Founder made white tohunga

Press, 2 March 1984, Page 16

Founder made white tohunga

It was a keen interest and concern for the Maori people that motivated the Rev. Charles Anderson Fraer to establish a boarding school for Maori girls. Similar schools had already been established in the North Island, and he was determined that they should get a chance’ of some higher education and subsequently an opportunity to enter a profession. By the time he founded Te Waipounamu in 1909, he was already a prominent figure among the Maori people in Canterbury and his work with them over the next 23 years would earn him the title of tohunga, one of the highest and most respected positions in Maoridom. His contact with the people began in 1900 when he became the vicar of Waikouaiti. This contact was strengthened when he moved to St Stephens Church, Tuahiwi, four years later, where there was a large Maori community. His efforts at making himself®, familiar with tribal law and the law of the land, earned him respect among the people. It was these efforts also that prompted adequate medical treatment for the Maori villagers. During World War I he served as a chaplain overseas with the Maori troops and on his return, in 1917, settled into the predominantly Maori parish of Phillipstown. He remained there until his death on March 2, 1932. Mr Fraer was born in Dunedin on March 28, 1887, the third of 13 children. He studied for the Church at’ Selwyn College and was curate with the college from 1894 to 1896. Before moving to Waikouaiti he was curate at St Michael’s Church in Christchurch. His trust and respect from the

Maori people is highlighted in an appreciation which appeared in “The Press” in 1932 after his death. It was written by Aritana Pitama on behalf of the Maori people and said that the “mighty totara (a symbol -of dignity, honour, and strength) had fallen.” “The Maoris loved and honoured Mr Fraer. When he visited them they saw in his face their forbears, whom he had cared for and buried when they died. They looked upon him as Tohunga, and to him they told things they would not tell an ordinary man. To the Maoris he was Father Confessor. His patience, perserverence, and his powers of diagnosis gave to him a fuller understanding of the spiritual forces as conceived by the Maori mind.” Mr Fraer is remembered each year at the school’s Founder’s Day ceremony. While he has not been forgotten he seems to have become one of the unsung heroes of the Maori community in Canterbury.