TOLD ON WAIMATE PA

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

TOLD ON WAIMATE PA

A Taranaki Rock Of History

rimrn urn pint* of the South Taraiinki conct whore the clilTv shore i* ■ i nin >-l i iiir nwn v. Kmc mrr« nenr Unworn liihl tlio I>l -I'll II undermining tlioir soil - 'i i'l hi-io-4. ii ml i*i ml 4il f fl* . in «nmr> f•I ii . ii i o 400 ii hn n jri njf nvor I lie precipice I*ll i 4 14 » CI ill 4f. of ii ii i•i <■ 111 M.i.iii fmts fin,| iiimi'o rooont lliiti-.li roil mi'. | ... iin.l | lioro ii r o plncos where I»< 11) i kiinU nf earthworks are Intl o|| ,| \\ ,i \ 11 \ (In. iir 'I'll n. \l"«t nf t lio I.l<| Muiiri ilofonoo "••ik« air iii-iir tho mi 'i ii 1114 nf river*. t'lio 111 I 11 11.0 tllllt III! 4 O So)| pod tho iliro.-i ii4«nn|| ~f || M . dopiin hut lui s "UlToroii In.in I hi' gradual eroding olloi i 4 uf \* iml mill water i 4 VVitimnto I'h. 'I'him place nf f.iino in West Coast II i4I n | V i 4 l| I«I ft y Ililt t <>| >po<( rook lit I ho in nt 11 h of |ho Kii|iutil Hi\or, iilxiut I" in iI oh 11 oi ii Unworn t own. It i 4 lilv" ii ii i<l. ml though thoro i« now only ii iliirk pool of iviitor. bordered with iuhlio4 on (ho 4i,10 facing inliuiil. Iho ri \ 01- onco onoii'-lod it, and made it ii per l oot, 11Iiioo of defence. Will iii ii I e monim "iloinl wntor," n • lagiuint pool or buck wn t or. It, mnv ii 14(1 he translated ni "wntor of donth." miiil tlmt i« what It wii4 on ii certain hi4torio occasion tnoro tliiin n conturv ago when warrior* from Wnlknto worn hurl nf 1 buck from tho ornjr of ilofonoo wlion tliey trio<l to «torm it. The Tiiriinnkl men tumbled great rook* down on tlictn from the edge of tlio oliff.

On tlio opposite aide of the Kaptini Hivor, tho north, there in * larger pn, • grout fortification called Orangituapcka. Both of these were practically Impregnable In the olden days of warfare. Even when enemies arrived with muaketa and attacked them the defendera held tha fort* securely. H.M.i. Alligator'* Qua. Only when th 4 white man's artillery waa brought to bear on the Maori castle rock* wera the inhabitant* defeated and their defending stockadea and their housed destroyed. That event, in the year 1834, the shelling of these fort* by the firitiah warship Alligator, and the flght on the beaoh between tha defender* and

,tho mi i lor* and troops, is historic been u#o it was tho tir4l timo Kn»li«h fon-o4 mot tho Maori in Imttlo. The Rescue of White Captives. Tlmt \\ii4 wlion tho Alligator was room or in.' from tho Ngati Itu.-inui tribe tlio two white captive*. Mrs. '■"ani aiul lior little bnbv and 4on. dark < .ua rd, will! had Keen taken after the wri'i kof ( aptain Cuard's whaling J<n r 111 to Harriet further up the coast, near ( ape l-.gmont. There was a ha tile oil tho heaeli helow the fort, and after tlio pn had Im-oii -helled and en pt iired it \v a 4 sot on lire; the high hill-fort oil the op|Hioite side of tho rher mouth wii4 »!<„ taken. The hillforts »ore crowded with liuusoh. nnd llu* food storm wore %ull of potatoes and kii ma ra. Iho Alligator's ennnon'ido. it in recorded, lasted for three hours. ,ind the war-'iip was a»si4ted by the New South Wales fioveru* 111 e 111 schooner Isa holla, and even after tho Maoris hoUted a white flag of truce the shelling w a.s continued. Mint, little 1m i v lived to become "(•Id .luck.' gnnrd of Port I'nderwoiid ; a whaler and sailor and trader to Wellington; ho died only a few yearn ago. The drawing by Charles Heaphv (later Major and V.C.), the pioneer Wellington surveyor and explorer, shown the rock-fort as it was in lH.'tO. A Man of Adventures. When I visited Waimnte Pa nnd explored the famous war-battered crag, I had a wonderfully interesting companion, a veteran coast settler named William Williams. That vu hack in 1904, when there was ntill a good deal to be seen of the fortified part* and the sites of the huts and storehoimeg on the flat top. We climbed the cliff face; the notchedlog ladder* had long since disappeared. Mr. Williams wa« over 70 years of age then, but he went up that precipitou* rock face like a school boy. Tough and hardy old "colonial hand," he had been in New Zealand since 1840, and had lived in Taranaki most of hi* life. He spoke Maori like a Maori; lie had been in haU a dozen campaigns, from the

By James Cowan

curly Wellington and Wanganui war? In tin- la*t of the lighting in south I'aranaki in lSOtt. He had been scout, di-patch-cnrricr. stockman, hu*hinan; lie had had countless narrow escapes from 1 >ullet and tomahawk. Pictures and Stories. We sat there on that glorious lookout place. back* against the tall flax-hushes an<l talked of many curious Kenimore-t 'ooper adventures in the frontier land; "a pair of Iriends. though 1 was young. and Matthew T-." Down lielow us there in the sedge-bordered lagoon we saw the great stone* that ha<l been hurled from this very pa-top when a Waikato war party wan beaten hack hv the Spa t i-Kuanui. A beautiful picture, the blue and swelling ocean out yonder, the snowy surf advancing and retreating along the black ironsand beach, the l>old outlines of the ancient hill-pas. and then the gentle upowell of the coaft farm lands. j>ras«y and cattle-sprinkled, here and there a comfortable-looking homestead, and. in the background, lording it magnificently over the goodly plain*, the snowy Mountain I aranaki, the J'ather of the land.

William* told the story of the Alligator a shelling as he "had heard it from tlie old Maoris themselves. ((.• -told of more modern happenings; of liow, long after the war, in 187», lie took his carbine once more, and with a few Maori companions, followed up the trail of Hiroki the murderer, who was wanted for the slaying of one McLean, a member of a Plains survey party. Hereabouts, near the Kaupokonui stream — where the largest dairy factory in New Zealand now stood—one of his Maoris lired at the wounded Hiroki, who. however, eseaped to J'arihaka, where he was given shelter and protection by Te VVhiti the l'rophet. Williams did not give up the chase, but with one native companion—after leaving their guns at Oeo to avoid irritation —rode right in to Parihaka, the home and citadel of the Maoris, and asked that Hiroki should be surrendered. There they had a very narrow escape of losing their lives as the result of their rashness, for they were eurrounded by an armed band, in revenge for the wounding of Hiroki, and it was only through the intervention of some visiting chiefs, Ngati-Awa men from the Wellington district, that their horses were restored to them and they were permitted to leave, amid the brandishing of guns and tomahawk* and yells of hatred and derision.

The Warrior on the White Horse. There wa* a particular friend of my companion, a "lighting friend." as the Maoris describe an antagonist in >%ttle. ThU was Katene, who was a very active scout and fighting-man on the Hauhau side. Katene rode a white horse, which many of his white foemen had endeavoured to capture. This hor#e he had trained to stand quietly while he dismounted and lired over its neck. After a skirmish in the white column was retiring, hut Williams waited for his favourite "fighting friend," the man on the white horse, whose identity he did not -then know. He had already exchanged about 20 shots with him that day. Presently Katene appeared over the brow of a knoll. Williams knelt down, took deliberate aim with his carbine, and fired. His enemy fell. Two Maoris picked him up, but he fell again, and then he was carried off into the bush.

Years afterwards, in the days of peace, Mr. Williams was one of the Native Commissioners for the West Coast api>ointed by the then Premier, Sir George Grey, and to assist him Katene was appointed as assessor. The two veterans were talking over the fighting times one day, and comparing their adventures. Williams asked Katene about the man on the white horse, with whom he had had more than one carbine duel, and who he had at last shot on the bank of the Waitotara.

"I am that man!" said Katene. "It was this body of mine that stopped your bullet." Then, stripping off hk coat and shirt, the old hero showed where Williams' hall had struck his powerful chest and had been deflected by a rib. He was truly a battlescarred warrior, for on his body he bore eight or nine wounds.