OVER THE HILLS TO KAWHIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 189, 12 August 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

OVER THE HILLS TO KAWHIA

sdioolcliildrpii of Ka whin

' n<'ko<l awii y (in a pprip* (tf hfautifiil tidi-wiiv* in (Iwir xvidp«prrnd vnt. s.m']ii,|,.,l horlxiiir on the

( oiihl. nrp hard nt work preP" ri na a liMtnrv of their district. The odllppl i,m ~f Mi;it in lii nd preparation of elm |, i fur tin' li i -1. .1 \ i* Under 11 in ehar;_'e i• I" 1111 i■<lit< >ri ;i 1 rumniitlcp cf thrpp m -i,| :i nil iwn

ltnVfi wlni im p reeei \ in— in 11irni:i I iiin mncprninir llip pakeha nnd Maori history of Kii uli i;i ditrin- I In' la-d 10(1 yp ii r* ii nd innrp. Tlipv haxp mi >i ni■ < >ni iii• iill \ inl pi-p.-I in- lipid lipftn-c I l>p 111. |.>r Kaw hill ha- <pen nineh of the pxpiilh ii nd that makp hii«tor\. The vonn» pditotv" effort <. midpr I lip I I'll dp i'f Ii i11 ; l lid adxiep of ilirir (earlier. enroura - piiip nt from I lio-p xx ho know Kauhia roiin try, ;i nd who. | >>• r 11111 1~. haxe memorienf plea-anl 11• >I i<lll > - I lipi'p.

Mi own rccollei t ions of Knwliia JITIII I 11 1-I-I-; I'l<I! 1( - ,111' j«11 < i •_• <■111 <• t plca.» nnl iinil full nf I hi' int crest which '•'in I net «i I h llir i >li II i iiic fn ml ier <1 we I |ri-j. !mhl tin' fii rlhi i k M.'inri oonimiinit ii-K lute si I\\ n < lirnujjit tiu\ .Bill I lie 111 i-!i cll re i i I n |ohl' before Kawhia wa* reached. Tlic ride over the rniijili 11 Id track* through the Kill}; I'«> 11111 r y iiikl I lie old coach road ncrnss tile shoulder of I'irnliyia Mountain "ii \ p iiip flip thrill of eiiterinir nil piii'Jiii nI pd In ml. I'irnnjrin was boyhood's til <>iitit >i i n of witchery: its Tipniil y jrniTifil ii myst icn I sense from Hip Maori folk tales of fairy folk Iliii I lived on thp liijrlior peaks and in fng-'jv wpallipr which win vprv oftpn on Pirnnsia camp down in (hp drift* of mint, and wpre lirnrd in faint, plnintivp miinip.

There «'im the fitxt distant view of Kawhia from the southern downdlant nf the great mountain of forest »nrl cascading stream. That spot from which the first glimpse through ari opening in the hush was obtained by the horseman or the traveller on the front seat of the coach was called Tirohangaknwliin. Tirohanga means view; the rnnt word i« tiro, to see or look. That >1 i<2 li spot, is the exact divide, the watershed between the Waipa Valley and the Waikato and the waters of the west, fresh and salt. You pass through a land of history all the avay from the Waipa Valley and the tidal waters of Kawliia. There i«* quiet, tree-embowered Pirongia townfillip, not nearly ho lively a place a« it was half a century ago, with nil it« pakeha-Maori life, its Land Courts, it* throngs of shopping Kingites.

Tt is one of the old military oettlements. planted like the ancient defended cities of England around a chieftain's castle. One of the earthwork redoubts of Alexandra. a« Pironjria wan first named in 1803. •till stands there on a jound hill above the sleepy town. Tts parapet arid trench are still there, and a bridjre erodes the ditch, but it leads to a little church, the Pirongia place

of worship. || ic; thp only chnrcli in Npw Zealand that onploruvl by ail old-tiinp fort.

gy JAMES COWAN ( tin l U'iiipn I.*i\ <■ r \\ <■ pn-si tin' -it < • of a onrp hi.-hly important Maori t«m n, t lip olden fix er-ide -ft I Ipn i p 111. palled \\ ha I ixx ha t i hoe. I lip plai liroki'ii paddle*. Thi* XX a - Kiliir la XX Ii ia o'< lar-i'<t and la-t tow ii lipforp lip ami hi- hnndrpil- of follower* at la-t iniyralpd to their old home.-, on I lip l.oxxer Waikato. alter an e\i|p of a i|Uaiter of a '■pnl my. That xx a- a niemora Me I ril>e lii t I in-, t lie Hot i Il.i of hi- i a 111 m 1 - -xxppp.n- iloxx ii the Waipa anil then the In'oad Waikato. ehantint: their

111 ■-i i • 111 caiiop -; (111 l; -j s 1111 I heir la merit » lor 1 In- lipii ii |iI n | la nil I he\ w ere lea \ i 11.

The |> I I'll -ii ill r-t way of I i,i \id in my p\| ip iicnce liark in tiip yearwlirn p very da x ua s a taste of ad\enliirc «a- on lioi M'lmck. lin a ride troin i-iicli a place as t>l orolia ni:a. in-dead of tak'ni; tin- main mad for it from Te Awaumtu you had tlic liberty of all I lie leisurely winding tracks through the fprn and manuka and now and a;;ain a i -111 in ] > of bush. When Ihp kaliikalpn berries. <'allcd koroi, were ri|><\ you st'p scores of pigeons assembled in some favourite spot, feasting on the sweet U'riies.

We could f akf> cuts through lonely little valleys and through priinit ivc. isolated hamlets, just a thatched whare or two and a «tilt pataka for the family's food storage.

On tin l rid»e tops we could look to the far horizons, westward and south-

The Last Harbour Of The Maori King

Wiinl. tlie broken forest luiuls of the Hunt urn, with here and there the ■<rin>k<' of -1 pioneer white settler rising from the hazy valleys. This is ;t country of extreme beauty, to which a touch of the fantastic is <_'iven bv the castle rocks of dark-srrey weathered limestone which outcrop in t lioiif-iinds of places, takinic stranjre, shapes and humanlike iilm i i"i-s ; and I here by its stalaetite caves and the freaki-h' streams which -omet imes take it into tlieir heads to dink down and run underground tor a mile or so. Our track mounted the Uikuran<ji liill and pa.s-ed exactly through the dilapidated \illaire wliere the Kin<r of Waikalo 1i \ I'd in liis jjreat caniptow ji of ra upo and nikau and fern I ree before shift i11l: down to Broken I'addle- camp. We sa\v the remains

"I' llic Ahurcwa the Allar the -acred pra \ iiiu- lioiisf built for (lie Ihi uli,-i ii r<■ I iL! i<»11-i ceremonies. So on down 1 iii <>11l: 11 tin- nniixli clearings of Te l in-ii iiioii now. j am told, lonjr -iiicc con\ crt i'i| into comfortable lanns anil so 1111<>nu11 (lie dwindling I' iii t<> (>|>a ra ii. where the motor launch of tho-e dav< waited to take l rawllcivi across the tidal shallows I' > Kawh ia I o\\ nship.

Kawhia itself was a primitive place in rly 'nineties. There were the usual hi- .-t ores, well stocked with every article that pakeha and Maori customers could well require, limiii a blanket to a double-barrel li'iin, and a pair of Ixxits to a iewshai |>.

Set t lement was l>o<ri lining to spread along ill! (lie tidal waters and up the lower hills where tlie bush was <•<>lll itiir down before axe and saw, and the settler oil (iovernment lands who l iy the short-sighted and unrefleeting regulations of those days was eonipelled to burn off the liusli on liis -ection. no matter how valuable it illicit lie, under the name of "improvement."

-An enterprising settler, a progressive man from Taranaki, who aimed high, evidently, had built a quite beautiful home on the top of the great terraced hill called Motungaio, which rose immediately above the J>each at I'owewe to a height of a Unit three hundred feet.

I hat carved fortress of the ancient Mauri, a castle liiil that can never be destroyed, for it was carved by hundreds of hands and wooden spades and women carrying basket upon basket of earth to spread along the already wide stages of soil. Jn one of these terraces, broad and wellsheltered and adorned with trees and flowers, Mr. Langley, the oldest white settler, lived. His vine-hung and honey suck le-sprayed cottage was j>erfectlv sheltered from the cold winds I lie kindly embrace of the old pa. I his knoll like terrace of the Langlev home \va< called Titoki

by our hoardinghouse above tlic township beach were lines of the very last military redoubt built hy the Colonial troops against the Maoiis. |! stood on the site of an olden pa of the Tainui people, called Te J'uru.

Now (he Kawliia Hospital *tand« on the mound. On Te l'uru wan planted an area of 120 men of the Armed Constabulary, sent, round to Kawhia from Wellington in 1SS:?. in order to keep an armed wateh on the reeth'sri young warriors of the tribes that opposed the Watch on the Frontier.

Mr. Langlev described the events that brought the military here. The King Maoris wished to keep their harbour nacred from the white man, a port free from the always interfering whites. It wan the last retreat for the conservative Maori. The (lovernment steamer, in order to guide vessel* entering Kawhia for purposes of trade, had erected some red-painted beacon* on Te Maika. at the harbour mouth. The anti-<Jovorn-ment faction sent out canoe crews, pulled down these guiding mark*.

No pakeha stea inship should ever outer Kawliisi, they declared. Mr. Lanylev was living here then. He saw t lie merry warriors of XgatiMaliuta start off, setting off in tliree la rye canix . packed with paddlers, keeping beaut ifnl time all together as they swung down tile calm harbour t<> thi" Head*. Having broken t lie beacons, the crews returned in triumph, pinging and shouting their war Mine's. Mr. Langiev mile across its ranges to Hamilton lie went. 1 think, by was of Airtea and Haglan—and telegraphed the news of this little display of deliai:ce to Wellington. Soon up came the (iovernment .-trainer Hineinoa. with a company of the Armed Constabulary under Major luke and Captain Morrison, two veterans of the Haiihnu wars. They camped on Te I'urii hill and entrenched their positi<• 11-■ i" ' reuiained in Kawliia, keeping a watchful eye on the King.ic „u.iunlil all was quiet again. But there is a far more ancient shrine of history and adventure'on Kawliia'.- shores. The photograph on page .'lO4 depicts the sacred ground, a curious little natural shelter-nook in the middle of an ancient, gnarled, windswept grove of manuka. Beneath the scantily graced soil there in the middle of the grove in the bare p.ot of ground, oxer which the s.-antiU-branched manuka bends in protection, there is the \enerated re-ting place

of the famous Tainui canoe. A grey stone at each end of the open space mark* t li«» reputed length of the great canoe when it was laid here after being hauled up from the harbour beach at -Maketu village down yonder. It appears to rue that the shore of the harbour has risen during the last six centuries since Tainui came to the end of the long and wonderful voyaging here. X<i one knows what lies in the Tainui grove; tribal r-tono treasures buried deeply, it is believed; but the Spell of tapu i« over all. Of course the timbers of the canoe from Tahiti peri-lied long ago. Jt was a secluded. silent place, when I saw it last, but 1 have heard 'hat. the protective thicket has dwindled, and that the aura of tapu which once guarded I'una and Hani, the ancient stones symbolising the god~ of Tainui, do not seem to carry the weight of awe and wonder that once (hey <1 id. The glory of Kawliia was its great ,ind noble pohutukawa trees. The last ancient patriarchs line the Powewe beach lielow the great ramparts and scarps of Moto-ngaio J'a. All this beach, from the harbour inner wateis out to the heads, was once clothed with the magnificent old trees. Most of them disappeared in course of time, full of years and tapu, but those which survive cany on the old tradition. When I first, visited Kawhia the \enerable half-caste chief John Cowcll (Hone Kaor«) lived here at the foot of Motu-ngaio. He told rue that he was born there in ISJB. His memory was full of the tales and songs about these immense spreading trees.