AN HISTORIC SPRING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19126, 18 September 1925, Page 11

AN HISTORIC SPRING.

LOCATION OF " TAKAPUNA."

ORIGIN OF SUBURB'S NAME.

SITE NOW OBLITERATED. How Takapuna received its name about five or six. centuries ago from a spring makes a fascinating story as told by Mr. T. Walsh, of Devonport.

When the Tainui canoe arrived in Aotearoa, from Tahiti, some time about the middle of the fourteenth century, the commanding chief called into the Waitemata to visit Maoris whom they knew were located about the Tamaki Isthmus. Mr. Walsh writes' The Tainui, on rounding North Head, was brought to anchor in the bay, which the Maoris always called Hau Kapua, the "wind scooper," from the fact that it is sheltered from almost every breeze that blows. The bay is now known as Torpedo Bay and the stone retaining walls, the scattered rocks and weed-strewn mud, now such prominent features of the bay, did not exist 50 years ago. Then a broad strip of sparkling clear sand bordered an extensive area of clean, hard beach when the tide had ebbed, and in early Maori times the beach and bay must have been even more attractive. Named After Spring in Tahiti. Tradition states that above the beach was a spring, from which generous quantities of pure water welled up and formed a streamlet that sought the W aitemata. The Tainui people, charmed with this spring on their camping ground, christened it Takapuna, because it reminded them of a spring of that name in their beloved, but forbidden, homeland of Tahiti.

The exiles loitered by the Waitemata enjoying its sunlit fertility and the hospitality of the inhabitants. Ultimately the major portion moved away to what was the "back blocks" of those days and forcibly acquired land from the earlier peoples. The name .of ,the spring, however, remained down to European days; in fact the. whole district of the North Shore, Devonport, was called Takapoona, or Tagapoona, by the earlier Europeans. The lake at Takapuna, known to the Maoris as Pupuke-Moana, came to be known - as "the lake." In more recent times the title of "the lake" was not sufficient designation and the lake at Takapuna became simply Lake Takapuna. Naturally the exact position of the historical old spring is of interest, but all trace of it has vanished. Mr. Walsh, who last year published the history of the North Shore and Devonport, has succeeded in fixing the geographical position where the spring formerly was visible.. An Ancient Trysting-place. The site is on Captain G. McKenzie's property, adjoining the boundary fence of the fort at North Head. Twenty years ago Captain McKenzie covered over the spring cavity with an iron plate over which a brick retaining wall and a concrete footpath were placed; a little "weep" on the brickwork is the sole indication that somewhere in the vicinity there is free water.

The main drainage of Devonport was carried under North Head, -close by the spring Takapuna, and the flow from the spring was turned into the pipes to avoid any undermining. When the spring cavity was covered over there was little water in it.

The Maori rapu was a short distance from the spring under the hillside, a spot from which a lovely glimpse of the harbour could be obtained in the moonlit evenings. The spring became a trysting place for many a Maori maiden who made an excuse of going to draw water. Sometime in the "fifties" of last , century a willow, brought from the grove established at the mission station at Kohimarama, which was ascribed' to a cutting carried from Napoleon's grave at St. Helena, was planted by the spring. It grew to immense proportions and more than one little romance of the early days on the North Shore grew in the shade of the willow by the spring Takapuna. The tree had died when the ■ water was drained away and it was removed when the traces of the spring were covered over.