In a country churchyard

Press, 26 July 1986, Page 21

In a country churchyard

Inside the foundation stone of the Maori church at Onuku, near Akaroa, is a sealed bottle containing documents signed in 1876 by leading families of the local Ngai-Tahu tribe. If the bottle is opened in future years the enclosed documents will reveal important details about the construction of the wooden church on the brow of a small rise close to the Onuku beach. Behind the church is Kaik Hill, and the term, Kaik, has been used to describe both the Maori pa and the church. Kaik is a contraction of the work kalka, which is the South Island Maori form of kainga, meaning an unfortified village. It was a Maori Wesleyan missionary, Mr Scott, who laid the foundation stone on November 22, 1876.

Several Ngai-Tahu families had settled at Onuku by the time the French arrived at Akaroa in 1840. The church is a tribute to the mixing of Maori and European cultures and its opening ceremony in 1878 highlighted this. The day began with many Maori and European visitors arriving by steam launch and

sailing vessels from as far afield as Bluff, the Chatham Islands, and North Island districts.

In front of one of the Onuku whares (homes) was a large stack of provisions for the visitors laid out by the host families. They included a bullock, several sheep and pigs, bags of flour, potatoes, tobacco, tea, and sugar. A crowning glory on the stack was a ten pound note and standing behind it was the leading host, George Robinson, who extended a welcome as the visitors arrived. A leader of the Ngai-Tahu people at Little River replied to the welcome on behalf of the visiting Maoris. A Wesleyan minister from Rapaki, the Rev. Te Kooti Te Rato, announced the hymns in the 60-seat church filled to the brim with enthusiastic singers. Charles Tekao read the lessons and the vicar of Akaroa, the Rev. P. C. Anderson, conducted the Holy Communion.

The Rev. Canon J. W. Stack also gave an address. Both the opening and foundation-stone laying ceremonies were conducted in Maori

A large meal had been pre.

pared for the visitors after the openiiag-day ceremony. George Robinson managed to persuade enough visitors to pledge funds for the church to write off the outstanding debt of 35 pounds. Mr Anderson became acting vicar for the church while the Rev. W. H. Cooper was on leave but later, on Mr Cooper’s resignation, Mr Anderson became the vicar. Mr Alfred Nicholls began a long association with the church in 1878.

Maori and archaeological records point to Maori occupation of Banks Peninsula for at least 500 years. Akaroa is thought to have been an important centre for the early Waitaha people and the local Tuhiraki hill preserves the name of a spade used by a Waitaha leader, Rakaihautu.

Records have pointed to the conquering of the Waitaha people by another tribe, the Ngati Mamoe, in the sixteenth century. Several generations later the Ngai-Tahu tribe invaded the South Island and became the dominant tribe.

They developed a major trade in pounamu (greenstone) and worked it into beautiful meres, tools, and ornaments. For about

150 years the Ngai-Tahu hapu (clans) lived in relative tranquillity throughout Banks Peninsula until major inter-hapu fighting broke out and was known as the kai huanga (eat relative) feud.

Early European whalers and settlers in the area were familiar with the leaders of this feud, including Temaiharanui. Historical records have indicated that the feuding continued until the new threat of a North Island conquest, led by Te Rauparaha, emerged. Having already attacked Ngai-Tahu people at Kaikoura, Te Rauparaha returned to the South Island from Kapiti Island for a third major raid and attacked the Ngai-Tahu tribe at Akaroa. In 1830, he and his warriors sacked Ngai-Tahu strongholds at Tunapuneke and Onawe Peninsula in the Akaroa Harbour, wiping out a large proportion of local Ngai-Tahu hapu. Some counter-attacks were mounted on Te Rauparaha’s warriors in the Marlborough Sounds during subsequent years. The first European to live in Akaroa was James Robinson Cfyugh, who married a Maori

woman. A whaler, George Hempieman, set up a shore station at Peraki in the same year, 1837, and records indicate that relations between these early Europeans and Ngai-Tahu people were friendly. The early missionaries helped the Ngai-Tahu tribe to establish a truce with Te Rauparaha, resulting in the release of several Ngai-Tahu captives.

In 1940, the Onuku Church was restored and embellished with Maori carving mainly from Rotorua to commemorate the Akaroa centenary. Sir Heaton Rhodes and Mrs Woodhouse, his sister, gave a carved altar, Mr and Mrs A. R. Haylock presented new prayer and hymn books, and Canon Stephen Parr provided a picture in a carved frame. The Bishop of Aotearoa, Bishop Frederick Bennett, reopened the church in March, 1940. Regular church services continued until about 1963 when, with a reduced number of families living in the bay, the church use changed to mainly wedding, funeral, and baptism services.

It By

TESSA WARD,