Learning History

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 7, 30 March 1927, Page 13

Learning History

THANKS TO LINDAUER AUCKLAND’S MODERN WAY MUSEUM’S TATTOOED FACES Breathes there a 'man with soul so dead who never to himself hits said; “ This is my own 3 my native land?” Curran Street School children certainly do not think so. This morning they visited the Old Colonists’ Museum, sacred repository of Auckland’s early treasures, and decided that the modern way of learning New Zealand history was ever so much more congenial than the manner in which their fathers acquired it. Take, for instance, Maori history. Curran Street children are particularly interested in Maori history. From the Museum walls native notabilities peered down upon these present occupiers of the Land of the Long White Cloud. Lindauer, famous German artist, has for all time preserved their distinguished features for future New Zealanders. SOPHIA, ROTORUA'S HEROINE Sophia, the Rotorua guide and heroine, when Lindauer first knew her, was not yet touched by the heavy hand of time. No wrinkles covered her brown brow. An attractive young woman in the first blush of womanhood. Huria Martin, New Zealand’s Grace Darling, and equally well known in the hist ory books, smiled pleasantly. She, too, was in her early bloom. Tuhoto, Rotorua tohunga, learned in the secrets of Mother Nature, excited not a little interest. The wily old native, you see, had been buried for nearly five days during the Tarawera eruption, and yet contrived to live to a ripe old age. Fearsome was Heta Te Haara, who hailed from Ohaeawai, an old “Die Hard,” one of the very last to sign the Treaty of Waitangi. Lindauer painted him as late as 1896, yet the old chieftain still wore the Dundreary whiskers that the Duke of Edinburgh, our first Royal visitor, made so popular in the 60’s. . . . In a group of “moderns” were the late Sir James Carroll, silver-tongued orator of the House in his prime; handsome Parata from Waikanae; the tattooed Wi Tako, who also sat in Parliament; likewise H. K. Taiaroa, M.L.G., from Otago, and Hone Heke, M.H.R., from the Far North. BLUEST OF BLUE BLOOD . . . The bluest of blue blood was represented by King Tawhiao, who boasted descent from Viking ancestors in the Tainu; canoe. And what schoolboy has not revelled in the bravery of Rewi Maniapoto, hero of Orakau, whose defiant “Ake! Ake! Ake!” will echo right down through New Zealand history. Bishop Pompallier, George Augustus Selwyn, Samuel Marsden, Tasman, Cook, Hobson. Judge Maning, Wiremu Tamehana (the Kingmaker), and other names equally famous on the New Zealand scrolj of honour are all in the Old Colonists’ Museum. Even the burly Seddon is seen carrying Sir George Grey—possibly the greatest name in the early history of three important sections of the British Empire—when the “Great ProConsul” could no longer ascend the steps to a London photographic studio. Pathetic, too, is the little ivory fan which the Rev. Richard Davis brought to New Zealand in 1823. Weathered and now dust are the fingers that caressed it. In all its Victorian pomp and majesty stands Mrs. tea urn, like every other substantial and unimaginative relic of the age of antimacassars. Nearby lies a Bible which the Maoris politely purloined when they sacked Kororareka, the first seat of Government, in 1845. PRICELESS COOK RELIC Not the least interesting in a collection undoubtedly priceless is a piece of rasp taken from Cook’s “Endeavour” when she called at Mercury Bay in 1769. It was given to Baron de Theirry by the chief Taniwha in 1848, so any Doubting Thomas need not doubt its authenticity. And that is how, in this year of grace 1927, young New Zealanders ars taught history.