NEW TOTARA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 648, 27 April 1929, Page 1

NEW TOTARA

Ancient Waiohua Tree to Rise from History PRESENT DAY REBIRTH “Totara • i - ahua • o - Karuo - te Rangi" ... A spiny-leaved totara tree Had this name all to itself. But that did nt>t stop it from wilting under the sweep of civilisation. The Waiohua people, who occupied Auckland isthmus even before their warlike, virile cousins, the Maoris, planted it in Maungakiekie, One Tree Hill Domain. Nature-lovers, the W’aiohua. Around trees, rivers, birds and mountains, they wove fanciful tales. Some of them persist to this day. The lives of the Waiohua were steeped in myth and legend. Gentler than the Maoris, they managed to impart some of their gentleness to the wilder invaders. And it was the Waiohua who planted the Karuo te Rangi totara. The big tree saw much of the inter-tribal tragedy of the early times; it saw the Waiohua empire crumble and the remnants of a fine race chased from their fortresses on Auckland’s volcanic cones. After the Maoris had ridden roughshod through Auckland, Karuo te Rangi lived. Centuries later, the tree saw the first white men. Their arrival spelt its doom, and the giant of the forest fell in the early days of Auckland's settlement. PHOENIX-LIKE But, plioenix-like, Karuo te Rangi is to rise from the ashes. Te Akarana Maori Association, ever eager to preserve New Zealand legend, is to make this possible. It has applied to the One Tree Hill Domain Board for permission to plant a totara in the Domain to replace Karuo te Rangi. There is something fine, something all-New Zealand, in the spirit that has prompted the association to maintain the age-old tradition of the Waiohua. Permission to plant the tree is, of course, practically certain. The only difference in the planting of the new Karuo te Rangi will be that it will be done in prosaic modern times, with the sound of city traffic not far away. There will not be the chanting of the ancient Waiohua people as the original totara sapling was planted in the forest glades. But the spirit will be there.