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Hawera Star, Volume L, 10 April 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

SCIENTIFIC investigation appears to establish the fact that this territory was uninhabited until perhaps the 14th cen-

tiny of our era. There is nothing incongruous in this assumption when we consider that Captain James Cook, on discovering Norfolk Island in 1775, stated definitely that to all appearances the soil of that pearl of the Pacific had never before been trodden by the foot of man, notwithstanding that the isles, to the eastward were swarming with human life. Apparently then the various colonies of settlement had all passed to the eastward until the great brown navigator of the 14th century, Ivupe, renowned in all Polynesian tradition, decided—

“To sail beyond the sunset And the baths of all the Western stars,”

and made the coast of this far land after unexampled privations and dangers of the trackless deep. Traditional records point to Kupe having returned to distant Hawaiki, and the actual settlement of this locality was made by the chief Turi, in the Aotea canoe. Patea is reputed to have been his landing place, and the little stream Wai-o-turi, near the mouth of that river, still proclaims, by its name, the. traditional fact. The legend handed down the centuries by the old wise men of the local tribes conveys the fact that the migration broke up into two divisions, one party going to the south of the river Patea, and forming the. Nga Rauru (tribe), and the other spreading out. northwards and establishing Ngati Ruanui in this locality. The derivation of the Pakakohe tribe, of Manutahi, is considered by some authorities to have been apart from the Turi heke (immigration), and many believe them to have been descended from the original Tangata Whenua, or indigenous inhabitants of the land whom Turi found here and largely absorbed (probably in a literal sense).

LOCAL PLACE-NAMES. The place-names along this coast and around our town are presumed to have been supplied by Turi, and it is a matter of regret that we have frequently departed from the original titles he bestowed, and substituted ' others incorrectly. Thus, for instance, Hawera, or, more correctly, Te Hawera, was the name of an old hapu situated about two miles to the south of our town, and between Mr. Meuli’s residence and the railway. The correct native name for the site whereon our budding city stands is understood to be Taupata-tei, taupata being the well-known shrub (Coprosma Baueriapa) with the glistening green leaves, now largely used as a. hedge plant, and then probably common on these plains. Other instances of local misnomers may be cited. Ohangai, correctly speaking, is the name of an old settlement situated between the Tongahoe and Tawhiti streams, and. several miles removed from the locality which now bears the name, and which should really be known as Meremere, the name of the old hapu there. Whareroa is the locality between Taiporohenui and the Tawhiti stream, and nowhere near the railway station of the name. Te Roti is the name of an old clearing at the junction of the Bovlan and Mountain roads, and there appears to have been no reason for assigning its name to the settlement three miles to the west. Surveyors seem to have been the chief offenders in the misnaming of localities, but when we take into consideration the trials and hardships they endured in delineating boundaries among high scrub, fern and virgin bush, whatever resentment that is felt should give place to admiration for their work. For instance, the surveyor who mapped the blocks around Hawera was obliged to have an armed escort to protect him from tin; insurgents, and once or twice he was actually under fire. A similar experience is recorded in the survey of the Whakamara block.

The first European to sight these shores was Captain Abel Tasman, the famous Dutch navigator, who passed down Cook Strait in 1642. and not till more than another century had passed did another recorded navigator sail by. This was Captain Cook, who sighted our noble mountain in 1770, and passed on to an anchorage in the Sounds. Thenceforward for many years the only European visitors were American whalers, and a few deserters probably settled down among the native inhabitants. The first British subject to reside in Taranaki appears to have been one James

Mo wry, who was seen at the Ngamotu settlement in 1817 by John Rutherford, who also cast in his lot with the Maoris. The notorious Marmon appeal’s to have been of a later vintage. WHEN THE WAIKATOS ATTACKED. In 1831, the famous Waikato warrior, Te Wlierowhero, launched his great raid on Taranaki, and practically exterminated the local people, the remnant fleeing down to the WaL kanae. district and, even across to the South Island. A few. indeed, sought refuge high up on the slopes of Egmont, where they laboriously tilled cultivations, retreating to higher fastnesses on the approach of the northern marauders. In this connection, when one hears the occasional complaint from Philo-Maoris that the local natives have been unjustly deprived of their lands, one has but to visualise the fact that about 1840 there were probably not 1000 aboriginals left in all South Taranaki, the most of the people having been driven off their ancestral lands by the robbers of the north, and but for “Pax Brittanica,” personified by Sir George Grey, in assisting Ngati

Awn, and Ngati Ruanui to regain their holdings, the whole might have been depopulated o£ its original residents, and their lands seized, in right of conquest, by their tribal enemies. Thus it would seem that, in effect, the claim of local natives to all the contiguous lands is somewhat shadowy and further weakened by their complicity in the rising of the ITauhaus against constituted authority later on. While practically every New Zealander feels a strong regard for his brown countrymen, not all of them are willing to concede the fantastic claims to original land ownership advanced by some. MAORIS ' SEE FIRST HORSE. Far back in 1843, the first- horned stock were brought- through this district, for agistment in the Now Plymouth settlement-, in charge of Messrs. Cooke, Barrett and Wakefield. The stockmen’s horses, being entirely strange to the natives, excited the wildestcuriosity and consternation among them. Mr. Wakefield recounts the following interesting anecdote: “I was not seen by t-lie inhabitants of the pa 1 ill close to the river Whcnuakura.

Then they ran down to the heach...By this time I had plunged into the river, which, here flows over soft and shining sands. My horse’s body was nearly hidden, and though many of my old friends here had recognised me, and shouted, £ Tiraweka ! Haeremai! ’ they evidently thought that , a native was carrying me on, his shoulders.. There were now nearly a hundred natives collected, many of whom had never seen a horse before, crowding over each other to give me the first greeting. With two. or three vigorous plunges, the horse suddenly emerged from the water, and bore me into the middle of them. Such a complete panic, as ensued can .hardly be imagined. They fled yelling, in all directions, without looking behind them, and as fast as I galloped past those who were running across the sandy flat and up the steep path leading to the Tihoe pa, they fairly laid down on their faces, and gave themselves up for lost. Halfway up the hill I dismounted, and they plucked up courage to come and look at the ‘kuri nui ’ (or large dog).” Mr.- Wakefield, as may well be imagined, was extremely struck by the appearance of the country between here and Kctemarac, where

the road entered the forest. In his journal, he thus enlarges on the theme: ‘‘After all the. beautiful spots and districts which I had already seen in New. Zealand, I was struck with the surpassing beauty and luxuriant productiveness of the country hereabouts. Just after entering the wood’' (then encroaching on the plain to near Turuturu-mokai), “which is at first like an immense shrubbery, with occasional large trees, the abundance of the crops in the existing native gardens, the rankness, and yet softness, of the grass.which had sprung up in the. old deserted patches, surrounded with flowering shrubs, amongst which singingbirds were chasing each other, all combined with the genial weather, although it was approaching to the middle of winter, to remind me touchingly of Shakespeare’s sweet picture of the perfection of agriculture:'

Earth’s increase and foyson plenty, Barns and garners never empty, _ Vines, yith clustering branches growing, _ \ Plants, with goodly burdens, bowing; Spring come to you at the farthest, In the very end of the harvest. Scarcity and want shall shun you, Ceres’ blessing so is on you.” A FAIR PROSPECT. Many old settlers have frequently expatiated on the abundance of verdure hereabouts in early days, particularly of the prevalence of white clover in the sward, the white, blossoms starring the plains like a magic carpet and giting forth a perfume of surpassing sweetness. Bishop Selwyn, passing through in 1842, gives testimony to the beauty and fertility of the district. In a letter to the Star of Nov. 13th, 1884, : a New Plymouth gentleman, Mr. W. H. Ilulke, who visited this region about the same time, extols the prospect thus: . --....‘.‘0n entering the Show Grounds of the Bgmout Agricultural Show on Tuesday week ah Hawera, I could not help recalling my first visit to that district, made during the early part of 1841 or 1842, I forget which, as time often dulls one’s memory. I was then residing ill, Wanganui, and being desirous of learning something of the country between Wanganui and Cape Egmont I one fine morning Shanks ’ sure but slow-footed .nag, and with'a native for a guide started for a coast tiip as far as Opunake Bay. if time would permit. “At the time I am speaking of only two Europeans dwelt between Wanganui and New Plymouth, both of whom were engaged in missionary work amongst; the natives —a Mr. Howe, who resided on the south bank of the Patea River, close to the present site of the boiling-down establishment, and Mr. Woon, who lived about a mile from the coast at Waimate. The latter had one pair of working oxen, two cows, and a strong black horse; these few head constituted the whole amount of stock then on that part of the coast. Now cattle and sheep are to be counted by the thousands, and horses by the hundred. Pigs I omitted to mention, consideiing that' the long-headed, long-legged, gaunt, half-starved animals and degenerate descendants of Captain Cook’s porker, not worth notice; vet the same mongrels, matched with the pure Berlcshires or small China sort, have thrown good litters, and for many the chief and cheapest butcher?’ iiffti. Fern and tutu covered the face of the country. Look as far as the eye could scan, the same brown tinge met your view, except where it was broken by clumps of bush, and which, as you went more inland, gave the country a park-like appearance, the native cultivations and small settlements being generally situated close to some stream or river, the coast settlements, being more generally used as fishing stations during the summer months. x “Not a road from one end of the district to the other. A small narrow path ran so dangerously close to the cliffs as to make one fee anything but easy when traversing it. In fact, I have known it carried so close to the ciiil s edge as to break away as one passed it. Swamps had to be crossed of uncertain depths, and rivers by fording them when the tide was out, or by making a raft and being towed across by one that could swim. Such were the facilities of travel in those days. And yet with all these drawbacks I can look back on them with pleasure. The hospitality of the natives was boundless: the best the owner of the house possessed was placed before the traveller, who was always helped, and had the place of honoj&n assigned him. Many, very many of the natives, particularly those living; inland, had.never seen an European, and therefore one was considered almost a deity.”