Manu Rere (Cook Islands)

I rotopū i te marama o Māti, i te mata‘iti 1843, e te marama o Titema, i te mata‘iti 1844, e puka-nūti e te ‘akaāriāri, ta te Kūki ‘Āirani, no te au ‘epetoma tātakita‘i, te kapiki‘ia ana e, ko Te Punavai Rarotonga (The Fountain), i raro ake i te ‘aka‘aere‘anga a te London Missionary Society (LMS). Kua taeria mei teta‘i 30 mata‘iti, i muri mai, i nene‘i ‘aka‘ōu‘ia ei teta‘i nūtipēpa ki roto i te Kūki ‘Airani. Ko Te Manu Rere teia, (The Flying Bird), tei ‘akamata‘ia i roto i teta‘i taime, i roto i te mata‘iti 1870. 

Na te ‘orometua Reverend James Chalmers (1841-1901), e tangata tūtū-‘ēvangelia no te LMS, tei tae atu ki Rarotonga i roto i te mata‘iti 1867, i ‘akamata i Te Manu Rere. Kua  ‘ānau‘ia a Chalmers ki roto i te ‘oire tautai o Ardrishaig, i Scotland’s Loch Fyne, i te mata‘iti 1841, e kua ‘akatā‘inu‘ia i te mata‘iti, 1862. Te tāmanako ra ‘aia kia tono te LMS iāia kia tūtū-evangelia mua kia ‘Āperika, māri ra, kua tono‘ia ‘aia, e tāna va‘ine mua, koia ‘oki a Jane, ki te Kūki ‘Airani. Kua ‘anga‘anga ‘aia ki Rarotonga i te ma‘ata‘anga o te mata‘iti 1870, e kua mā‘ara‘ara‘ia ‘aia no tōna mātūtū i te tamaki i te ora‘anga kai kava, e te terēni aronga tūtū-‘ēvangelia.

I roto i tāna tātā‘anga no runga i tōna ‘uā‘orāi ora‘anga, tei, ‘akapapa‘ia e Richard Lovett, te tuatua ra a Chalmers no runga i te au pēre pēpa tei tuku‘ia atu i teta‘i au taime, ki Rarotonga, e te Religious Tract Society i rauka ei iāia i te nene‘i i teta‘i nūtipēpa. Kua nene‘i‘ia Te Manu Rere i te au rua ‘epetoma tātakita‘i, i te ‘akamatamata‘anga, e kua neke atu ki te ‘ōkota‘i marama tātakita‘i.  Kare i kite meitaki‘ia e, ‘ē‘ia tu‘anga o Te Manu Rere tei nene‘i‘ia, i te mea e, e rua rāi tu‘anga no te ‘openga mata‘iti 1870, e vai nei. 

Kua karanga a Chalmers e, ko te ‘ātui‘anga atu i te ‘iti tangata Kūki ‘Airani, e te papa‘a e no‘o ana ki roto i te pā ‘enua, ki te au mea e tupu nei i roto i te ao i va‘o ake. Te ‘irinaki nei a Chalmers e, kua ‘autu ‘aia i roto i teia, na roto i te tātā‘anga ki roto i tāna au mā‘ara‘ara‘anga, i teta‘i ariki (kare e ingoa) tei manako kia tono‘ia te tangata ki Varāni e Prussia, i te ‘āpi‘i i te Papa‘ā, i te kino o te turanga tamaki (‘eia‘a rā ki Pāpua), i muri ake i te tatau‘anga no runga i te tamaki, i roto i Te Manu Rere. 

Tei roto i te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani pouroa, te au tua poto no runga i te au mea e tupu ra, pērā kaota te nūti no runga i te au pa‘ī, te au nūti no te pā ‘enua, te au tātā‘anga mei roto i te au nūtipēpa no Aotearoa, ‘Autirēria, e pērā ‘ua atu, te au tātā‘anga mei roto i te au puka, e te au reta mei ko mai i te ‘iti tangata, tei roto i Te Manu Rere Tei roto katoa teta‘i au "‘īrava poto no roto i te Puka Tapu", māri ra, kua tāto‘u a Chalmers i te ma‘ata‘anga, ki runga i te nūti o te rā. 

Te tu‘anga o te rā ā o Noema, i te mata‘iti 1870 – e ‘ā kapi, e te toru pā i runga i te kapi ‘tātakita‘i – te au ‘akakitekite‘anga no runga i te au tae‘anga mai, e te ‘akaruke‘anga o te au poti, pa‘ī, pērā katoa te ‘akaruke‘anga o te Moa ia Rarotonga, no te Coral Queen Island, te ‘apai ra i te 60 tangata, no te ‘anga‘anga ko‘i kuāna. Kua ‘akamatakite‘ia te aronga tatau, i te rave‘anga i te moni Bolivia, e teta‘i karere mei ko i te British Consul. Po‘itirere tikāi, i te kite‘anga atu e, kare te turanga ‘āpi‘i i ‘akangaropōina‘ia, i roto i te au uiui‘anga no runga i te vāito‘anga i to ratou kite, no runga i te paunu‘anga i te teima‘a e te vāito‘anga i te mamao, e te moni paunu, tirīngi, e te pene. 

I roto i te mata‘iti 1873, kua nene‘i atu te pēpa, i teta‘i reta no ko i te a‘ui ariki o Atiu, no runga i ta ratou ‘oro‘anga no Manuae. Kua ‘aka‘ae‘ae teia i te ‘ui ariki o Aitutaki kia ‘inangaro tamaki, e kua ‘aka‘apa atu te tūtū ‘ēvangelia i Aitutaki, koia ‘oki a Reverend Henry Royle, ki te LMS e, te ‘aka‘ae‘ae nei te nūtipēpa a Chalmers i te turanga tamaki i roto i te Kūki ‘Airani. Kua ‘akakore a Chalmers i Te Manu Rere no runga i teia, te karanga nei ‘aia e, i tōna ‘aka‘oki‘anga manako, kare rāi e tau ana kia nenei ‘aia i te reta, e, e meitaki ake i te ‘akakore i te nūtipēpa. 

I muri ake i te ‘akakore‘ia‘anga Te Manu Rere, kua tere atu i te 20 mata‘iti, i nene‘i ‘āka‘ōu‘ia ei teta‘i nūtipēpa, ki roto i te Kūki ‘Airani. Ko Te Torea teia, tei nene‘i mua ‘ia, i te rā 26 o Tiānuare, i te mata‘iti 1895, e te British Resident, koia ‘oki a Frederick Joseph Moss.

Between March 1843 and December 1844, the Cook Islands briefly had, courtesy of the London Missionary Society (LMS), a weekly magazine called Te Punavai Rarotonga (The Fountain). It was to be nearly 30 years before another newspaper was published in the Cook Islands. This was Te Manu Rere, (The Flying Bird), which began sometime in 1870. 

The Reverend James Chalmers (1841-1901), a LMS missionary who arrived in Rarotonga in 1867, was responsible for starting up Te Manu Rere. Chalmers, who was born in the fishing village of Ardrishaig on Scotland’s Loch Fyne in 1841, was ordained in 1862. He had hoped the LMS would send him to do pioneering missionary work in Africa but instead he and his first wife, Jane, were sent to the Cook Islands. He was based in Rarotonga for much of the 1870s and is remembered primarily for his vigorous anti-drunkenness campaign and the training of local evangelists.

In his autobiography and letters, compiled by Richard Lovett, Chalmers mentioned the bales of paper the Religious Tract Society sometimes sent to Rarotonga, which allowed him, briefly, to publish a newspaper. Te Manu Rere was published fortnightly initially, and then monthly. It is not known with any certainty how many issues of Te Manu Rere were published, as only two issues from late 1870 survive. 

Chalmers said that his object in publishing the paper was to connect both the Cook Islanders, and the white men living in the islands, with events in the outside world. Chalmers felt he’d succeeded in this, citing in his memoirs an event where an unnamed ariki thought they should send people to France and Prussia to teach the Europeans that fighting was bad (rather than to New Guinea), after reading about the Franco-Prussian war in Te Manu Rere. 

All in Cook Islands Māori, the content of Te Manu Rere consisted of short articles on current topics, including shipping, snippets of news from other islands, extracts from newspapers arriving from New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere, quotes from books, and letters from the Islanders. There were also “small pieces of Scripture” but Chalmers mostly concentrated on current-day news. 

The issue of 1 November 1870 – four pages long with three columns to the page – provided details about the arrivals and departures of schooners and cutters, including the Moa’s leaving Rarotonga for Coral Queen Island, carrying 60 men to work on collecting guano. Readers were warned about accepting Bolivian money and there was a message from the British Consul. Interestingly, education was not neglected with questions to test skills in weights and measures and pounds, shillings and pence.

In 1873 the paper published a letter from the chiefs of Atiu about their claim over the atoll of Manuae. This provoked the ariki on Aitutaki to talk of war, and the missionary at Aitutaki, Reverend Henry Royle, complained to the LMS that Chalmers’ newspaper risked provoking violence in the Cooks. In response, Chalmers closed down Te Manu Rere, saying on reflection he felt he shouldn’t have published the letter and it was better to close the newspaper down. 

After Te Manu Rere closed, it was more than 20 years before another newspaper was published in the Cook Islands. This was Te Torea, first published on 26 January 1895 by the British Resident, Frederick Joseph Moss.