Hangi Steam

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 168, 6 October 1927, Page 14

Hangi Steam

On Eden’s Slopes Maori Cookers HISTORY OF FORTRESS (Written for THE SUN ~bu GEORGE GRAHAM). Steam will curl heavenward from the hangi f or earth oven, on ancient Maungawhau, as Mount Elden was known to his Maori occu* piers, on Saturday afternoon. A demonstration of cocking has been arranged under the auspices of the Auckland Museum and Institute by the Akarana Maori Association. The old-time method of cooking foe is still in general use among tl Maori people. Saturday’s demonstrj tion is intended to show, as closely i

possible, the various stages of the operation from the initial excavation of the oven to the completion of the cooking and the opening of the oven, and the final serving of the food. INTER-TRIBAL WARFARE Maungawhau was one of the largest and most famed of the pas, or hill town forts, of the Maori. It was first so occupied by the pioneer Maruiwi people, who had arrived in this country about 950 A.D. About 1150 A.D. and again in 1350 A.D., two further large Immigrations arrived in canoes from Tahiti and Rarotonga. The earlier were the Te Tini-o-Toi (the people of Toi), and the latter the people of “the Fleet” (the canoes Arawa, Matatua, Tainui, etc.)The settlement of these various people involved them in much intertribal warfare, principally in connection with their territorial occupation and boundaries —Mount Eden was then the Maori political and military centre of this district, formerly known as Tamaki-makau-Rau, and was therefore prominent in the history of those troublous times. The details of these wars are now mostly forgotten. But it is known that Mount Eden held its own throughout these troubles. The invasion by Maki (from Taranaki, 1600 A/D.), Kawharu (from Kaipara, 1680 A.D.), did not affect the security of the people of this stronghold, though much of the surrounding country was laid waste. About 1700 A.D., the tribes here, then known as the Waiohua, became involved in a disastrous warfare with the people of Hauraki. who invaded this isthmus to revenge the deaths of some of their chiefs. These people had been visitors to the Mount Eden pa. and were murdered on their return journey, near St. John’s College. The Mount Eden people were blamed as being the instigators of that crime. In this resultant warfare, the Mount Eden pa, after a long siege, was af last captured and destroyed. Its people were nearly all killed or enslaved. From that time the mountain was not reoccupied. It became a wilderness of fern and tea-tree scrub, and was regarded as a tapu area. About 1760 A.D., the Waiohua tribe, who were still a numerous people and held forts on many of the other neigh houring hills, were finally conquered by the Ngati-Whatua people, of Kaipara This conquest was to avenge murders committed by the Waiohua chief. Kiwi Tamaki, of One Tree Hill. At Titirangi, Kiwi was defeated in battle and his tribe decimated, only a remnant escaping to Waikato. DESERTED WILDERNESS Throughout these troubles. Mount Eden still remained a deserted wilderness. ' It was so when in 1820 Major Cruise unsuccessfully attempted to ascend the mountain on the eastern side. The dense and trackless scrub, however, prevented his success. It was not till 1840 that Mount Eden solitudes were again disturbed. In that year Captain Symonds and his survey party ascended the mountain and placed the original trig station in position. In that year the Treaty of Waitangi was signed and British Sovereignty was proclamed over New Zealand. In the following year the first lands thereabouts were purchased by the Crown from the natives, and Mount Eden’s summit formed the southern boundary to the first of such sales. In later years the mountain was proclaimed by the Government as a reserve. The Maori name Maungawhau means the whau, a shrub, mountain. The name Eden was given to the district by Governor Hobson, being the family name of Lord Auckland, who was a political leader in the Home Government.