IN SEARCH OF GREENSTONE Maoris Visit West Coast

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 December 1934, Page 18

IN SEARCH OF GREENSTONE Maoris Visit West Coast

'JpHERE is much interesting Maori history about the foundation of the Westland district. According to the legends, Chief Ngahue was the first coloniser. He came from Hawaiiki, having fled to avoid punishment for a crime. What we know as Mount Cook, but Aorangi (the Great White Cloud) to the Maori, was his pointer to a refuge near the mouth of the Arahura River. He was ithe finder of the pounamu (greenstone), which he took to Hawaiiki, and with it helped to fashion the historic canoes in which the Maoris made their migration to the North Island. Tama, who was a descendant of Ngahue, came to the South Island in search of a lost sister, and again found the greenstone. On returning to the Bay of Plenty, his news aroused the interest of the Waitaha tribe, and they set off on the pilgrimage. The time has been calculated as 1450, and they were about thirty years reaching Cook Strait. But the tribe did not get beyond the Nelson district, being overwhelmed by another tribe, the Ngatiwirangi. They reached the West Coast about 1520, and spread south to Milford Haven. They lived on the Coast for about 250 years, finding much greenstone, which was bartered to other tribes, though living in retreat much as a lost tribe of the race.

Then the Ngaitahu tribe, also from the Gisborne district, moved to the

I South Island, and began a conquest on the East Coast. In their travels they encountered a mad woman of .another tribe, and by her were guided | over Browning’s Pass to the head waters of the West Coast rivers, and they in turn found the greenstone. The time given was about 1770. and regular visits were paid in search of greenstone, which was greatly cherished, and became the cause of conflicts between the tribes. The legend tells of a battle which the visitors won near the mouth of the Hokitika River, but a second war party was beaten badly near Lake Mahinapua. Later raids were made, to the final victory of the Ngaitahu tribe near Paparoa, those escaping death being made slaves. Peace reigned till 1827, when the Te Rauparaha raids began. They came down the Coast from Cape Farewell, and annihilated all they encountered, but the greenstone was concealed, and they moved south to the Haast, crossing into Otago. As a consequence of the hostile depredations, few Maoris remained when Europeans began to arrive to spy out the country. The first white men to explore the Coast were the whalers. As far back as the beginning of the nineteenth century, whalers were at Jackson Bay in the south, the bay being used by visiting craft for refitting purposes.

It was not till 1845 that a visit was made to consider settlement prospects.

IHeaphy and Brunner, surveyors employed by the New Zealand Company, came down the Coast from Cape Farewell. They followed Te Rauparaha’s 1 route, actually using some of his scalj ing ladders over the cliffs. The surveyors condemned the river mouths as harbours, but found a considerable area of land for settlement. A couple of years later, Brunner revisited the Coast, coming down the Buller River, and following the coastline as far south as Waiho. His trip occupied 18 months, and his most notable exploit was to discover what became the Brunner coalfield. In 1857, James Mackay, accompanied by two Maoris, inspected the Coast as far as the Grey, and on presenting his report to the Native Dept, was authorised to buy land from the natives. Two years later, when he came to the Coast via the Teremakau River, the natives refused to treat with him, and he returned to Nelson. The following year, joined by S. Mackley, he made a further and successful visit. The negotiations for purchase necessitated a journey to Jackson Bay, to determine boundaries of the native reserves. At that time the remnant of the Maori race left in the district was only 110, and for £3OO, seven and a-half million acres were sold to Queen Victoria, ten thousand acres being reserved for the natives. It was after that important purchase that the first was heard of gold in the district.