80 Years A Student Of Maori Culture

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30957, 13 January 1966, Page 9

80 Years A Student Of Maori Culture

“The Press” Special Service AUCKLAND, Jan. 12. Surrounded by books, papers, and photographs on Maori history and culture, a 9 fl-year-old man sits by the window in his Thornton Bay home, answering correspondence on the subject he has studied for 80 years. Thomas William George Howard Hammond, born and raised in the Thames district, is an explorer in his own backyard and a traveller in his own district’s past. A teacher and a historian, he is an acknowledged authority on Maori and local history in the area. In the New Year honours list he received an M.B.E. for his work on Maori history and ethnology, an award which he considered declining. “It was an honour I had never expected,” he said, “and one that I felt I had not really earned.” He decided against refusing it because he might offend the people who sponsored him. There would have been many, for besides individual persons, 20 cultural organisations backed his nomination. Schools In Sheds Mr Hammond, who will be 97 on April 24, has lived, and still does live, an extremely independent existence. “I have never associated myself with any political party nor with any religious organisation,” he said, “although as a lad I attended the Baptist Sunday school until I Was 15.” In an era when settlements were still being hacked from the bush and schools were often conducted in empty sheds he worked hard for an education “My first schooling, which began in 1873 when I was four, was at the Karaka School, a small private institution,” he recalled. “In 1877, public schools were opened.” That year, he transferred to the Kauaeranga School and in 1884 earned a scholarship to Thames High School. Teaching Career “When the School of Mines was established at Thames in 1885 I was one of the first students to enrol,” he said. “1 studied there at night and during holidays while attending high school.” His teaching career began in 1886 when he was appointed a pupil teacher at the old Parawai School at a starting salary of £3O a year. Four years later he was assigned as a teacher for two half-time schools at Hikurangi and Otonga East, teaching six days a week.

“The Otonga School was only a little shed with about 20 pupils,” Mr Hammond said, “and I had to hire a horse to ride there three days a week while I boarded at Hikurangi.” At the end of the 1893 term, and after several other assignments, he was appointed first assistant at Kauaeranga Boys’ School, where he remained until it closed in 1914.

He was appointed first assistant at Thames South School for the next seven years and held the same position at Thames Central School until his retirement in 1932 after 46 years’ teaching. Maori Culture

As a teacher he influenced many pupils to study Maori culture and still corresponds with them to exchange information or answer questions.

His knowledge of Maori history and culture was gained through self-education, sustained by a life-long interest and curiosity. “My first real meeting with the Maoris was in 1876 or 1877,” Mr Hammond said, “when two other men and my father were building a house in Ohinemuri for a famous chief, Te Hira.” His interest was spurred in 1886 when he and a friend took a walking trip to Rotorua, spending three weeks touring sites in the area. “We had planned to see the famous Pink and White Terraces,” he said. “We had our camping gear all ready when the eruption took place which destroyed the terraces, but we decided to go ahead with our trip.” Began Collecting The next year he took a similar walking trip with four friends to Lake Taupo. During the next 10 years he spent all his holidays at Lake Rotoiti, where he met a great many of the Maori population. Later he became interested in the history and culture of the Maoris. “In 1902 Captain Gilbert Mair, a famous name in Maori history, invited me to see a large collection of Maori artifacts that he had discovered,” Mr Hammond said, “and this led me to collect and study the Maori culture of stone and wood implements.” Since then he has been digging out items revealing the history of the Thames area, dealing with both the Maori and European settlements. He has read and studied, collected implements, lectured and written papers and articles on the subject.

In order to understand the Maori culture, he has studied the language and is adamant about correct usage.

"I am reluctant to allow Interviews,” he said, “because many times in the past I have been misquoted through incorrect spelling or mispronunciation.

“Many people do not realise that a change of a single letter in the Maori language can mean the difference between a compliment and an insult.”

His lectures and publications gained him a reputation as an authority, and he was sought out by teachers, students. and others interested in Maori and Thames history. “In 1925, when a member of the Thames Club, I used to meet Dr. Peter Buck, Mr Hammond recalled. "He proposed me as a member of the Polynesian Society and I have continued as a member since that year.” After his retirement, Mr Hammond moved to his present home in Thornton’s Bay, a home of four or five rooms but “just not big enough for both me and my stuff.” Extensive Collection His extensive collection of Maori artifacts are grouped or scattered in the rooms and on the porch. Almost all of them are inscribed to him by the men who carved them. Books, papers, and pamphlets overflow the shelves, most of them works dealing with the early history of the country and the Maori people. A keen and accomplished photographer, Mr Hammond has cartons of pictures of Maoris, many of chiefs and famous people of the Rotorua and Rotoiti districts. Classes of school children have visited his home to see his collections and hear him talk. For years he has helped university students with information for theses relating to Maori or Thames history. His accumulated material and his willingness to assist anyone with the subject have earned him respect from ethnologists, historians, and other scholars. “I am well aware that this history and culture will some day be completely lost,” he said. “Even the carving today is getting lost to a certain extent.

“I have made a study of the Maori mode of life of ancient days and perhaps it will help to preserve this culture for future studies.”

Wool Prices.—Prices at the Geelong sales today moved in sellers’ favour, compared with pre-Christmas levels for medium and strong Merinos and all comebacks and crossbreds, the Geelong woolbrokers report.—Geelong, January 11.