OLD ORAKEI

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22084, 13 April 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

OLD ORAKEI

BY M. H.

A PLACE OF MEMORIES : l . . j . j ■ j

From earliest times Orakei and its central settlement,, Okaliu Bay, have been historically noted. The very namo of Okaliu is said to havo derived from Okahu-mata-momoe, grandson of the commander of tho Arawa canoo, Tama-te-kapua, who came north from the Bay of Plenty to Waitemata. The present discussion of Orakei's future inevitably leads to a consideration of its aspect in the past; and here we leave the vivid and explicit but remote realms of folklore and legend and get 011 to solid, verifiable ground, for Old Orakei, or Okahu, has been contacted by those still living. Those who saw it in the 'seventies and in the 'eighties saw it almost untouched by European hands, and probably very much as it had averaged for the last thousand years. Their reminiscences all commence the same way—with an almost lyrical recital of its beauties. "There were many more large pohutukawas then than now," says one who came there with his family as settlers in the early "'seventies, "and the beach was dazzling white. Ti (cabbage trees), tall manuka, ponga and light bush trees graced the hill slopes and cliffs. The ground was amazingly fertile." A more detailed description is given by an Auckland resident who had the unique experience of staying there in the 'eighties. " The water was very clear, and the beach was of white sand; the settlement extended down to the beach. Boats were moored in Okahu Bay, including at that time the cutter owned by Paul Tuhaere (Paora), which was locally built and which made voyages even as far as Rarotonga, manned by Maori navigators who steered by the sun and stars. Smaller boats traded with Auckland City and with Devonport, also with settlements in the outer and inner harbours, the Maoris often exchanging their surplus produce for blankets, tools, cooking utensils and such exotics as tea and sugar. At that time Orakei civilisation was a blend of Maori and European—some wore nativo dress, some wore blankets of woven wool. Health, happiness and contentment reigned in the settlement." Beauty and Charm Ono of Aotearoa's most distinguished sons first saw Orakei over sixty-five years ago and lived there for over three years with Paora Tuhaere, who was a family connection by marriage. " Nothing," he says, "could surpass its beauty and charm. The memory of Orakei is dear to me; how much more so must it be to those whose parents and ancestors have—for generations past—lived and died there! Orakei was properly tho name given to the bridged intake into which the tide flowed. Just try to imagine it—that little sheet of usually placid and clear water, whose sides were adorned with native bush, shrubs, and the very loveliest of ferns, with clumps of flax presided over by lofty ti. . . . O-Rakei: How thou art adorned!" At the mouth of this fern-fringed creek, where a channel of deep water conies right iu-shore under tho cliffs, Governor Hobson landed and was Avelcomed by Ngatiwhatua chiefs and tribesmen. But, by the irony of fate, it is precisely this historic spot, this very picture of loveliness, that has since been most injured by European hands. The hideous buildings which house the city sewerage-outfall depot were, just over twenty years ago, erected on reclaimed ground between the inlet and the cliffs, and the inlet itself was finally completely obliterated and blocked by the high embankment that carries the wide Waterfront Road. Past and Present Between the present church and cemetery and the beach the road runs right over the spot where stood tho largo wharau (shed) of nativo workmanship which housed the great carved war-canoe "Tahere-tikitiki," the carved totara tau-ihu (prow) of which is now in the Auckland Museum. The home of Chief Paora was about twenty yards inland from tho church site. Behind, on tho flat of the papakainga area, wero the corn-plots and sugar-cane and kumara, potato, pumpkin and marrow gardens. Wheat was grown and was boated into the city to be exchanged for flour. To the south were potatogardens, running downhill from the southern liill-top. On tho hill-slopes was a tarore plot—native tobacco—grown from seed obtained from Mr. Partridge, owner of the collection of Maori pictures now in the city Art Gallery. The old meeting-house stood approximately fifty yards to tho north-east of Paora's house. It was in the 'eighties too old to be used, and had been made "tapu" by a tohunga from the Kaipara Ngatiwhatua. It had finely-carved roofplate and wall-plates, and finely-done raupo-and-reed-work, tuki-tuki-taniko; in its day it had been a model wharerunanga. Tho homes of Paora Reweti (Davis) and others were approximately where the homes now stand in a row parallel to the beach. Along the path to tho southern end of the bay was a double row of substantial whares of totara, manuka, raupo and nikau, occupied by healthy and happy families. The path ended under a steep hill—the protecting hill-fort (pa) of Okahu. Its earthworks were then, over sixty-five years ago, already becoming less defined after several decades of peaceful living. At each end of the bay tho white beach ended in rocks and steep cliffs, which wero mantled with pohutukawa trees. A track led up to the Pourowa ridge, across which tho boundary of Orakei block ran. Once a Large Holding The area of Orakei as defined by Judge Fenton in the first Native Land Court in 1869 was about 700 acres; on tho survey map dated 23rd March, 1869, made from tho field notes of Mr. Jas. Baber, tho area is given as 689 acres 1 rood. This block comprises tho whole of the peninsula, the boundary on three sides being high-water mark, and on the fourth a three-rail fence 9704 links in length, extending in a straight line from the point known as Wanganui, tho cliff on tho city side of Mission Bay, to a point on the Pourewa river nearly 20 chains inland from the present bridge and almost opposite the Purewa railway station. A note on this plan, added in 1873, records that the area includes tlio Battery Reserve ol nine acres. Plans made toward tho end of the century, after partition in the 'nineties, show the boundary line intact but tho block marked with individual holdings, and on one of these is a note that by Crown grant in 1859 an area is set aside for a church and school reserve on tlio hill about five chains east of the Pourewa bridge. It is interesting to note that, on this later plan, the irreducible minimum of native communal holdings is indicated forty acres, known as the Papakainga Reserve or village land area. To-day over a hundred souls are living on tho foreshore of Okahu Bay, and the problem of their future is acute. Their wish is that the settlement shall be rebuilt by them as a model village, using where possible native materials and employing native workmanship. Indisputably it would be a happy solution,