Old-Time Ketemarae

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

Old-Time Ketemarae

Six Decades Recalled

Mr. C. E. Gibson's Memories of Normanby

1 Reminiscences of the days when Te Hawera (“the burnt place”) was a wilderness of scrub and fern, when the European settlers, toiling by day on t their primitive farms, lodged at night ) in scattered block houses, and when the environs of the present town of Norr manby were mantled in dense forest of lordly kahikatea, rata and tawa, were i recalled by Mr. C. E. Gibson during a , special interview granted a “Star” representative last week. Mr. Gibson ' Jives with his son, Air. B. C. Gibson, on . the picturesque homestead, fronting the 1 Mountain Road near Xormanbv, the . farm property which, many years ago, . he retrieved from the virgin bushland. . Now in his eighty-third year, Mr. > Gibson was a hardy young man of . some 2d summers, inspired with the adj venturing spirit of the pioneer, when in 1569 he obtained his first glimpse of > the rich lands of Taranaki and the ! slopes of the nobly moulded mountain, j which gave the province its name. - Sensing the extreme fertility and possi- . bilitics of the district he decided to

make it his home and for fiO years has watched its amazing development, and, as an esteemed settler, lias taken part in its progress. During those six decades the widelyseparated redoubts aiul block houses, which were once tiie only shelters of tho pioneers, have disappeared to give place to almost countless homesteads. Prosperous towns have risen, paved roads, stretching mile on mile, have succeeded the narrow bridle tracks, and up-to-date dairy factories have been established to turn to account the major avenue of production from the land.

THE COLDEST NIGHT. As the interviewer found, the varying experiences of Air. Gibson have endowed him with a rare treasure trove in memories. “The coldest night I think, I ever tried to sleep through,” said Air. Gibson in referring to liis experience on a bleak upland, close to the site of thepresent tlruvn of Hawera, where, within some Jvo miles of his future home, he spent, during Alarch. 18(59, his first hours of darkness in the immediate district. In tho warmth of the glorious autumn afternoon on which lie recounted it the pioneer smiled wistfully over the memory., Brilliant sunshine bathed the

3 lawns and peaceful fields, to be seen i from tho comfortably furnished room, ? and from well cultivated garden beds i the fragrant odours of flowers drifted t through the open windows, while the 3 hum of lioney-seeking bees, droning - lazily among the blossoms, gave further f tone* to the atmosphere of settled secur--3 ity in sharp contrast with the adveni turous period of that far-away night. The period recalled was the begini ning of the end of the wars of IS6O-G9. i A day or so previously Mr. Gibson, 3 travelling from his former home in the 3 Rangitikei district, reached the military , encampment at the mouth of the Patea River, just when tin* wounded were ’ being brought, in from the last serious (' skirmish between Colonel Whitmore’s - force and the followers of Titokowaru. i Wishing to see a friend, who was a F member of the main body with Whit- ? more, lie caught up with the force at , Ma nut-ali i. PURSUIT OF TITOKOWARU. Travelling light in pursuit of the re- > treating Titokowaru, the force had no

? tents ;uid, with the soldiers, Air. Gib- . son dossed for the night under the meagre shelter of bushes. At about ten o’clock a message from the scouts • stated they were on the tracks of their , quarry and required a few more men. ; Air. Gibson’s friend was among those > selected and to Colonel Lyons, a one- , armed veteran of Indian campaigns, who was in command during the tem- : porarv absence of Colonel Whitmore, Air. Gibson volunteered to go also, but as lie could not obtain a rifle liis inclusion with the party which set out at midnight and incidentally nad to descend the dill's by candlelight could not lie permitted. Next day the main body of some hundreds received orders to go to Ihe mouth of Hie ATaiiawapou river and Air. Gibson, striking up acquaintance with a travelling butcher, named Treweek, helped him in driving a mob of sheep to the rendezvous, where he also . assisted in killing and dressing the animals required by the commissariat. Receiving further orders to proceed to the Alokoia flat the pioneer party reached the hill between the site of the present Alokoia railway station and the sea at about one o'clock in tho afternoon. From there the march continued to the mouth of the Tongalioe river, and in n hitter south-easter, bringing driving rain, the stream was crossed

i and the trek resumed to Canadian Re- , doubt, located to tho seaward side of 5 the present Alain South Road, and l within easy distance of the present railJ way crossing at Hawera on that route. ►’ WAGGON FOR SHELTER. Canadian Redoubt was an extensive earthwork built by settlers, among - whom was Air. Thomas Aliddlemas. . Except for the leeward side of flax , bushes no shelter from the biting south ; east rain squalls was, however, avail- • able for the troops, though Air. Gibl son secured art airy refuge beneath a } waggon, and so spent the night which ; ho recalled as the most bitter in his oxi perience. “Numbed with cold I-crept out with i the iirst, streak of dawn,” he continued. - “In the dim light I was puzzled by : what appeared to be substantial logs of wood which had not been there the night before, and was wondering where - they came from when I stumbled on ) one and found the objects were the

forms of soldiers who had rolled tliemi selves in their grey blankets and sought . sleep round the camp tires. ’ ’ ; Having to return to Rangitikei dis- ■ trict, AH. Gibson bade liis soldier friend good-bye that day. The latter continued i with Whitmore's force on the notable march along chute’s track to New Plymouth, which was undertaken following the retirement of Titokawaru .into the fastness of the Ngaere swamp hinter- , land, and Air. Gibson did not again meet his friend until 30 years had pass- ; ed. Despite the rigours of his initial visit to the district, Air. Gibson was so much impressed with the nature of the land that he decided to settle in Taranaki. Associated for a short time with his brother, the late Air. John Gibson, in the business then being started by the latter at Patea, Air. Gibson later joined a party headed by a surveyor, named Northcroft, and proceeded in 1871 the Waihi Redoubt to commence a trigonometrical survey of the district.

FOREST ROAD SURVEY This work eventually took the party as far south as Waitotara river which was traversed in Alaori canoes. Among other work during this period Air. Gibson cut the survey line, along which was eventually constructed the Waihi

Road which now travels from tho Alain South Road to Normanby. From the point now known as AA 7 ink’s crossing the concluding stretch of nearly a mile passed through luxuriant forest growth. The following year lie acquired a section in tho Ivetemarae clearing, as Normanby was then commonly known, and commenced his long residence in the district. Waihi Redoubt, garrisoned first by the British forces and subsequently by the armed constabulary, was the most northern outpost of civilisation on the route between Patea, or Carlyle as it ■ was at first called, and the older scttle- : ment of New Plymouth. Normanby, I about a mile distant from tho redoubt, ' was the first settlement to be definitely • established pet ween rri ioa and New' Plymouth. During the ‘6o’s’ the Government had taken over a w T ide belt of land ! stretching along the coastline and as ’ one means of introducing settlement, • privates who liad served during tlie : Alaori wars were allotted 50 acre lioldL ings with proportionately larger areas for non-commissioned ranks and officers on the condition that the script w'ould L be granted on the termination of three 1 years of occupation. On receipt of the ' script many of the soldier settlers disposed of tiicir rights immediately, and L in many cases these 50-acre blocks of ■ what eventually became first-class ' dairying land changed hands for a five- : pound note and sometimes for less.

SETTLEMENT NAMED. i i Among the officers who participated in the grants of land from the Govern- ( ment was a Captain Blake, a half-caste Alaori and a capable military leader, who received an extensive area at Ivetemarae which ho surveyed as a township and named Normanby, after tho Afarquis of Normanby, the then governor of the colony. Blake arranged for a sale of the sections, but was interrupted in his plans when it was found that a portion of the area included the railway reserve along which. the present line now runs. Extending principally in a north westerly direction from the present AVaihi Road at Normanby, the big clearing originally known among the pakehas as Ivetemarae was of about 1000 acres in extent and was surrounded by heavy bush. It was believed to have at one time been the living place of some thousands of Alaoris, said Air, Gibson. The Alaoris, however, had several names for respective spots in the clearing. The term Ketemarae came from the Alaori name given an area in the vicinity of the present railway station. Other names of spots in the clearing remembered by AH. Gibson are Afatariki and Utinga, while close to the property now occupied by the Normanby Dairy Company was a place called ” Wharetaiori, from the presence there of a large dwelling, so called because the structure was tied with split supplejacks. A few hundred yards distant at the approach to the ancient Alaori trail leading north was Ngarongo Pa, now referred to as Ivetemarae.

STORES OF THE SEVENTIES AY lien in 1872 Mr Gibson went to live at Normanby he opened a general goods store as a branch of tlie business established at Patea. Air Fred O'Donnell, whom Mr Gibson had already known j had taken np a holding of 400 acres which included the present Normanby domain. A section where the police station now stands had been acquired by Air Jim Soutliby, who shortly before Air Gibson’s arrival had erected a small istore there. Obtaining the adjoining section from Air O’Donnell, Air Gibson erected the second business establishment of the pioneer settlement. Built for utility rather than comfort or ornamental purposes, the small building consisted of corrugated iron nailed to scantlings of pit sawn timber. Mr O’Donnell, who had formerly been a sailor, was a man of his hands and gave appreciated assistance in setting up the building. Among the other early settlers who were breaking in the land in the locality were Alessrs Felix Hunger, Fred Wohler, John Golcdson, Charles Quin, and Felix AlcGuire, the last named subsequently becoming the member of Parliament for the district. The trade of the township necessitated transport and among the

earliest to turn that avenue to account were Messrs Wohler, Collins unci Vine, who for a long time served the wants of the district as carters.

EIGHT “BOB” A DAY. During the few years following Mr Gibson’s"'arrival at .Normality the bush was gradually cleared, and the building of homesteads from ’ pit sawn timber proceeded apace. Water could be had almost anywhere by the sinking of a well and farms became properly established, though in the busli areas years of labour with very little monetary return were entailed. Those.who could aftord to pay for labour received .service at the rate of 8s daily, the basic wage of the time being indicated in the popular rhyme: Light hours’ work, Light hours’ play, Light hours’ sleep and • Eight hob a day. Mr Gibson recalls that while he was _ on the survey work the wage of a. chainnian was 5s daily. Living was proportionately cheap, however, and when the supply of wild boar, which could be had lor the shooting, was not available for the camp kitchen, beef could be purchased at 3d a pound, while legs of mutton sold for Is and sometimes as low as Cd, In 1874 Mr. Gibson temporarily left the store business, but returned to it some six years later, his first establishment having meanwhile been acquired. by Mr diaries Peres ford. Pit sawing of timber occupied Mr. Gibson for a good deal of the interval.

THE FIRST HOTEL. Acquiring a stock of good matai and three sections of land in 1876 lie commenced the erection of a hotel where that known as the Nonnanby now stands. A capable carpenter named Selig was given the actual construction wurx, but when the building was half completed a purchase offer was accepted from a Wanganui hotelkeeper who finished the work, though not on the lines originally intended by Mr Gibson. Some years later the original hotel was demolished to make way for the present building. Another hotel went up in 1878, being built on a site approximately on the corner of the present Austin and Boykin Roads bv a man named Brett, who had formerly conducted the canteen at Waih.i. Giving that up after a time, he opened business in another building situated in the middle of the township. Still another hotel came into existence at the Ngarongo Pa, where permission for the provision of a bar Avars •obtained by the tlpm chief, Heke Pipi. Eventually' that passed into the hands of Europeans, tiie last holder being . Mr Joseph Wilson, who subsequently moved the license rights to Nonnanby to establish the hotel now called the Commercial.

OLDEST settlement. For many years it was thought that Nonnanby 'would prove the largest of the business centres of the fertile lands of South Taranaki, 1 but the tide of closer town settlement swung to what has since become the neighbouring borough of Hawera. The snug township of Nonnanby, however, can claim to be the o.dest centre of settlement between New Plymouth and Patea. After a further period of years as a storekeeper Mr Gibson settled in 1886 on Iris Mountain Road farm property. In business and in farming life lie' has been associated closely with the varying fortunes of the town and district.' That he bore an important part in community affairs is indicated by his stewardship of many years on the Nonnanby school committee and the Town Board in the history of both of which bodies he holds the distinction of being the first chairman, while in a. further avenue of commercial enterprise he became the first permanent secretary of the Normanby Dairy Company.

“Mr Jareomb (Hawera) may consider himself lucky lie did not undertake to collect the dog tax in the Waipu (Auckland) district, where the settlers passed the following resolution: ‘That any collector of the said dog tax visiting Waipu be considered socially on a level of degradation with the common informer and be treated as a voluntary outcast from all possible association with any respectable member of society.' ” —“Hawera and Xormanby Star,” -March 2, ISBI.