WHAKAMARA NUI MAST

Taranaki Daily News, 19 November 1932, Page 5 (Supplement)

WHAKAMARA NUI MAST

, RELIC KEPT IN SCHOOL HOUSE; . TATI,EST POLE OF WORSHIP. An interesting relic in the school at Whakamara is an iron strapping. This" is all that remains of a tall pai-marin® flagstaff, probably the oldest pole. c£ worship .ever- erected •by the, natives* A Maori. description, of .it is ’ .aS follows: ‘.‘Our- nlu .at Whakamara wasija. lofty rimu mast, four or five feet through at the butt. We had felled-the . tree in the bush a .mile away, and after squaring it, -hauled it to the .camp/ ft was set; up in the open marae in. :4h© front of our camp. The strong pa at Whakamara was in the rear; tne troops did not attack it when they came,-but pushed on in pursuit of us. The flagmast was set up like a ship’s mast, witii topmast and crosstrees and four yards. The lower yard was crossed about halfway up the lower mast. At tne crosstrees on the lower masthead two yards -were crossed at righty angles to each, other,, and then a below the topmast head there was another ’ yard, t a small one. The topmast head-.yzas over 80 feet from the ground? At arm there was a block with nave'dialy yards which led to the ground, and\to,T all these halyards except the lowest^ x Maori War flags were flown. “A dozen flags or more were, displayed. Some were British flags, Union Jacks given the Maoris before the war; some were flags bearing, the words ‘Tiriti o Waitangi’ and' ‘Kingi Tawhiao’; some bore stars and other devices. Several of the flags dated back to the time of the Treaty of Waitangi; others had been given to Taranaki by Waikato and King Tawhiao. The priest of this pole of worship was Te Whare-Matangl.” The niu could be seen from as far off as Manutahi. When Whakamara was captured in 1869 it was cut down.