharkfishing days when canoe parties hauled their fish athore, and dried great quantities in the summer sun. Te Matuku, that narrow winding bay running into the hills due north, near the south-east end of Waiheke, holds a memory of that handsome wader and fisher, the blue heron, that once was plentiful around these choree. Matuku Is also applied by the Maoris to the bittern, but the heron was'more abundant in these parts. As for the name Waiheke Itself, there » a place of that name on the eastern side of Onetangi Bay, where a small stream comes down from the hills. Waiheke means "cascading water," and probably that is the "tino" of the island, the tpot from which the whole place in eourse of time took its name.

Man-o'-War Bay. For fh« origin of the name Man-o-w»r Bay, applied to that fine expanse of water at the east end of the island, •heltered by the Waiheke high land on the one side and by Ponui and Rotoroa Islands on the other, we have to cast back to 1863, the daye of the Waikato War. When the naval and military expedition was dispatched to the west thore of the Hauraki Gulf, to operate ■gainst the Ilingite Maoris, between the Wairoa and the mouth of the Piako, and to take the Paparata fortifications in the rear, H.M.S. Miranda and H.M.s. Esk led the flotilla of transports. Bad weather delayed them an they made down the Passage for the Wakatiwai and Pukorokoro coast, and they lay at anchor for several days under this east end of Waiheke. It is a pity some of the original names are not used for preaent-day Waiheke •ettlements instead of the ill-fitting pakeha names, such as the- hybrid "Surfdale" (who ever heard of surf breaking in a dale?) and the pretentious and absurd Man-o'-War Bay is a name with historical warrant, but what can be said for Ostend? Cowes wae originally Maxwell's Bay, a name that preserved a memory of one of the earliest pakeha pioneers here, wto settled in these parts long before the coming of the British flag, married a Maori wife, traded with the people, and built a email schooner juet over the way in Matuku Bay.

Tβ Waruwaru Bay, Motutapu. By the way, while these place names are under discussion, there ie a much older name than Drunken Bay for the beautifully sheltered deep cove between Motutapu and Rangitoto Island. Haurangi Bay was simply a modern Maori translation of Drunken. Neho Kepa, of Waiheke, gave me Tβ Waruwaru as the original name of the olden Maori pa,.the remains of which may still be traced under the pohutukawa trees on the green

terrace of Motutapu juet above the beach at the head of the bay. "Waruwaru" raeane grating or scraping food, such as kumara; the powdery soft form called "kao," to which the sweet potato was reduced, was a favourite food for a journey. Tβ Waru Bay may be added to the list of Gulf names worth preserving.