HAPUAKORARI

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 May 1940, Page 9

HAPUAKORARI

LONG-LOST TARARUA LAKE

Located at Head of Makaretu Stream

(Specially written for the "Times-Age" by Charles Bannister.)

Much time has passed since the trip in search of the lost lake called Hapuakorari, described in a previous article. When the Tararua Forest area was formally handed over to the Government by the Maoris at a ceremony which took place in Masterton in 1875, the 1000 acres reserve surrounding the mysterious lost lake, not having been located, was not surveyed and the matter was forgotten for many years. Some of our local Maoris in the 90's, being short of cash, revived their claims and demanded a settlement. Negotiations were in progress and among the suggestions was one to give the Maoris the equivalent of good land in the Wairarapa as this would be of more use to them than a wild, inaccessible area in the mountains, on which they were not keen at any time. Unfortunately for this idea, a party of well-known Wellington trampers headed by Messrs W. J. Butcher and Geof. B. Wilson, in their exploration on the western side of the Tararuas, found on the northern shoulder of the Oriwa mountain peak a sunken basin corresponding in detail to the lost lake. Apparently some fault had developed in the bed of the lake and the water had vanished, but according to the trampers’ description the pebbled beach, fine trees, flax, and rare plants still remained, but no skeletons of two-headed eels could be found. The drainage area lies at the extreme head of the Makaretu Stream, which runs into the Ohau River. This bears out the old Maori story of giant flaxsticks being found in that river. The Ohau River joins the Makaretu and at the source of the latter stream is Hapuakorari. From what Mr Geof. Wilson told me those trampers had an enjoyable time on the trip up that stream, sometimes proceeding through gorges and then across flats covered with beautiful beech trees, where the undergrowth was mostly. ferns up to the waist. They went up past a place called Goat Canyon and then on to Bush Corner. After this the travelling got a bit more difficult and the stream was much smaller and Ihe gorges harder to get' through. At last they managed to reach the source and to their astonishment there were the remains of Hapuakorari.

The next move rests with the Maoris to prove their claim. I think they

ought to, and get what money they can from the Government and use it for building the meeting house at To Ore Ore. I really think that some acknowledgment of their rights should be made, if only for the sake of an interesting piece of history of a region regarding which so little of the past has been reliably recorded. When our party was on the slopes of Arete in 1885 and there was nothing in the way of birds or animals to replenish our food supply and we were forced to give up the search for Hapuakorari. Jackie gave one lingering glance in the direction of Oriwa and said: “I feel that the lake is over there,” and so it was. The disappearance of this lake brings forcibly to mind the strange fact that in all the multitudinous streams, rivers, gorges, valleys and peaks of the Tararuas not a single body of water exceeding two acres in extent exists. There is a small lagoon situated between the forks of the Ruamahanga River and the Ruapai Creek. It is named on the map as Lakelet. It was first located in 1898 by Messrs H. Duckett, J. Duckett and A. Harris. When he described it to the Maoris they thought it was their long lost lake, but when he said that there were no signs of flax or a pebble beach, they said that was not the place. Following is a copy of a deed relating to Hapuakorari: TARARUA BLOCK At a sitting of the Native Land Court of New Zealand at Masterton in the said Wairarapa District on 7th of June. 1881, before F. M. Brookfield and E. W. Puckey, judges, and W. M. Hikaro, assessor, in pursuance of Section 6 of the Native Land Court, 1877, in the matter of the application on behalf of her Majesty Queen Victoria for definition of the interest acquired by the Crown, the Court doth Order and Declare that the parcel of land known as Tararua containing 114,500 acres is subject *to a grant of 1,000 acres at Hapuakorari. unsurveyed, to be made in favour of Te Keepa Rangihiwinui, Manihera Rangi Takaiwaho and Matiaha Mokai. Witness the hand of F. M. P. Brookfield, Judge and Seal of the Court. Signed. F. M. P. Brookfield. Presiding Judge.