Walk #96, 6th January 2023

Captain Cook’s landing place is next to a busy port. I found it disappointing.

The first thing I saw and read about coming onto the reserve were gourds. Gourds? What did that even mean? I found the site to be culturally incoherent.

The gourds are supposed to commemorate Maori canoes. According to tradition it’s been a converging site for many waka (canoes) arriving from east Polynesia. Two of the ancestors were Maia and Matuatonga, both were tohungas (priests) who occupied different banks of the river.

I’ve never heard of them. The Polynesian explorers should be remembered, but they didn’t put NZ on the map like Captain Cook did. The park has some interesting features but apart from the old monument there’s not much of Captain Cook or the Endeavour here. It’s sad because I remember how we all happily celebrated the Cook bi-centennial in 1969, but when it came time to commemorate the 250th anniversary in 2019 the mood was sour.

In 1769 conflict arose when the crew of the Endeavour went ashore. Cook was eager to make friendly contact with local Māori but in a series of unfortunate encounters several Māori were killed or wounded, and the incident hasn’t been forgotten.

It appears Cook wasn’t happy about it either;

The following day Cook took his leave and the Endeavour headed south. Initially, Cook had planned to call the bay he landed in Endeavour Bay, but instead, he renamed Tūranganui-a-Kīwa to Poverty Bay “because it afforded us no one thing we wanted”.

Puhi Kai Iti/Cook Landing National Historic Reserve

Instead of celebrating the arrival of Captain Cook, in 2019 the Ikaroa sculpture was added, a commemoration of the navigator Māia. Behind this are nine pou/poles, erected in remembrance of the Māori killed during Cook’s encounter. Nearby are the three oversized hue/gourds.

Banks Garden

The garden exhibits some of the plants native to the area which were recorded by Joseph Banks, the botanist on the Endeavour. Some of the plants in the garden were Tutu, Kawakawa, Rangiora, and Mahoe (Whiteywood).

Kaiti Hill

I found the Cook Landing Reserve underwhelming. I always try and understand a site we visit, especially when it is historic, but I didn’t feel like we were informed here. Would I visit the site again? Meh.

Crossing the road we climbed Kaiti Hill. The first monument we came to was Maia carrying a gourd.

The next monument was further up the hill, a forgotten World War 1 monument which we had to get to through long grass.

We joined a tree-lined road which winds its way up the hill which I remembered from visits when I was young. There wasn’t much at the top of the hill and the weather wasn’t good. It’s not the place I remembered.

Walking up the hill I was joined by a local with some Maori blood. He told me that when Cook arrived in 1769 the tribes lived in so much hostility to each other it wasn’t safe for anyone to cross the river.

There used to be a monument to Captain Cook with the place he named “Young Nick’s Head” in the distance. It turned out the statue wasn’t of Captain Cook but an Italian admiral. Anyway he’s gone now and the top of Kaiti Hill looks bare without him.

Walk: Gisborne 6

Links

The Cook 250th anniversary in 2019 wasn’t celebrated in NZ and here’s why.

This is the baleful tone in NZ today from the academics and news media:

The Bulletin: Vandalised Captain Cook statue shows depth of wounds

Decision to relocate Gisborne’s Captain Cook statue welcomed by local iwi

NZ anniversary: New Zealand divided over Cook’s landing

James Cook and the Transit of Venus

History

What really happened here? Older accounts are better given the revisionist’s agenda. This is written by the late Bishop W. Williams, for the Transactions of the N.Z. Institute – for you to read and make up your own mind.

Cook’s Visit in Light of Maori Tradition — Gisborne as it Was in 1769. — Natives’ Lack of Hospitality

And here’s a look at early Gisborne. Three generations of my mother’s family came from here but I have no feeling of belonging. It’s not a town where I’d want to live.

Gisborne in 1870

John Walsh, my Great-great Grandfather settled in Matawhero, Gisborne in 1881 after leaving the Armed Constabulary, where he’d served since 1870.

He said,

“White sand, little grass and much tree were the most prominent feares of Gisborne’s landscape some ty-six years ago, according to Mr John Walsh, of Mangapapa, who first viewed the town at that stage of its existence.”

Here’s his interview.

After the Massacre – Nork Of The Armed Constabulary.
Mr. J. Walsh Tells Of His Experiences.

I wonder what John Walsh of the Armed Constabulary would think of Gisborne now?