PORT LEVY—I Tranquillity today hides eventful past

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33289, 28 July 1973, Page 11

PORT LEVY—I Tranquillity today hides eventful past

(By ELISABETH OGILVIE) Port Levy today is a quiet, peaceful area whose breath-taking coastal beauty is so far untouched by the mad medley of holiday-makers. Yet despite its tranquillity, Port Lexy has a vivid and exciting past.

It was here that the earlier European ships anchored and sheltered from the southerly storms. The Maoris enjoyed the abundance of wild life, fish and shellfish, and their village was called Puari. The first Ngai Tahu chief to settle at Port Levy was Huikai. The Maoris were constantly visited by other hapu of the Ngai Tahu on the peninsula and used to barter their catches of dogfish and shark for the eels and flounders caught by the villagers at Lakes Forsyth and Ellesmere. The Port Levy Maoris were involved in the fierce fighting of the Ngai Tahu civil war, 1810 to 1815, but they lost few tribesmen. However, the Kai-Huanga feud had far-reaching consequences for the small village. Te Rauparaha nearly decimated the population of the peninsula during the 1830 s. Those captured were taken to the North Island and did not return until after 1839. Then Te Rauparaha made peace with the Ngai Tahu and many came back with the chiefs Momo and Iwikau. Port Levy became the principal centre for these Maoris and many important gatherings took place on the marae. There were sometimes up to 300 Maoris at the village. Tamihana Te Rauparaha, son of the great chief, stayed there in 1842 and together with the Wesleyan missionaries, Rawiri Kingi and Hohipa Korehi, who arrived in 1840, instructed the local Maoris in the Christian way of life.

Flax trader Captain William Wiseman, a flax trader of Sydney, is credited with having named Ports Levy and Cooper after the Sydney firm which employed him. He made several flax-trading voyages to New Zealand between 1827 and 1829. In 1848 Captain Thomas, with loyal devotion, changed the name to Port Albert, but fortunately this name was disregarded and Port Levy remains as a link with the earliest whaling days. Most of Canterbury’s early visitors called at Port Levy. Captain Stanley, of H.M.S. Britomart, reported in September, 1840, that Mr Weller, of Sydney, had surveyors at work measuring, and that two coopers were there. Although there was no shore station at Port Levy a number of whalers lived there in the 1840 s and some married local Maori girls. Their way of life was rigorous and hearty and many lived to an advanced age. Colourful whalers Two of the most notable whalers were Tom White and Phillip Ryan. Ryan arrived in New Zealand in 1838 in Otago and had been a cooper on board the whaling ship Return. He had a colourful early life. He and his mother had followed his soldier father through the campaigns of the Peninsular War. He voyaged out of London five times as a youth and at one time served with Captain Hempieman. Ryan worked for Weller Bros in the 1839 season as a cooper at Timaru and (•ashore. After the collapse of that firm he remained at Port Levy, except for making an unsuccessful whaling venture at Motunau. He was indispensable to the early settlers, as he could make tubs, chums and other essential household items.

Ryan was self-appointed mailman and when a ship called at Akaroa he would make the arduous trek through the bush to collect the mail. He married a Maori girl and later retired to Western Valley, Little River. Tom White was an American, born at Rhode Island and orphaned when his father was killed in the Mexican wars. As he lived in a great shipping centre he went to sea at the early age of 14. He became stranded in Rio de Janeiro after a row

with the mate and after taking passage on an English ship, arrived in London for William IV’s coronation. After various whaling adventures he settled at Port Levy, watching the village grow as the returning Ngai Tahu Maoris arrived in seagoing canoes. White was an excellent boatman and ferried many passengers to Akaroa and the bays in his whaleboat.

Dramatic moments Early Port Levy had some dramatic moments. An officer from the sailing ship Hansa, of Bremen, came ashore one day to arrest a sailor who had jumped ship. They were both invited to Tom White’s house for a cup of tea. Despite this conciliatory action the sailor threatened to shoot the officer if he followed him down the road, and promptly did so when the officer approached him. The brass memorial plaque erected by the ship’s crew is now in the Akaroa Museum. Edward Shortland visited Port Levy in 1844 during a South Island journey and recorded his impressions. “The pa we were approaching was called Puari and was the largest I had seen on this island; and the numerous and extensive cultivations skirting the wood declared them to be the work of a considerable population. Iwikau and Taiaroa were the great men of the place and usually resided there.” Shortland had a lively stay at Port Levy, settling many arguments. Returning to Akaroa on February 14, he met Bishop Selwyn, who had recently arrived from Foveaux Strait in Tuahawaiki’s schooner. Intrepid traveller The Government brig had not arrived to take the bishop, an intrepid traveller, to the Chatham Islands. He decided to accompany Shortland back to Port Levy. They walked overland and the bishop’s arrival caused tremendous excitement in the village. It was probably during this visit that the bishop selected the site for a church, a wattle and daub structure which was the first church in Canterbury. At the whaler’s village some men had turned to boat building and a small schooner, the 35-ton Eliza, had just been completed. She was ready for sea and the bishop, anxious to return to Port Nicholson, determined to sail aboard her. The passage was an indifferent one. They sailed in the evening after the payment to the master of £5 each, but progress was slow and difficult. The vessel was leaky and ill-found, there was no ballast, they were beaten back by strong winds, wood had to be unloaded at Motunau and the cook was drunk. The two eminent gentlemen would have fared better if they had waited for Tuahawaiki. After the sale of the Port Levy block, many Maoris moved from the bay to Little

River and Tuahiwi. However, there were still 130 villagers resident when Canon J. W. Stack, Anglican minister and missionary to the Maoris, began his work there in 1859. Canon Stack was greatly loved by the Port Levy Maoris and immensely enjoyed working with them.

Arduous journey His first journey there was arduous. After travelling by boat to Purau he climbed the hill known as “Rhodes Chimney” at the back of Purau homestead. This steep path was little more than a sheep track and went directly up the hill like a steep ladder. The track went up the valley known as Libeaus and the “chimney” is not to be confused with the better known Rhodes Monument. With Mrs Stack the canon also travelled to Port Levy by sea. They departed late in the day and the pull down the harbour was so hard that it was dark before they rounded the heads. The boat rolled a great deal and the crew became exhausted. The cliff loomed closer and the

boat was in imminent danger of being swamped. Canon Stack took over the steering oar and turned the boat’s head to the incoming rollers. The crew pulled hard and the boat came out of the kelp. Sail was then set for the run up the bay. The Stacks found Port Levy very beautiful and enjoyed their welcome from the Maoris. Their clean sheets and pillow cases looked very tempting as they retired late in the evening. However, a sleepless night ensued as the smell of muttonbird oil seeped through from the ticking, the corrugated iron sheets on which the bed was made rubbed together, and an army of fleas disputed the ownership of the bed. Canon Stack’s happy relationship with the Port Levy Maoris was typical of the friendly atmosphere during later years. With the arrival of ' the white settlers Port Levy land was now taken up by three European families: the Flemings, the Cholmondeleys and the Fields. (To be concluded)