Kaiapoi named after Maori pa

Press, 2 January 1985, Page 23

Kaiapoi named after Maori pa

. The town of Kaiapoi is situated several kilometres south from the site of the old Maori pa from which it takes its name. Little can be seen of the old pa today as the land is now used for farming. The only obvious sign is a stone monument, inscribed with some of the events of the pa’s history, marking its position on a back road near Waikuku Beach. It is a peaceful, tranquil scene now. But at one time the Kaiapoi pa, or Kaia : pohia, was an important Maori stronghold. It was the headquarters of the Ngaitahu Maoris, which had become, through their conquests, the dominant tribe in the South Island. At Kaiapohia there was an aristocratic population, as most of the chief families of the Ngaitahu had their homes there. In peaceful times, other members of the tribe were spread around the countryside from Waipara to Ashburton, and from Banks Peninsula to the western ranges.

They had to move away from the vicinity of the pa to obtain food because there'' was not much to be found locally. It was this act that gave Kaiapohia its name, which means “food depot.” The shortened form, Kaiapoi, comes from the words meaning food (kai) and swing (poi). It was said that food must be swung to the pa for the inhabitants to avoid starvation, since they were far away from permanent sources of food. Birds were obtained from

forests to the north of the pa, fish and mutton birds from the sea-coasts to the south, insects and vegetation were brought from the plains and mountain ranges of the west The Kaiapohia pa was built about the year 1700. It was sited on a small tongue of land surrounded on three sides by swamp land, which was useful for defence against hostile forces. The Maoris of Kaiapohia acquired a widespread reputation for wealth, in the form of greenstone. North

Island Maoris envied the .quantities of the valuable greenstone which was available in the South Island, and they traded mats and canoes in order to get it The Kaiapohia pa was destroyed in about 1832 by Te Rauparaha, who had previously made an unsuccessful raid. The famous chief and his men camped outside the pa for several months, effec-

tively imprisoning the inhabitants. They then built* large piles of brushwood and waited for suitable conditions before setting this alight and destroying the pa. At the time of its capture, the Kaiapohia pa bad about 1000 inhabitants. Some of these escaped, some died, and many were carried off by Te Rauparaha as prisoners.