Moioio Island: One of the earliest Ngai Tahu bases

Tu Tangata, Issue 2, 1 October 1981, Page 25

Moioio Island: One of the earliest Ngai Tahu bases

By Barry Bailsford

Sweeping along Tory Channel on the Inter-island Ferry, few passengers would notice tiny Moioio Island off Erie Bay. A dense canopy of native bush conceals the abundant evidence of Maori life that is sculptured into almost every habitable space on its surface.

Today, only the occasional bird call breaks the silence of Moioio. In times past, it rang to the laughter and cries of children and the harsh screams of war.

Moioio Island was one of the earliest Ngai Tahu bases established in the south during their migrations from Hataitai, Wellington in the late 1600’s.

It was still an important pa in the 1830’s and the Maori presence is engraved so deeply on its terrain in houses, terraces, linking pathways and pit structures that it is very easy to feel the drama that springs from its past.

The Moioio traditions have been recorded by Canon James Stack. He describes the Ngai Tahu migration from Hataitai to Moioio and the shattering events that were to follow.

SETTLEMENT, ABANDONMENT

What caused the step to be taken was this: Tapu, a Kahununu chief, heard those who had seen Rakai tauwheke’s house at Hataitai praising the workmanship of it, and, being jealous, said: “What is his house to my Kopapa, which will carry me along the backbone of Rongo rongo.”

These words coming to Rakai tauwheke’s ears, were interpreted by him to mean a curse, and when Tapu afterwards came on a visit with some friends to Hataitai, Rakai tauwheke fell upon him and killed him, but spared all his companions, whom he allowed to return safely home.

But dreading the vengeance of Tapu’s tribe, the Ngai Tahu abandoned Hataitai, and crossed over the straits in a body to Moioio, an island in one of the sounds close to Kai hinu, where there was a mixed settlement of Ngaitara and Ngatimamoe.

Here they lived peaceably with their neighbours for some time till

their anger was aroused by the discovery that they had joined in eating the corrupted body of a Ngai Tahu man which they had found in the forest, where unknown to his friends, he had died. This was considered a very gross insult, and was avenged in the following manner: Someone was sent to fetch the leg and thighbones of Te ao Marere, a Ngaitara chief, whose remains had been lately discovered in a cave by some Ngai Tahu women when gathering flax on the slopes of Kaihinu. Out of these bones hooks were made, and when Ngaitara went out to fish, a Ngai Tahu man, taking one of the hooks, went with them. When the fish greedily attacked the bait, and were drawn up to the

surface in rapid succession, he said, in a tone to be heard and remarked: “How the old man buried up there nips.” The words were noted, and it was agreed that they could only refer to the desecration of their chief’s grave. To set the question at rest a person was sent to examine it, and it was found that part of the skeleton had been removed. As the Ngaitara did not regard this as a justifiable act of retaliation for their having eaten the body which they found, they determined therefore to avenge it. An opportunity of doing so was afforded to them shortly afterwards, when a party of Ngai Tahu women came as usual to the neighbourhood of Kaihinu to gather flax.

While they were busily employed at their work, the Ngaitara attacked and killed the whole of them, amongst whom was the daughter of Puraho. This chief mourned sorely for his child and vowed to avenge her; but before he could do so, lie was himself killed by the same people, who, feeling that they had incurred the vengeance of Ngai Tahu, were resolved to follow up what they had done to be the first in the field. Observing from the mainland, which was only a short way off, that Puraho and Manawa went every morning at dawn to perform certain offices of nature at a particular spot where they had dug two holes together for the purpose, it was arranged to plant an ambush near the spot to lie in wait for them. Accordingly, during the night, two warriors were sent to secrete themselves in the holes, where, hidden by the cross beams, they awaited the coming of the doomed men.

At break of day the two approached; Puraho being in advance, was the first to turn and sit on the beam. Manawa was about to do the same, when he was startled and prevented by the uprising of the warrior under Puraho, who killed that chief by a sudden blow on the back of the head. Manawa immediately fled and escaped into the pa. The death of Puraho convinced Ngai Tahu of the insecurity of their position at Moioio, and they determined to abandon it and to remove to O te Kane, at the mouth of the Wairau River, where they built a strongly fortified pa. As soon as they had provided for the safety of their families, they began to take measures for avenging the death of Puraho, and the women so mercilessly slaughtered by Ngaitara. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE Life on Moioio was not finished by the savagery of the Ngaitara-Ngai Tahu feud. The island was highly valued for its defensive qualities; its

closeness to the fisheries of Tory Channel and the blue waters of Cook Strait and its proximity to kumara growing lands at the head of Erie Bay. The archaeological evidence points to subsequent re-occupation and a long history of habitation. The rubbish heaps left by man are windows into our lives. The midden that spills out of the slopes of Moioio Island provides clues to the life of the Maori in this area. The abundance of shells, fishbone, bird bone, and charcoal stained soil that is found here indicates a long period of occupation. In addition 27 pits of the kumara storage type suggest cultivation over many years. In fact the Moioio pit complex is the largest discovered in Marlborough Sounds. The gardens, presumably in Erie Bay, have been obliterated in European farming activity. LIFE ON MOIOIO What would life be like in such a location in prehistoric times? The milder weather of the Sounds would make for a tolerable existence

although the sharp cold of winter sou’westers could not be avoided. Many of the houses on the island had a raised rim around their perimeter. This suggests earth was heaped up around the outer walls to keep out drafts at ground level.

Food was plentiful in Tory Channel but a great amount of time had to be put into gathering it and drying and preserving it against the winter. The kumara gardens required frequent attention because once the fertility of the soil was worked out after a few years cropping another patch had to be cleared and worked up with stone and wooden tools. The original gardens were often ready for replanting after lying fallow for about 15 years.

In early times Moioio probably stood on its own as a settlement with a population of 150 people but in later years Kaihinu Point pa was developed and together they made a powerful base for the hapu. George Angas left us invaluable paintings of structures that existed on both pa in 1844. From this pa base, the various whanau of the hapu went out for weeks at a time to gather shellfish and fish to dry, rats, weka and pigeons to preserve in fat, forest ferns and fern root to process.

They were seagoing nomads who carried with them in their canoes all the necessities of life. In a matter of minutes they could construct a snug

overnight shelter from poles they carried in the canoes and local vegetation. For longer stays they built more permanent dwellings about 2Vi metres wide and up to 4 metres long. These were usually made from cut saplings bent over and stuck into the ground to form a hooped framework. These dwellings were entered by crawling in through a narrow hole at one end and were too low to stand up in. However, they were warm, dry, sleeping places when heated by a fire near the entrance way.

NATURE DICTATED As the Maori travelled the Sounds and ventured into Cook Strait they had to be careful for signs of coming bad weather and watchful to visit the food gathering areas in the right harvest seasons. Life was dictated by nature’s patterns and nature could not be hurried or delayed. What nature provided, man would wrench from you. The hapu had to be eternally vigilant to protect the gardens and store houses from raids by nearby enemies. It was not sufficient to be a successful hunter-gatherer-gardener in the pa period after 1600 AD. It was also necessary to be a highly skilled warrior. If Moioio and Kaihinu Maori follow the evidence revealed in research in other South Island areas life was hard, short and punctuated by pain.

A life expectancy of 30 years was the allotted time for the Pa Maori people. They were terminally old at 40 and few, if any, lived beyond 45 years. Although such a life span might seem appallingly short by our standards, it was typical of most societies before the intervention of modern dentistry and modern medicine. In 1830, Jacky Guard, tough ex-con-vict, sealer, whaler, trader and adventurer brought his 16 year old wife from Sydney to set up camp at Te Awaiti in Tory Channel. Then European ways began to impinge on Moioio life.

Some of the men became whalers and developed new skills as hunters in the Strait. One remarkable indication of the changes that were to follow is engraved in a piece of slatelike stone recovered from Moioio during an archaeological survey. On this ‘slate’ a Maori incised letters of the alphabet and other symbols that suggest religious signs found on the vestments of missionaries. When holding this ‘slate’ it is not difficult to envisage the student painstakingly working it with a sharpened iron nail. Mission stations established in the area in the 1830’s endeavoured to bring education to the Maori. This artifact is possibly our last tangible link with the people who lived out their lives on Moioio Island.