Te Miringa Te Kakara will rise again

Tu Tangata, Issue 11, 1 April 1983, Page 23

Te Miringa Te Kakara will rise again

Story by Charlton Clark Pictures by Ministry of Works

Fire has destroyed a unique piece of New Zealand's Maori history, in the form of an unusual cross-shaped meeting house at Te Hape, near Benneydale in the King Country.

It was Te Miringa Te Kakara, well over 100 years old and built in the shape of a cross. It boasted totara bark walls and roof, and was held together without a single metal fastening such as nails, screws or wire. Instead, its builders used lashings and pegs to bind the structure. It was not carved, and it had never been painted. When it was destroyed in

January, it was in a very dilapidated condition, 'although its timbers were still surprisingly sound. Local Maoris were about to restore it with the help of the Historic Places Trust when the fire dashed their hopes. Now, however, they plan to build an almost identical replacement with the money and timber they had got together for the proposed restoration.

Its cross shape was probably unique among existing Maori buildings in the country, according to a report on its restoration potential prepared by Ministry of Works Hamilton senior architect and Hamilton Historic Places Trust member, Malcolm Campin.

Mr Campin has since drawn plans for the new building, and he envisages that among the few concessions to modern technology will be the use of concrete bases in which to set the pillars so they do not rot below ground level.

Te Miringa Te Kakara’s history has become somewhat confused with the passage of time, and differrent people have their favourite stories about it, which others sometimes dispute.

Mr Campin wrote that it was one of a succession of whare wananga on the site, where young rangatira learnt their craft under the guidance of appropriate tohunga.

According to Mr Campin’s research, four whare wananga of the ancient school of Io were established at Tamaki, Kawhia, Whatawhata and Pio Pio by the Tainui people during the early period of their settlement.

Whare wananga

As their population grew, Ngati Rereahu, Whakatere, Maniapoto and Matakore tribes established further whare wanganga on the northern edge of the then great central forest area of what is now known as the King Country.

These were at Ngahape, Hurakia, Waimihi and Pureora, Te Miringa Te Kakara being the last house of the Pureora school. These schools were established between about 1550 and 1600, Mr Campin wrote.

Over the years the buildings decayed and were rebuilt, and the instruction of young chiefs in sacred matters continued.

But Te Kuiti elder Bob Emery does not believe there was a previous whare wananga at the site before Te Miringa Te Kakara was built, probably some time between 1850 and 1870, although he knew of other very old ones in the region.

The discrepancies in the accounts of the house’s origins begin even before it was built, and it would be wrong here to favour one group’s beliefs over another’s, so we shall give all the known ones an airing.

One tradition has it that after the Battle of Orakau Pa in 1864 the last great battle of the Waikato Wars King Tawhiao and his people retreated into the King Country, where he soon received visitors from Ngati Rereahu.

When he realised Rereahu had no place to receive and entertain large groups of manuhiri, he told a leading chieftainess, Ngaharakeke, she should build a house, which confirmed a tohunga’s prediction of two years earlier.

But Bob Mahue, the chairman of the trust board which administers the site, says its constuction had nothing to do with Tawhiao. It was built after a kuia of Rereahu dreamt of a house which came from heaven.

When her people asked her what the house looked like, she took two fern branches and laid them down in a cross hence the building’s configuration.

Told story

Mr Mahue said the woman was his own great-great-grand aunt, and he was told the story by his father and uncles.

Another version of the house’s origins says it was built by a sect called Pao Miere not to be confused with Pai Marire which was formed to combat makutu.

And yet another says it was built by or for Pai Marire adherents themselves, but Mr Campin believes there is little evidence to back this opinion.

Tradition has it, too, that the cross shape signified it was open to the four winds, symbolising its use by all the hapu of the district, rather than just one. But Mr Mahue says it was definitely a Ngati Rereahu house.

Mr Campin wrote that its site was in a kind of no-man’s land between a number of hapu territories. A kuia told him that years ago she visited no less then 27 pa sites in the surrounding area, so that it represented a place of peace and learning amidst a region of war.

The ridge poles of the house lay on precisely north-south and east-west lines, and were exactly in line with large “niu” poles about I.skm away in each direction, although they cannot be

seen from the site, Mr Emery said. There are smaller niu poles also on the site.

These axes had been lined up with certain stars which rose exactly at the four main points of the compass at a certain time of the year.

It is said the tohunga who ran the whare wananga there was a man called Te Ra, who died as recently as 1949 and is buried in an unmarked grave on the site. Apparently he asked that his grave be unfenced, saying he preferred the company of sheep and cattle to that of humans. This may have been a reference to his dissatisfaction with the passing of the old traditions and beliefs, Mr Campin wrote.

Two attempts have apparently been made to fence the grave, but both fences have been destroyed by animals, so it has since been left unmarked, in accordance with Te Ra’s wishes. Mr Emergy said there may still be one or two people who know exactly where the grave is, but they would be unlikely to reveal it to anyone.

Again, the Te Ra story has its doubters. Mr Mahue does not remember Te Ra, and feels sure that if he did die as recently as 1949, he would remember him. He says other people his age do not remember him either.

Most debated But perhaps the most debated story about the house is the one about a visit to it by Te Kooti while he was on the run from the armed constabulary after escaping capture west of Taupo.

It is said Te Kooti wanted to boost his mana by visiting Tawhiao in the Waikato. News of his approach was brought to Te Ra, who conducted a ceremony with two heaps of gunpowder, only one of which burnt.

He then told his people they must not be the first to fire in any hostilities with Te Kooti, and if Te Kooti’s followers fired the first shot, they would die by their own actions. When Te Kooti arrived, he was challenged, and directed to Te Kuiti.

Another version has it that Ngati Rereahu wanted to stop Te Kooti getting through to the Waikato, thus reducing his mana further, but Te Ra apparently decided Te Kooti was no threat to the peace and prevailed upon his people to let him through.

Mr Emergy does not believe Rereahu did not offer their hospitality to Te Kooti, and he is sure he stayed at Te Miringa Te Kakara. To refuse hospitality would have been unthinkable to Rereahu, he says.

But Mr Mahue believes Te Kooti did not go to Te Miringa Te Kakara at all. He believes Te Kooti only went as far as Te Kuiti.

“Why would Te Kooti want to go to Waikato while Tawhiao was in the King Country at Benneydale?” he asked. There are more stories. Mr Campin wrote that a group of tohunga moved in-

to Te Miringa Te Kakara during the First World War in a bid to revive the old religion, but nothing seems to be known of their beliefs. It is thought possible they were responsible for a number of inscriptions found in the building.

The number 12 was found repeated among the inscriptions, and local people told Mr Campin it represented Christ’s 12 apostles.

Mr Mahue doubts that story too, saying he does not remember anything about a group of tohunga moving into the house.

Ngati Rereahu attempted a revival of the site between 1929 and 1931, and undertook some alterations to the house, as well as building a kitchen and dining room on the site. Mr Mahue’s parents helped in the work.

But two other marae were established in the district soon after, and Te Miringa Te Kakara again fell into disuse.

An attempt was made to restore it in the 19605, but it fell through for lack of workers. However, high hopes were held for

the latest plans to restore it, which were to do away with the 1930 s alterations and restore the original 19th century configuration and techniques, which included treating the totara bark in the traditional fashion.

Now, with the house a pile of ashes, those hopes and plans have been transferred to the idea of building an almost exact replica.

The trust still needs some more money for things like hiring a portable sawmill, but the timber, bark and labour will all be donated, and as far as they are concerned, it’s all on.

The end result, they hope, will be a unique marae to be used by all people, Maori and pakeha, who respect the traditions of the site.