MAORI EVENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 191, 14 August 1931, Page 11

MAORI EVENT

i RAPAKURA MEMORIAL. UNVEILING AT ROTORUA. Traditional Maori ceremony, with al the warmth of .Maori hospitality, anc the fervour of Maori oratory, markec > the dedication of two typically Maor: memorials which took place among the Native community at Whakarewarewt ’ over the week-end. The occasion wat I notable, not only as an example of the ! survival of Alaori custom and pictures i quo ceremony, but by reason of the re I pute enjoyed during her lifetime bj ! the subject of the larger service—the ! late Alakcri (Alaggie) Papakura, mosl ‘ famous of Whaka’s Alaori guides, doyer ; of the Alaori to hundreds of overseas notables, and figure of romance thai ’ j was not fiction. Although it is nearly a year since her 1 , death, and she had been resident ii 1 England for nearly Id years previously ’'the name of Alaggie Papakura is still almost a household one in New Zealand, ’ As Whaka’s most famous guide, sh( gave royalty and nobility, and the notables of many lands, their first introduction to the mysteries of New Zealand’s thermal wonderland, and left them with the impress of her own very vivid personality as typical of the Native race. She visited England at the time ot riie coronation of his present Majesty in 1910, and it was after her return to ■ rhe Dominion that her romantic mar j riage to an Englishman of wealth and standing was announced. In .1914, she returned to take up her residence in Lngland, and it was during the subsequent war years that she carried on the work which made her famous as the ••great mother” of the Alaori pioneer battalion. She died in England on 16th April, 1930, and her death removed one of New Zealand’s picturesque figures. •She had met more notabilities than j many crowned heads, she had taken her place in social circles at Home, she had qualified for a degree at Oxford University, and in her own person, she had brought the Alaori type very vividly before people abroad. Woman’s Figure. Approximately a year after her death I her people at Whakarewarewa pa have • erected to her memory, a Alaori nieni- ! orial, in its picturesqueness typical of ' the woman wiiose memory it honours. Curved by Alcssrs T. Ngaru Ranapai, Aperahana. Wiari, ami Paora Tamoti, the memorial is an outstanding example of Alaori craftsmanship and a distinct addition to the Alaori individuality of Whakarcwarewa pa. It is in the form of a tall tapering totara column, carvi (1 on all faces and surmounted by the figure of a woman representing the deceased. The square base has four in-'-uription.', of which one is in English and the other three in Alaori, and is set upon a concrete platform with steps leading up to it. Assisting in the ceremony were the brother and sister of the late Alaggie, Mr. Dick Papakura, well-known as a Maori footballer, and Guide Bella Papakura, who is carrying ou her sister’s traditions as a, guide. A visitor from England was the son of the deceased lady, Mr. William Francis Aonui Dennan, who will return to his home in Oxford soon. Alaoris from all over the central and northern districts of the North Island were present and reprej sentatives from the following canoes i attended: Tainui, Aotea, Takitimu. ■ Alatatua, Kurahaupo, and Te Arawa. ! The second service, which marked the i unveiling of a memorial column to the | late Airs. Rimupae Kereopa, mother of ! Guide Rangi, one of the best-known and

e | most popular of the guides at XVhakae i rewarewa. was held during the afteril'i noon of Saturday, and was followed on c the Sunday morning by the unveiling v. of the Papakura, memorial. This was 2. a public ceremony held at the pa, and 11 was attended by very many represeni tative members of the Rotorua Pakeha a; community, as well as a large number d of visitors. Isl For two days before the ceremonies, d Alaoris from all the neighbouring tribes pi had been arriving at Whaka. In the >f! Whaka pa, on the Sunday morning, the 1- i tribal flags were hoisted on the carved n i flagpole with its grinning tiki, and the t- crowd gathered. The Maori clergy who o j were to conduct the service made their <i | ;i[>pearance in surplice and cassock, toe i gether with the well-known figure of ! the chief of the Tihurangi, or Whakai rewarewa tribe, Air. Mita Taupopoki. Two Veils. in sonorous Alaori, the chief then explained that in order to mark the fact that the late -Maggie Papakura was half Alaori and half Pakeha, there would be two veils to be removed from the memorial. One, the flag which represented the strength of Great Britain and New Zealand, would be removed by Alaori . representatives, and the other, the 1 Alaori veil of mats, would be removed s by Pakeha representatives. s Alita. Taupopoki, as he rose to deliver j the traditional Alaori oration traced the j geneology of the deceased back to the . coming of the canoes. Step by step, and illustrating his discourse with picL turesque gesticulation and Maori simile. r he traced the ancestry of Alakcri Papa- ’ kura from the landing of the great Arawa canoe of her ancestors until the . day of her death. t Four Alaori chieftaincsscs, Irene Hikairo, Ira Alaata, Ngahuia Taiaho, and t liapeka Taite, removed the first veil swathing the monument and at the con- [ elusion of the interpreter’s brief speech. , five .Pakeha ladies, Alcsdamcs Clark, Blencoe, Stewart, Butt, and Aliss Alit- .■ chell, drew the ribbons which removed the Alaori mats covering the body of the memorial. As soon as the inscriptions were uncovered, the clergy and 5 others who had participated in the ccre- ‘ mony, recited in unison the Alaori poetry which had been inscribed on two sides of the square base, and the Rev. ’ Waaka offered a prayer for a blessing upon the monument. Although smaller in size than the Papakura memorial, the monument, erected by her family to the memory of

the late Mrs. Keroopa is also a splendid example of Maori carving. The entire work was done in less than a year by the father of the deceased lady, Mr. Tone Waitcre, who is 77 years of aBeone of the last of the old school ot Maori carvers, and a survivor of the Tarawera eruption in 1888. This memorial also takes the form of-a carved totara pillar with a figure representing the deceased, surmounting it. borne question arose among the Maoris as to why the figure was wearing a haka mat, but this was explained by the carver as being intentional, as his daughter had been a notable exponent of the dance and had acquired fame by that means.