LOCAL LORE

Hokitika Guardian, 23 February 1922, Page 4

LOCAL LORE

(To the Editor). gi, —Particularly interesting was your article on “Local (.ore” -in l l ' l day’s issue of the “Guardian,” and gratifying indeed to all students or that branch of history is it to find so much editorial space sympathetically dlevoted to the encouragement 0f,., such a desirable study.

Rapidly passing away from our midst are the grand old pioneering peoples of the Coast, and Indore. it. is too late it urgently behoves some band I of workers’in the broad field of, historical ..research to take upon itself to gather in the rich harvest of old tune stories and experiences that so wil-1 lingly fall-from the fading lips, ;*id winnowing the grain of reminiscence from the straw, to preserve to posterity in tine great granary of written record a golden treasure of otherwise unobtainable information which in the fullness of time will prove of unsurpassable interest to the generations yet to come. Who better could understand this good work than our local school children of the senior classes? Now

the fact of their Australian cousins .having operated in similar research with happv success may induce an ear y I commencement in following the excellent lead. 1 feel sure our worthy Hector and the head teachers of most of the schools adjacent to Hokitika and even otherwise further afield would willinglv supervise some scheme based ()n the Emmaville system, to include not only the compilation of early information but also to deal with the origin nnd meanings of our place naiifes. The results obtained could appear weekly in the “About Westland” column of the “Guardian,” but eventually would form part of an up-to-date pocket history and souvenir of Westland, perhaps issued conjointly by some of our advancement societies. There is not the slightest doubt there would be a ready demand for such a work il sold at a reasonable price and any excess profits could lie used in purposes of town improvements. The study ef nomenclature widens up a pleasing scope to the enquiring mind of the energetic scholar as usually it is found that, a nation’s history is inseparably bound up with it’s placenames. The Maori transplanted to this soil many names from his ancestral homes, hut lie could not tell us as to where the original places wore, and it was left to the kindred sciences of ethnology and philology to trace the homelands back across the trackless o';can to the countless isles ot the Pacific, to Samoa, to the Tonga, Group, Bsmes, Java, Sumatra, hack through India to the cradlelands of the C’siu- , a.-inn race of which latter the .Maoii (Polynesian) is a distant branch. In the work of searching back the place names played an important pint, and m India are found hundreds of such cot responding with New Zealand names. Per example Piripiri, HiUiigariri, law a, Manapouri. Many are slightly disguised in character as lyaranasi which equals Taranaki.

On the West Coast the name Aralmra was introduced from the Aititfaki island in the Cook Group, there Ara uia and is identical with the Asian Arapm:a. The river Arawata is believed to be called after the Indian Saraswati, aq,d so forth. Many of our Coast names perpetuate the memory of old time Maori navigators, such as Kii;i-ki,ri-Ivttata, Aorangi and Aroarukuihe, all chiefs who arrived about 132.) A.I). in the Arai-ite-um canoe. Another canoe of the Migration, the

Arawa, under a noted chief, MaLiim, was approaching our shores when the captain called; the attention of his companions to the red blaze made ’midst the venture fringing the shores by the scarlet blossoms of the poinitnkawa trees. One Faunilsinihi who was wearing as a head dress a bright red wronthimmediately on landing threw aside this covering am) having gathered some of the brilliant Christmas rata flower-, made a fresh one. M'ahina picked up tlie discarded .wreath and wore it, so a favourite and well-known lake was named, in reference to this incident— Mahina-a-Pua, or the flower of Mahiiia.

One of the canoes from Hawaiki comic t 0 grief on Westland’s inhospitable shores —the forerunner of many a Pakeha wreck. This was the Tairea, whose story will keep. Train passengers may have noticed the named emblazoned above the lintel of the Hall at Arahura Pali, in commemoration of the old' time

vessel. Other ships since those of the Maori have lent their names to our nomenclature. Captain Gibson (whose name is associated with Gibson’s Quay), was employed by the Canterbury Provincial Government in 1865 to explore the West Coast and in May of that year his little steamer, the Bruce, entered the Bav which has since borne his vessel’s

name. The Waipara river, a tributary of the Arawluita, was named after the s.s. Waipara. The Omeo lead was called after the s.s. Omeo, 1000 tons burthen in the Melbourne to Hokitika direct run. In the old wold rush days, when every gully and creek had its party of prospectors, men of all sorts and conditions, men of every country, colour and creed, when personal names were at a discount and people were more easily distinguished' by characteristically descriptive soubriquets, many queer names were placed on the map @f Westland, such as Brandy Jacks, Black Jacks and Red Jacks, Roaring Meg, Flower o’Wheat. The nationalities of the newcomers left a lasting mark on our topography, in German Gully, Italian Gully, Scandinavian Gully and the like. Fenian lead recalls the Fenian riots. Chicanominy, near Stafford town is a north American Indian name, and called after a town in Maryland. ■Further south we have Sioux and Cheyenne creeks. Stafford town, the old six mile diggings, once upon a time was known as Pegljeg because the storekeeper had a wooden leg. Woodstock, one time Arthurstovn, after a prospector named Arthur from Arthur’s PpipJ, OtagQ, is called after Sir Walter S.cott’s’ novel, apd the name was chosen by $. Qlements. The Government department have given many names. The telephone office at Tokors is called Maraehoko, a name suggested by the late John Tainui and derived from Marae —a yard, and boko, to sell, because the saleyards are handy to here. Ho Ho should We Hau Hap. cm \he o,tira line, in Maori could mean “the pah at the

end of a point of land” is really the Mapricised form of the name of one of our leading - citizens, and foyipprly "’as known ns.lititW’s Sjdipg.Ruatapu in Mttpri mythology was a rather vindicative, young man, blit bis ?story also may wait for the present. The proper- name of- the locality called Ruatapu is “Bqppi.” Greek and Roman mythology is well represented in our place names‘and quite a number of- the lesser Alpine peaks are called after the heroes of' the “Iliad.” A group, of mountain points bear the names of letters in. tlte Greek alphabet | Alpha, Beta, Delta and so on. The Franz Josef Glacier was called after the then Emperor of Austria by Sir Julius Von Haast when Government geologist, and 1 he was responsible for many other German names as Unser Frito Falls and Mount Bismarck. Our own rulers and statesmen are represented by Grey, Fox, Weld, Stafford; Bonar, etc., and' the natives of?the earlier citizens are numerous such as .Mt Bevan, Lake Ellery, Dee’s Creek, MacFarlane’s Peak, Con’s Creek. Musical terms have contributed such names as Minim and Quaver Creeks. Great navigators are represented by I Cook, La Perous'e, Tasman etc., but I the theme is almost inexhaustible. On No Namie Greek a township was surveyed mid called Nemona, which is but an aiiagrnmatic rendering of “No Name.” Maori legends are bound up in the names of many peaks such as Tumuaki, Tara-o-Tama and Tuhua. Later Maori tales dealing with more modern times such as Kaihinu. An expedition of Maori marauders from the North Island killed off the natives here, but the feast did come up to anticipations, the Westlnnders dieting apparently affecting the taste of the “meat” so the place was called Kaihinu or “eat oil.’ When the same party had crossed the Hokitika river the chief was approached by his men to go no fuithci and after due deliberation lie replied, “Kn lioki-tikn tonu.” “Return direct

back again then,” and so the place was called Hokitika. These few examples have been Quoted to arouse more than a passing interest in the nomenclature and early histoiy of the Golden West, I use the term advisedly for the Golden West it will ever remain, even when the base gold of earth to tli'e last, grain has !>ccn rescued from its hiding place, for in the words of the poet: —

“There’s gold in the morning skies, And gold when the King-sun dies, And gold in the leafy woods all day, And gold in my own dear West away ; The liquid gold of the sunlit sea That kisses the coasts wo all would see.” ] am etc.. W. P. PAYNE.