From Maori Pa To Modern Hospital Changes On Pukeroa Hill

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 92, 19 April 1941, Page 4 (Supplement)

From Maori Pa To Modern Hospital Changes On Pukeroa Hill

jt was annouJVM'il lac-t week that a new h.vpital. with the latest world improvements in iinsoital design, is soon to be 12 on Puktroa Hill, the treedomed mound which overlooks Lke Kotonm. It i* to replace the M hosp' ta, ' 'iriginally <-,illecl T te r King «.'..rg" the Fifth. «hieh wae filled with invalided go ]diers in the war. The beauty oi the place and ite ,»mni3n nml healthy situation made it a particularly (suitable place f " r ""'' foatment of sic k and wnr-weary soldifiv. A place of 60,hK,., looking out over the lake "' ' ~' ",- ' lu ' " n,no iipuke-roa" mean?. " Hill:" the adjective the immi in Jfaori. Sometimes it. is confused with that other hur-pital or sanitorinm name I'nkc-oru. which in n ot a trßtl?p'vition of letter-;, but. is the correct Maori for •■Jlill of Health" or "Hill of r.ife." Unlike

Mr Rotorua inline, however, it i< g Biodern-L-uiiicd de-oriptiou of the place. Pukeroa, the Lon.u Hill, is witli ite associations tin- historyliaullted .place in New Zealand, rso close to a modern town. It is in fact-in t' lC "cart of I'otoiua. yet guarded by its tableland-like form and its abundance of trees. It has, of course, only been a hospital hill in recent, times. It had a bookful of history and adventure of one kind and another, going l>ack tor centuries. When the aiwstoiw ot the Arawa tribe made their principal ee-ttle-nent on the lake ehores at OMneniuri, in the very midst. y f the counties* boiling springs, they taw that the l*>njr Hill, with its considerable area of level ground on the top and it- fetoep sidw, would Dinke an e.vci-lleut site for their defensive fort or citadel. No udfortified pla<"C was -ufe; they did not feel secure until they had scarpid and entrenched and palisaded the mound until it rewmbled a kind of castle, with its double stockade guarding the town crowding the long low peninsula called Miiruika. The line of palisades was lengthened until its post* stood in the geyserwanned sulphurous wateiv, and the 6cores of canoes were protected Oβ in a harbour when they were drawn on the white and yellow sands. The hill for safety, the warm foreshore for comfort and luxury.

Names of Feme. In the course of generation after generation in war and peace the pla«c acquired the mana created by accumulation of tradition. The very names of land and water arc ancient.

By James Cowan ...

Pikopikij-i-whiti is the μ-ciierul lifiine of the southern part of the lake, facing Ohinemutu, and extending from off Kawalia Point to the Hiwi-o-Toioa bank midway out in the iafcj.. it is a remote Polynesian name; it originally applied to a traditional lagoon in Htiwaiki. proba.bly the coral iwf hij-oon at Papeete, Tahiti. Other names for areas of the lake southward of Mokoia Island are Maliukaroa and l> Akatarewa. Te Moana-uaipu. a name reforvinjv lo a war eanoe battle in ancient days, of}' WamMijje. is the tiorthcrn part of the lake, between Mokoia, Ilamui-iiiML and the (.Mian Channel and thereabout*. 'I e Moanarua i< the part elo-e to the northern <diorc.

One (lav I made ;I survey of I'ukeroa for the special purpose of recording, with ilio ln>lp of 11 n> chief Kilinroa. n chief ~f h>ll2 pedigree, and warrior mime, (lie l'cal Dames, stories and plaeechants. Ho was a white- haired, tattooed chief of K«ati-u hakam.and other tribes, a man of many poiHins. Togptlior up walked round flip outer line* of flip olden etocknde: flip places where the great gateways had !>ppm. and where (he palisades stood, in smnf l>liiees twiee the height of a man. T made a. sketch map. takin? oompass bearings, aixl *o recorded the outline of the hill pa. following KilinronVs directions. A careful drawing followefl that ronah purvey: that «ketch man eannot conveniently be reprodueed oit this page, but. at any rate I have it. thanks to oood 'old Kil.M-t.ri. who assisted me with so miieh unwritten literature of h\~ people. After "walking the bound-." we nn the highest point of the hill, the old redoubt palled Maharo, at the eastern end of the mound, and the phief swept hii« hand round the bindseape. recitinjr names ami incidents and son;??, spread over centuries of time. Here was the story of Puknki. after whom the largest gateway \va« named—• Pukaki cut out of a lmcre bloek of totara and earvetl it into a «nlo!ididly harharie aneoßtral "r«ii!>. Another jrre-at pate, named Te Pa-nui-o-Maramn. ~tood at the north-eas-teni anale. below where we were eittinfr:' it L r nve on to the waterfront, near the present Catholic Church nml school. At the far end of the pa. overlooking Ihe Knirau area of hot spring. «:!(= the western parapet and trench and stockade: thi- was called the Paepae-moho-wao. the

place visited br the wild people of the bush. "Beluw clouds of steam rose, from geysers, and "prints, and the roof of a carved house glistened red among the ti-evs and boiiinn- werr.s and plots of cultivation of 'J'arewa.

At other tinioe. Mime 40 yours ii.uo, my old iH'fjnflintaiicos, Tainnrahi and Kiwi te Amohau, i:i-

strutted me in much of the lore of Pukeroa in |K>ace and war. Tamaitilii. like hi* elder relative. Kiharoa, was a man of manv cousins, I <lirieoverod on a miiee with him on a small .-ailing boat for the space of nearly a week around Kotoina and Kot'oiti Lakes. At every little nay and eo\e there was a email village of

imk people and nt every one there wore loud hails from' the bvaoh f> foiiie in and tsit. and drink and talk.

TainarahiV story of his familv -Una, or odd and guardian, particularly intere.-ted me. Ii \va< an illustration of the .strong lioliet' in protective >pirits. Gods of the Arawa. "Makawc/' said my tohuiiwa instructor, "is the great »od or guardian -|iirit of (he Aniwa people. Tlkm-c were other gods. I hey Imvo gone, or their power lias lione, but Mak.-iuo still our K<xl~a powerful atua. Il(- is prayed to if needed liy our people. There wen: Karakias used lo Makawe, hut. only some of tlie old' people ;ue now aei)Hainti'd with them. Xo m! Kanikiu is needed when pra\ • iriu to liim. ]f an Aiawa man or woiuan niio.ii' life ic in danger or who tears MnkuMi < witelKTa ft i appeals to Makaue, tho eal! iustially ritiewrtsftil. Makawe is

addressed in jiravor a- "I'. l'uru. . He Will tin- Von of Wailmi. who was a «n<l of tlie Njintiinani tribe, of Hmiraki. Tin- mother of Makitue was n mortal, n woman of this work). She lived here in Pukeroa Pa. In former times, before a war party of the Arawas went out to light, Makawe woukl often np]K>ur In tlic people, in the dim of early morning, or afM'r Mindowii in the r-ky above the pa. a u<l won l<l indicate the direction in which the warrior* «lioiild pro-i-eed. an<l wliethcr they were to <;o forth or reinaiii. and if thev were to lie \ ir-torion,-. Sometimes only the prie>frt would see him. His aria (incarnation) was that of a yotinji man nobly tattooed, chid only in a want-mat of (oijvalin li-.ut's and holding the taiahii in hi« Iniiul. lli> ua> t-een here at (lie time of (he ttnr between the.- white soldier* and the Maori.- in Taranaki."

Tamarahi wont on to deccribo an occasion on which he had escaped the curse of Makutu (witchcraft) at Wairoa, Hawked Bay, where certain hereditary enemies of his family lived, by invoking Makawe to protect hii'n from the fatal epells that he felt were cast upon him by an old witch famed—or notorious—for her enchantments.

"But Makawe visits punishment on those who do not properly nvport sacred place*. Look iit Kiwi te Amolvan's daughter. IJooka- -iny niece—who fell into a boiling spring at I'otorua and was scalded to death. It was tho visitation of the <;o<ls. thouph it was said that she fell into the 'spring through lieinjr frightened by some drunkoii paki'has. AVlien r-he was dyin<r Hooka, told >is that a few before she had, after eating food in the meeting house Titnm-tt , - Kapua. which h;ul been vond<?r»*d tiipu by the old men for a special purpose. tlirown away some broad and left it in the This displeased tlic atua ami that was why he catiewl Roo-ka to fall into the boiling; ujruwha."

More will tie hoard of Makawo aii<l his powers. .'ukl about fiuiKiua I'ukoroii. when I return id the subjwt. In tlio nienntiiDc h note on proiiunciiitiiiii of imiiic of jiowor. "Msi-kn way" i«* liow it should be jnoiiounced.