Walk #154, 29th January 2025
This magnificent Kauri escaped the axe because of its unusually square shaped trunk. It’s a short but steep climb to the tree. There’s a good view of the Coromandel mountain ranges from the platform.
Walk: Coromandel 3
Links
Walk #141, 23rd November 2024
These are two beautiful parks in New Plymouth connected to one another. Brooklands park has a rich history. There are historic trees, a 2000 year old Puriri and a very old Ginko tree.
There’s a colonial hospital building from the 1840s, a chimney from a homestead burned down in the Taranaki Land Wars of the 1860s, a zoo, and the Brooklands bowl where people go for outdoor concerts.
Pukekura park has the tearooms, fountains, waterfall and three picturesque lakes framed by trees, gardens and red bridges.
Walk: Taranaki 7
Hospitals
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori leaders petitioned government for hospitals. Funding for Māori hospitals was allocated in 1846 and the first hospitals were commissioned. The first public hospital in New Zealand opened in Wellington in 1847. Māori use of hospitals was evident from the outset.
Te Ara NZ: Establishment of hospitals in New Zealand
The Gables (above) is the sole survivor of four public hospitals built in the period.
History of the land
New Plymouth and Taranaki have a history of conflict. While we hear all about Te Whiti and Parihaka, and the nonviolent protest against land confiscation and colonial domination in the 1860s and 1880s, we never about the massacre at Tataraimaka. Tataraimaka was taken possession of in the early 1860s by right of conquest from the Europeans, who were all driven off.
I think Parihaka is great, it ended non violently and without injury except for a foot which was accidentally stood on. I talked about it with a Ngati Awa man a couple of years ago. He wasn’t aware of the European refugees from Taranaki who’d been driven off their farms and wound up in Nelson. We need history from both sides.
The following was taken from a letter by the Rev. Samuel Ironside and reprinted in the Taranaki Herald 27 June 1863;
In 1838 the whole district in question, embracing 100 miles of coastland, was depopulated. There were not more than twenty to thirty souls left there. The Waikato tribes and those further north, had overrun the place ; hundreds of the people had been killed and eaten, hundreds more had been carried into slavery by their victors, hundreds more had been driven into exile towards Cook’s Strait and Queen Charlotte’s Sound. The above twenty or thirty were all that were left in occupation.
The chiefs all signed the deed of sale. Among the parties to the sale was Wiremu Kingi who turned violent and rebellious. He was then called E Witi. They were all too glad to sell the land, and get payment for it, as they dare not return to occupy it for fear of Waikato.
Waikato
When the Waikatos heard of the sale of land which they claimed by right of conquest, they threatened vengeance against the remnant of Taranakis, and a war party of several hundreds started off to exterminate them. The missionaries including Ironside succeeded in preventing bloodshed; but the Waikato chiefs then and there asserted and maintained their rights of ownership of the conquered territory. His Excellency Captain Hobson, then Governor, in satisfaction of their claim, gave Potatau (afterwards Potatau I) £400.
So abundant payment had been made for the disputed lands — first, by the New Zealand Company to the original owners, and afterwards by the New Zealand Company to the Waikato chiefs.
In the years 1843-44, Mr Spain, then Queen’s Commissioner, after careful and patient investigation, determined that the district of Taranaki had been fairly purchased and accordingly awarded to the province the whole block extending north and south of the town, including both Waitara and Tataraimaka.
New Plymouth
The settlers came, and New Plymouth was built.
But the natives, exiled by war, returned home by degrees, now that Europeans were there as a
protection; and the Waikato chiefs allowed many of their Taranaki slaves to return. These persons began to clamour and dispute, a thing they dared not before. Ample reserves, suitably situated, had been made for the native residents but the Taranaki natives were dissatisfied, and threatened to drive all the settlers from their holdings.
In the early 1840s Captain FitzRoy, then Governor, partly in pursuance of the mischievous policy of puffing off the evil day, and partly to embarrass the New Zealand Company, that was not in high favour at home, arbitrarily set aside the award of the Queen’s Commissioner, gave back the land to the natives, and told every settler in the Waitara and neighbourhood that they remained there at their own peril — he could not and would not protect them from the natives.
The settlers were driven off their farms.
Captain FitzRoy was sacked and George Grey inherited the mess. He was instructed to take steps at once, by further payments, to acquire these lands for the province. Some of these lands were so acquired, by a further purchase; among them was Tataraimaka, where a massacre of officers and men of the 57th would later take place.
The pressure on the Maori to sell land
But the violent natives had found out their power, and ably have they used it. A large proportion of the natives were peaceable and friendly, and were anxious to sell some of their lands, in order to have European neighbours, and a profitable market close to their doors, for their pigs, potatoes, and corn. These have been overawed, and, to use an expressive, but appropriate term, bullied by the rebels, and thus prevented from exercising their rights of ownership.
As the Pākehā population of New Zealand increased during the 1850s, Māori faced growing pressure to sell their land.
In 1852 a league was formed by these overbearing natives, binding each other not to sell lands to the Government, and threatening death to any chief who should dare to do so. The peaceable natives refused to enter into this league, and have from time to time urged the Government to purchase, saying that the land was the fruitful source of quarrel among themselves, and for peace sake they wished to alienate. The league, however, have ever been strong enough to prevent Government from entertaining their proposals.
War
War broke out between the league and those who wanted to sell. Sometimes the farms of the settlers were made the battleground of the parties. The unoffending settlers were in continual anxiety and fear, and frequently suffered loss.
In 1859 Governor Gore Browne got involved. He had a large meeting of natives in the town of New Plymouth; declared that as British Governor he would protect all of them, in their rights; that he had no wish to purchase any of their lands about which they were quarrelling; that he would not buy any lands, the title of which was disputed; but that if any of them were anxious to sell and could prove their title, they certainly should sell; he would protect them.
Wiremu Kingi (E Witi) of the league blocked the sales. He said ‘that no Maori owned land, the land was owned by all the people to be used communally and individually and not to be possessed. Under Maori custom no land could be sold without the consent of all the people. As leader he must make a decision in accordance with the people’s demands.
The Governor had paid £100 as part purchase money, and surveyors were sent to lay the block out. The land leaguers resisted the survey, and appealed to the native king, Potatau, who espoused their cause.
By 1863 the former productive farms had became overrun with Scotch thistle and other noxious weeds because the natives were not being able to cultivate one-tenth of the land.
The Tataraimaka pā was left empty after the pā was sacked by a party of northern Māori during the Musket Wars, shortly before 1820. The Tataraimaka Block of land was purchased from Māori in 1847, and was the location where 200 men of the 65th Regiment were stationed during the First Taranaki War, from April to June 1860.
Martial law was declared and the settlement of Tataraimaka, twelve miles south of the town, was taken possession of by the natives, by right of conquest from the Europeans, who had all been driven off. Many settlers were murdered, some killed in war, a large number died through disease and exposure, and the district was held since 1860 by the rebel tribes.
Tataraimaka was returned to government control in early 1865.
Source: Appendix 1, The War in New Zealand, page 282 to 286.
Related post
Pukerangiora Pa, Taranaki – another battle ground
Confiscating land to pay for the war in the 1860s was a really bad idea, but in 1878 an offer was made to return the confiscated land to Waikato Maori. The offer was refused.
Source: Kapiti Coast Independent: Revising NZ History 5: Wiremu Kingi at Waitara
Links
Walk #140,19th October 2024
This is a two hour return walk between two of the lakes of Rotorua. The walk starts at Korokitewao Bay at Lake Rotoiti and ends at Lake Rotoehu.
In 1823 Hongi Hika attacked Arawa in Rotorua. He had muskets and he was bent on revenge. They dragged their war canoes from Lake Rotoehu across to Lake Rotoira using the track as a portage, and from there through a canal into Lake Rotorua.
Hongi also attacked Te Koutu pa at Lake Okataina.
A small loop track leads to Hinehopu’s tree, a sacred matai at the side of SH30. Hinehopu was hidden here as a baby and it’s where she met her husband to be, Pikiao. (This is from a different time and not related to Hongi Hika’s attack on Rotorua).
Hinehopu’s Matai tree
Korokitewao Bay, Lake Rotoira, where the track begins
Walk: Rotorua 28
Related walk
One of Hongi’s war canoes was made into a pataka that is now at Te Papa. See the walk at Papaitonga Scenic Reserve, Levin where the pataka from Te Takinga, Lake Rotoiti ended up before being donated to the Dominion Museum.
Links
Te Arawa tribes today include Ngāti Pikiao, Tūhourangi and Ngāti Whakaue
On the point on the left hand as the bay is entered, where the trees dip their thirsty branches so low that they touch the water, once stood Te Ari kainga, a village of the ancient lake people …
Walk #104, 11th January 2023
This is a much loved bush reserve. Formerly part of Woodlands Estate, Hukutaia Domain was gifted to the people of Opotiki by E.M.Hutchinson. In 1918 it was set aside as a reserve, mainly to protect Taketakerau, an ancient burial tree which was once the final resting place of the ancestral remains of the Te Upokorehe iwi. The puriri tree was highly tapu (sacred, forbidden to touch).
Taketakerau is over 2000 years old. In 1913 after the tree was damaged in a storm, a large cache of bones was discovered hidden deep within the hollow of the old tree. After the tree was damaged the remains were buried elsewhere.
As well as the puriri burial tree and mighty tawa trees, the reserve has rare plants and abundant bird life. This is the noisiest reserve we’ve walked through as far as the birds go, probably because the pests and predators are kept down.
I give the reserve a triple A – for ancient, atmospheric and amazing.
I recommend this walk.
Walk: Bay of Plenty 19
Walk 43, 30th September 2020
The Waipoua Forest is the place to see giant kauri trees. The ancient trees we saw were Tane Mahuta and Te Matua Ngahere.
Tane Mahuta means ‘Lord of the Forest’ and ‘Te Matua Ngahere’ means ‘Father of the Forest.’
There are four walking tracks: Tane Mahuta which is just off the road, and the other track leads to the Four Sisters, Te Matua Ngahere and the Yakas kauri. The tracks to the Four Sisters and the Yakas Kauri were closed because of the threat of kauri dieback.
Kaitiakitanga: means guardianship, protection, preservation or sheltering. It is a way of managing the environment, based on the traditional Māori world view. The guardian of the Waipoua Forest is the Te Roroa iwi (tribe) which is part of the Ngāti Whātua confederation of tribes.
Te Roroa took over management of the Crown Forest as part of a Treaty of Waitangi Claims settlement. Te Roroa Claims Settlement Act 2008.
There are stone ruins in the Waipoua Forest area.
The late Noel Hilliam from Dargaville Museum was one of the archaeologists working on the sites in the nearby Waipoua Forest. He states that nearly half a million dollars of taxpayers money went on excavations by 37 archaeologists in 1981 and in 1983. A local Kaumatua (elder) closed the whole site down and records deposited in Wellington archives had a hold put on them for 75 years. Attempts have been made over the years to get these records released but only a few sanitized results were forth coming and all original datings (2500 BC) have been destroyed.
I did find a report from the Ministry of Justice (Te Roroa claim WAI-38) which I have linked to here: Waipoua Archeological Sites and Te Roroa History.
Here is an excerpt from section 4.1 of that report from 1990 where I’ve highlighted what jumped out at me.
It’s criminal that the sites are being destroyed and covered with pines and bracken fern. An archeological reserve was proposed in 1985 but nothing seems to have come from it and it’s very hard to find information about the stone ruins. More info is in the links below.
Walk: Northland 24 and 25
Links
Here’s a video I made from the lookout tower on the edge of the Waipoua Forest. I could hear the chainsaws from the forestry.
Forest lookout – Puketurehu Hill
‘Puke’ means ‘hill,’ Turehu’ are the original inhabitants of the land.
Turehu: Hoani Nahe, a Ngāti Maru (Hauraki) elder of the late 19th and early 20th centuries writes graphically of a people called the patupaiarehe and the tūrehu, who inhabited the land prior to the arrival of the Polynesian peoples. Source: TeAra, The Encyclopedia of NZ
Waipoua Whitewash, Challenging NZ History, Who were here first? “Waipoua Forest is best known for its primeval kauri trees, but there is also a major pine plantation in the forest which is wrecking the stone city. The roots of the pines are cracking ancient structures and when the pines are felled for timber, they’re likely to destroy a lot of the stone structures. Free ranging cattle are also damaging the site.” Source: elocal
The historic homestead is beautiful. My favourite feature is the stained glass window in the entrance foyer. I’ve been there several times before but it was the first visit for my husband and sister-in-law.
Highlights of the visit: the historic house and beautiful forest with it’s massive trees and bird-life. It’s not often you can walk through virgin bush with huge, ancient trees like Ratanui (photo on the left) and see incredibly rare forest birds like the Saddleback and the Hihi.
My own video – it’s nowhere near as good as above, but it shows the stables, and a bellbird feasting on nectar from red hot poker plants bordering the lawn.
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Picture: The Twin Ponga path, a saddleback foraging on the forest floor, and a bellbird eating nectar by the lawn.
Walk: Wanganui 16
History
James Moore from the Shetland Islands arrived in New Zealand in June 1863. He and future brother-in-law James Currie founded the Bushy Park farm around 1865.
During the 1880’s the Moore/Currie partnership ended. The farm was prosperous and by 1890 it had become a significant property. Sadly during the 11 years from 1891 to 1902 the family perished, and the sole survivor was the youngest son, George Francis (Frank) Maitland Moore.
Frank commissioned C.Tilleard Natusch to design the Bushy Park Homestead and it was completed in 1906. He never married, and passed away in 1962 aged 85. He gifted his house and the attached forest to the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.
“The seemingly never-ending maintenance of the old house was handled by teams of volunteers while further teams looked after the extensive grounds including lawns, hedges and tracks.
Frank Moore’s handyman, Ernie Paulger was the first custodian and retired in 1964. There were a number of custodians and managers in the thirty years following.”
Source: BUSHY PARK HISTORIC HOMESTEAD
Links
Saddleback at Bushy Park Wildlife Sanctuary, Wanganui
7th Dec 2024 I went for another walk where we saw the rare hihi and saddleback birds. We also saw a bellbird. This video is of the birds encountered on our walk: Bushy Park birds, Dec 2024
NZShortWalks 