History of a Great River by Nick Karaitiana To most people the name ‘Benmore’ brings to mind a picture of the new hydro-electric dam away down south in the Waitaki River Basin. Few people, perhaps, would be aware of the historical and legendary significance of the district which is now under the waters of this great new lake, and of the history belonging to all of the wide area through which the Waitaki River runs from the mountains to the sea.

Route to the West Coast The Waitaki River derives its name from the Maori words wai (water) and taki (a sounding or weeping). The words Waitaki and Waitangi have the same meaning, for the South Island Maoris did not use the nasal sound Ng, but replaced it usually with the sound K, so that for example tangata became takata, and Rangiora became Rakiora. The route up the river was frequently travelled by Maori parties on their way to the West Coast in search of the coveted pounamu (greenstone). Usually they crossed to the north of the river close to where Duntroon stands today, later crossing back to the south side at the mouth of the Otematata River.

Fed by Seven Lakes Serving for much of its length as the boundary between Canterbury and Otago, the river has its source in the Takapo and Pukaki Rivers which are fed by the seven lakes: Lakes Takapo, Pukaki, Ohou, Te Kapaururu, Te Oteote, Otauwhiti and Whakapapa. The northernmost of these great lakes is Takapo; its correct name is Takapotiri. My Arai-te-uru relatives told me that Takapotiri was the son of Tane-mahuta the forest god, and was the tutelary deity of the kaka, kakapo, kea and tarepo birds. I believe that Parliament decided that Takapo was the correct spelling, but as we all know, the general public still continues to call it Tekapo. Opposite Takapo is Lake Pukaki, a word which means ‘a great swelling or choking in a throat’. This name refers to the time when the water comes rushing down in the flood season, and there isn't room to contain it. (The word pukaki can also mean a source, as of a river). Ohou is a lake slightly to the south-west of Pukaki. It is now called Lake Ohau, but according to my people this is incorrect. However though I have heard the name Ohou mentioned by the elders, no-one seems to know much about it. Possibly the name comes from one of the tribes who were the first to arrive here-that is Ngapuhi te Aitanga, Te Rapuwai, Waitaha, Hotumamoe, and later on the Tahupotiki or Ngai Tahu. There are two places named Ruataniwha or ‘dragon pit’; one is close to Lake Ohou and the other is by the junction of the Ohou and Waitaki Rivers. The taniwha is the counterpart of the English dragon.

The Throne of Patuki Benmore itself, the great mountain some miles away from the dam, is known to the Maori as Te Taumata o Patuki. The word ‘taumata’ usually means ‘summit’; in this case the expression can be translated as ‘the Throne of Patuki’. I have been told by the elders that Patuki was a chief whose stronghold was Raupuke Island in Foveaux Strait. He was the grandfather of the important chief Tuhawaiki, known to the Pakeha whalers as Bloody Jack. Behind Lake Ohou are the mountains now known as the Ben Ohau Range. Their old name was Maukatua, or ‘the foremost range of mountains’ (the word mauka is the South Island equivalent of maunga). Alongside them, at the headwaters of Lake Ohou and between the Dobson and Hopkins valleys, is a smaller range of mountains formerly known as Te Taremauka a te Atua, though a more recent Maori word for them is Maumau. Te Taremauka a te Atua means ‘the raised-up mountains of the god’.

Many Names Recorded The Hopkins River was formerly Otao or ‘driftwood’, and the Huxley River was Tairau, which means ‘a stake or peg’. Broderick Pass, which was very much in use in the old days,