Study Of Maori Legends Led To Greenstone Discovery

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31247, 20 December 1966, Page 10

Study Of Maori Legends Led To Greenstone Discovery

(By

GRANT GRAHAM)

Maori legend, reported in an American magazine, put Dr. G. B. Orbell, of Invercargill, on the track of the southern Maoris’ greenstone Eldorado that he has now obtained authority to mine.

Dr. Orbell, surgeon, explorer, hunter and world-famous ornithologist has again won wide attention with his success in putting to use his knowledge of Maori lore. The greenstone he is to work has prospects of being New Zealand's greatest source of the stone, best-known as jade, which, in its many forms, has a history going back 3000 and more years. The find of greenstone—nephrite jade—was first made at the beginning of July, 1965, by Dr. Orbell and his son-in-law, Mr D. Jerram. But the size of the find was not realised by them then. A month later, in a creek about nine miles north-west of Kinloch, at the head of Lake Wakatipu, he sat down for a rest on a boulder, ate a piece of chocolate and tapped idly with his rock pick.

A Ton Of Stone Within a few days, he was back in the creek-bed, and the light was a little different. It was enough to make things stand out, among them the boulder he had rested on. Dr. Orbell bent and studied it. There were marks from the pick he had swung so idly. The boulder, whitened by oxidisation, stood out as greenstone—a ton of it. That is in what Dr Orbell calls Jade creek, the former Maori quarry he hopes will supply a factory for at least 30 years.. For at least 20 years, tourists have passed by the scene, but the Maoris never made a secret of it. Why then should it fall to Dr. Orbell, an amateur geologist of a mere six years’ standing?

Dr. Orbell has studied Maori folk lore over the years, and has remembered all essential points. Experiences have reinforced his view that there is basis to many of the tales handed down through the centuries. His famed rediscovery of the takahe is an example. While taking a scientific approach in his takahe probes years ago, while plotting on a map ail references to the bird then believed extinct, Dr. Orbell applied himself to Maori lore.

Maori lore on takahe pointed towards the largely unexplored green fastness almost directly across the lake from his holiday house at Te Anau. Reports and fragmentary information supported this theory. Maori lore referred to a lake in there called Kohaka, a takahe nesting place. Air reports also pointed to a lake. Dr. Orbell found the lake in April, 1948, and on that day when the takahe was rediscovered there was neighbouring corroboration of Maori lore. The now equallyfamed Te Ana-au glow worm caves were found, by two men from Te Anau. Te Ana-au had for years been held by historians to be the origin of the name Te Anau, and Te Ana-au means a cave with swirling water. Until 1948, no such cave had been found.

Takahe valley absorbed Dr. Orbell. The whole region in which takahe could be was closed to all but accredited workers. And for 15 years Dr. Orbell worked in there, building huts, culling and observing. But for a move by the authorities, he would probably still be there—and the greenstone hoard to the north would be lighting up only when the sun was right

Four years ago, in spite of an illuminated life permit he had to enter the takahe “closed” area, the authorities withdrew any legal right he had to go to where he had rediscovered the takahe. Dr. Orbell then concentrated more and more on his hobby of geology, following inclinations though not footsteps of a growing band in New Zealand and millions abroad. He subscribed to the “Lapidary Journal,” the authority for rockhounds in hundreds of United States clubs. The October, 1962, issue of the journal gave prominence to Wakatipu’s greatness as a source of jade. It was the old story, often dismissed as legend, of “waipounamu,” greenstone, in a lake, a story on which Captain Cook had reported: “ . . . the most probable conjecture is that it was brought from the mountains, and deposited in the water by the torrents ...” How close he was to the truth. Sketch of 1851

Dr. Orbell browsed through the few references he had and took careful note of a Maori description of the great source, now believed to have been among the earliest worked in New Zealand. The

description, recorded by Dr. Edward Shortland in “The Southern Districts of New Zealand,” 1851, supported his growing convictions. Camped on a Waitaki river bank, a Maori pencilled for Dr. Shortland “the outline of four lakes, by bis account situated nine days* journey inland of us, and only two from the West Coast, in a direction nearly due west of our position.” The Maori indicated one lake as the great pounamu source Wakatipu.

Then from the works of a helpmate of countless researchers, Mr Herries Beattie, Dr. Orbell obtained more precise details. At the head of Lake Wakatipu, and west of the Dart river, was a bold peak in the peak in the Humboldt mountains and that peak was famed, said Beattie, as the only inland source of greenstone.

1 There was just one further clue. The greenstone quarry was near a hill, the Maori name of which was of no help. It was little enough to go on. Perhaps no-one had tried before to calculate anything. However, Dr. Orbell set oif in his usual practical fashion, having taken a calculated guess at the area on which to concentrate. From there on, 50 years’ experience of the outdoors helped to interpret the ordinarily rough and ready Maori signposting.

Friends had searched for greenstone up and down the

very creek that held it in abundance in the Routeburn valley. They found only soapstone, part of the greenstone outcrop. Licence Obtained

Now his company, Southern Gemstones, Ltd, one of the first in the field in New Zealand, has after a long wait obtained a licence to mine the stone. Obviously the Maoris reached the limit of their exploitation of the quarry as there are few small pieces of greenstone left. Many Maoris must have been “frustrated terribly” by the big, heavy chunks there, said Dr. Orbell.

That is not to say that supply of greenstone ever was easy for the Maoris. Sources mainly were isolated, and works methods and tools primitive. Eventually, perhaps after 500 years of working, the Wakatipu source grew too difficult to handle. Much the same happened on the West Coast, although the greenstone there was the finest in New Zealand and the object of Maori expeditions from the north. On the West Coast, occasional boulders of finest greenstone awaited later goldseekers and today’s fossickers and deerstalkers. Around Wakatipu, the odd pieces were and are picked up as well, and the residcovery of their source is inclined to unleash imaginations. Dr. Orbell’s find holds great potential, but the approach by the developers is cautious. This is not the highest - ranking greenstone, which is described as “heaven’s sun setting on the mountain top.” This is greenstone that could be said to hold the full moonlit sky rather than a sunset. Dr. Orbell is sure it can form the basis of a worth-while commercial enterprise.