MAORI MEMORIAL GARDEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

MAORI MEMORIAL GARDEN

"HEAR ANNE SHIRLEY,—We have a neighbour who is very interested in Maori history, and who makes a hobby of collecting pictures and relics of' the old Maori tribes. One day she very kindly invited' my cousin, brother and me to sec her memorial garden, which is dedicated .to the Maori race. Nearly everything in the garden centres round the' story of Torere, a Maori We went down past Beautiifuily-kept flower-beds into the Torero Valley. This Valley is a miniature of the real Torero Valley which is on the Hawke's Briy coast. Torero was an occupant of one of the canoes which landed at New Zealand several hundred years ago. She

t—Copied froia a photo by Ken Cochrane (10). ■was betrothed to a young Maori, but because lie was a Tohunga, she was afraid of him. When the canoes came in sight of the shore, Torere jumped overboard and swam ashore. The Tohunga chased her, and she hid in the bush in the Torere Valley, living on berries.' After three days and nights, the Tohunga, thinking, she, was dead, left the bush and rejoined'his tribe. When the Tohunga had gone, Torere went down to the beach and there met a young- Moriori," the then inhabitants of Neiv Zealand. The two fell in love, and married. Their first child became a chief,, of one of the greatest Waikato tribes.

Dotted here and there in the miniature valley are tall trees, a species of the cabbage tree. Legend says they represent Torere running from the Tohunga, and' that the dark-coloured plant, rather like a small flax, and which grows near by, is the Tohunga pursuing her. Wherever two trees grow tliey are Torere and her husband. Besides these two plants, there are in this beautiful Torere valley numerous other native trees and ferns, wliilo a little stream trickling over the stones gives it a real bush-liko atmosphere. Higher up there is a Maori house beautifully carved with many figures, each figure having a story attached to it. Near by is the storehouse of the Ariki, the Chief of all chiefs. This is also wonderfully carved both back and front. The garden, itself is colourful with many beautiful flowering shrubs and plants; and the.whole, dedicated to the Maoris, is truly a fitting memorial to this great race. —From Pat Haughey. (14.) Howick.