WINIKA’S ESCAPE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23500, 14 May 1938, Page 23

WINIKA’S ESCAPE

OLDTIME WAR CANOE SIR GEORGE GREY’S TRIP RESTORING GRACEFUL CRAFT About a century ago, at Hauraki, which is now Thames, a large Maori war canoe was hewn out of two, .or three, fine totara trees, and amid tribal celebrations befitting, the occasion was launched on the water's of the gulf. They called it Te Winika (says the Auckland Star), and as an interesting link connecting the past with the present, it was this ancient canoe reconditioned, which carried the Gov-ernor-General down the river according to time-honoured Maori custom to open, on March 18, the new house. Turongo, of the Maori King, Koroki. By purchase, or as a generous gill from some Hauraki chief, the big canoe, still comparatively new, came into the possession of the Natives of the Lower Waikato, and was for a long time a familiar sight on the river Paddled up the Tamaki Inlet of the Waitemata in the year 1846. the heavy hull was hauled over the Otahuhu portage to the Manukau, and to the sweep of many paddles skimmed the western harbour until the prow again came to land at the head-waters of the Waiuku Creek. From there the canoe was dragged over the longer portage to the limit of navigation in the Awaroa River, and soon the Waikato River was reached. . , v T The story is recalled by Mr E. 1. Frost, of Parengarenga. formerly ol Tuakau, and by Mr Henry Wily, a pioneer settler of the Mauku district, in connection with the discovery of the old war canoe which was dug up out ol the sand at Port Waikato and taken to Ngaruawahia, where it has been refitted for use in the approaching centenary celebrations. It was at the time only a derelict shell of the craft in which dark-skinned braves had swayed m rhythmic motion so many years ago. It was said that the old canoe had been destroyed by Major von Tempsky during the Maori War of 1863, but like numerous other accounts of early incidents in New Zealand’s history this has never been completely established Saved From Destruction For a time after the Maori Wai the canoe lay hauled high up on the river bank at Okahu, three or four miles up the river. Then it was dismantled and the prow and after sections removed, and probably safely stored away. For a long time the csntral portion remained at Okahu, and 20 years ago there was a suggestion that it should be split into fencing posts. But to save it from such an ignominous fate it was once more launched into the water, taken to Maraetai, in the Waikato Estuary, and dragged up the hill by a team of horses to the home of Korn Thompson, grandson of the old Te Akau chief Wiremu Tamehana. who was a good friend of Dr Robert Maunsell, a pioneer missionary in the Waikato. . If there is no romance in the name Winika, which has its origin in the Maori pronunciation of “vinegar, there is much to appeal to the imagination in the resurrection of the old craft, and • Europeans shared with the Maoris the thrill .of pride when, on March 18 of this year, the canoe, decked once more in all the pomp and panoply of the early days, was seen again on the smooth waters of the Waikato. Loyalty of Natives Te Winika was originally about 55ft long, and when fitted up with its carved prow and stern and decked with bunches of pula, kaka and kiwi feathers, was an impressive sight. It is thought that the first white settler of the Waikato, Mr Charles Marshall, had an occasional trip in it, and that Dr Maunsell, who at this time had hundreds of natives attending school and church at Maraetai. was also an occasional passenger. But the only European of whom there is actual record as having travelled in the big canoe in the early days of the colony was the Governor. Sir George Grey. When he visited Maraetai the natives manned - Te Winika and paddled him in regal state to Ngaruawahia. Ninety years later Lord Galway followed the example of Sir George Grey by making a trip on the river in the restored canoe. .. That von Tempsky or any other member of the Imperial or colonial forces attempted to destroy the canoe is considered by some who remember the friendliness of the Maoris of the Lower Wakiato during the war to be improbable, and they regard such a suggestion as a reflection on both races. Under the influence of Dr Maunsell. who had won the trust and affection of the natives at Maraetai and Te Kohanga, they remained staunch friends and allies of the settlers throughout the war, and there was. according to this view, little danger of molestation io the graceful Winika from any of the Queen’s forces. The Maoris, however, generally hold a different view; so much so that von Tempsky’s name in Maori is Wawahi Waka, which means tl the breaker of canoes,” and even now any mention of him arouses feelings _of resentment among some of the tribes. What his actual part was in the breaking of snecific canoes, as, for instance. Te Winika, is somewhat veiled in mystery, and possibly will remain so, but that he had a hand in the breaking of some canoes appears beyond doubt. The position where the main part of the hull of Te Winika remained abandoned for so many years was on the hill above the old Maraetai mission station, looking down on the everleaping “white horses'' on the bar. and across the restless Tasman Sea.