Te Aroha—Mountain of Love

Te Ao Hou, June 1975, Page 62

Te Aroha—Mountain of Love by Ernest E. Bush Aloft it stands, sentinel of Hauraki, of Ohinemuri, of the Western Bay of Plenty. Mountain of Love, it has long been the trysting place of Maori lovers, made so by the spirit of love innate in the mountain. Now the site of the transmitter that beams the television signal from Auckland to the south and west, the mountain has ever stood as a beacon in Maori lore. From its summit, 3126 ft above sea level, there are magnificent views. A road wends its way up to the transmitter, passing on its way the tailings and lake from a mine, still operated. The naming of the mountain is lost in legend; there are several stories to account for the giving of a name tha symbolises the love felt by a person for his home. Two such stories are quoted, as the origin of the name that imbued this mountain with love. Both convey the love of the beholder for his home, but each for a different reason. One looked upon the home from which he had strayed, and was seeking; the other the home she was leaving forever. Te Mamoe of Maketu with two slaves was wandering in a valley, uncertain of the direction of his home marae. They climbed to the summit of the mountain from which the valley came. There to the east he could see the long range of Toi (Te Paeroa o Toi), the sea of Toi, and in particular the headland of Maketu. Such was his joy, that Te Mamoe cried out: This mountain shall be called the mountain of Aroha; herein shall repose the great love of Te Mamoe for ever. The legend of Te Kahu-rere-moa carries the mark of the same love. A runaway from her village on the Thames coast, she wandered for a long time around the swamps of Hauraki, eluding her pursuers. At last, she felt safe, and climbed the highest peak that would give her both an eastward and a westward look. There, on the coast of Coromandel, lay her home, where dwelt her loved ones, from whom she was to escape a marriage that was not of her liking. The love she bore her own folk welled up within her, as she gazed seaward. Such a love — Te Aroha. Then she turned her back upon the vision, and looked to the east, to the hills of Waitaha beyond Tauranga, where dwelt the son of a chief. About this youth had grown a legend of great attraction, and Te Kahu-rere-moa was seeking to establish for herself the truth of that legend, for she was already in love with the youth. To Waitaha, then, she looked, and in her heart welled the aroha she felt for the young chief whom she was destined to wed. These are the stories they tell to explain why this Mountain of Love is a special mountain, why it is the trysting place for Maori lovers. Its summit is seen from the east and from the west. Ihenga of Arawa, he who discovered Rotoiti and Rotorua, is said to have travelled from Maketu, and ascended the mountain; Rakataura of Tainui came from Kawhia and climbed to the summit. Ihenga and Rakataura are said to have named the peaks Aroha-ki-tai and Aroha-ki-uta, the landward and seaward loves. The spirit of Te Mamoe, in gratitude, caused a stream of crystal-pure water to spring from the slopes of the mountain. The water of this stream was warm, healing and pleasant to taste. Other springs appeared, one in a cleft so deep it was known as The Mirror of Te Mamoe. A bore brought into being Mokena, the only soda geyser in the world. Although it was the discovery of gold in the vicinity by Hone Werahiki in 1880 that drew the Europeans to settle, the first white man was an Irishman, George Lipsey, who built a hotel to encourage use of the spa. But settlement came late to Te Aroha. The explorer-naturalist Dieffenbach makes no mention of occupation. The area was the

hunting ground of Ngati-Maru of the Coromandel coast. George Lipsey married Ema, the daughter of the chief Hou Mokena; he built the first weather-board house in the district, and cultivated his wife's holding of 100 acres, the site of the present town. Through the generosity of Ema and Hou, much land was given for use by the town that was to be built. The gift included the spa, known now as Herries Park (named for Sir William Herries, M.P. and Minister of the Crown, who represented Tauranga). But the early Te Aroha township consisted largely of miners' shacks; the farming community centred around Te Aroha West, where a settlement of farmers from Lincolnshire had been established. But the gold gave out. The town did not die; the fame of its spa drew people from far and near. The waters of Te Mamoe made the name of Te Aroha known throughout the world. And it is fitting that the name of the chief who through his love for that place gave the healing waters to the nation should be remembered in the soda geyser, Mokena. This mountain shall be called Te Aroha; herein shall repose the great love of Te Mamoe for ever.