Maungahuka: the nearest maori settlement to the south pole

Tu Tangata, Issue 31, 1 August 1986, Page 24

Maungahuka: the nearest maori settlement to the south pole

□ NGA RA □ MUA

PART 1

na Buddy Mikaene (Ngati Pukenga/Ngati Ranginui)

In 1835 the Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama hapu of Te Atiawa living in Wellington felt trapped. Pressed by their former ally Te Rauparaha in the west and expecting attack from Ngati Kahungunu to the east, they sailed for Wharekauri (the Chatham Islands). They conquered its Moriori inhabitants, and made their living by selling vegetables and pork to the whaling trade.

Their easy conquest of the peaceful Moriori had given the Wharekauri Ngati Mutunga a taste for territorial expansion. A plan was made to invade distant Samoa and Ngati Mutunga approached visiting ships for transport for about one hundred people. Fortunately the whaling captains, aware that Samoa had a large and warlike population, declined to involve themselves in such a reckless scheme.

In 1842 Ngati Mutunga decided to colonise the uninhabited Auckland islands far to the south of Wharekauri. This island group had been visited ten years earlier by a chief called Tauru Matioro. Now, he and his father-in-law, Patukumikumi, chartered a ship to take them to Maungahuka, as they named their destination.

About forty Ngati Mutunga and twenty-five Moriori slaves left on the 500-kilometre journey. When they arrived, a party led by the chief Motukaraka set off to takahi the land. One walk over the bleak main island was enough for Motukaraka, and he and a companion called Tangari Te Umu got back on board the ship. Fearing that the rest of the Maoris would be of the same mind, the Captain hastily weighed anchor and sailed away.

Matioro and the rest were left stranded on the beach, and had to make shift to survive. As a protection against the harsh sub-antarctic climate, they built a pa on a bluff overlooking the harbour. They had meat, because previous voyagers had liberated goats and pigs on the island. Kekeno (seals) were sometimes eaten and their skins used, Moriori fashion, for clothing. From the sea they got kuku, and a kind of fish called kokopu. As at Wharekauri, there were young albatross to be caught on the cliff tops.

The Maoris found a substitute for flax on the island, while a plant with a leaf like a turnip top was used as a vegetable.

The humble potato was a prized crop, although there was only one part of the island where it would grow. Even then it was a struggle, for a while the tops of the plants looked normal, the tubers were only the size of marbles. It was hard to wrench a living from the land, but the Maori survived and several children were born on the island.

Just before Christmas 1849 a ship was sighted off the harbour entrance. It was the Samuel Enderby, carrying colonists sent out from England to set up a central whaling depot on the Aucklands. The islanders rowed out in their boat to meet her, and piloted the ship to safe anchorage.

Charles Enderby, the leader of the English, gathered all the Maoris together and said ‘I am the Lord of the Island, I claim all the land which you are using and all the pigs you possess.’ Glad of a chance to improve their seal meat and turnip top diet, the Maoris did not bother to dispute Enderby’s arrogant claims; they left it to the island itself to defeat the colonists.

Some Ngati Mutunga and their Moriori companions were expert sailors and found jobs on the company’s ships. Others became gardeners, or carried gravel from the beach to help in roadmaking. During the short summer season of 1849-50, a small town quickly grew up on the shores of the harbour. Relations between Maori and Pakeha on the island were not always smooth. The firearms the Maoris carried were a cause of tension, especially as these guns came from a French ship whose crew had abandoned her after a fight with the Chatham Islands Maoris, and had never been seen again. Trouble also arose when sailors competed for Maori women. Matioro’s wife was falsely accused of being unfaithful and tried to commit suicide. She hung herself from a tree by her scarf, but was quickly cut down and eventually reconciled to her husband. He must have been relieved, because she had made it known that if she died, her bag of gold was going with her!

Hope and hard work alone could not make the lonely Aucklands liveable, and in 1852, when the Pakeha colonists heard the news of the Australian goldrushes, they decided to abandon the island. For the Maoris the news of the departure of the English was a disaster. Not only would they lose their steady jobs, but also their access to stores and supplies.

Faced with the prospect of once more being marooned, the Maoris wrote to the Governor Sir George Grey. Grey ordered them to be supplied with a whaleboat and a flock of sheep. With these meagre resources the Maoris were abandoned, in the nearest human settlement to the South Pole.

Four years later Ngati Mutunga at Wharekauri chartered a ship to rescue their whanaunga. The leader of the rescuers was the same Tangari Te Umu, who, fourteen years earlier, had escaped from the Aucklands with Motukaraka. The rescue party did not get the welcome they expected. After they landed, both sides began to tangi to each other. Tangaris sister-in-law Ngapera had armed herself with a stout stick. ‘Yes’ she said, ‘you have come now after all these long years to fetch us away! You left us here to die. I will not go back with you. I will die on the land where you deserted me!’ With that she crashed her stick onto Tangaris head, causing blood to flow. Others were given the same treatment, to which they all submitted meekly.

Then the rescuers showed that they were prepared to use force to remove Ngapera. This satisfied the pride of both sides, and all resistance crumbled. Ngati Mutunga exhumed their dead and returned to Wharekauri, thus ending their long ordeal on the Auckland Islands.

Preparing a Restoration Plan

WE are fortunate in this country that so many of the meeting houses dating from the 1880 s or early 1900 s have survived. Some are now showing signs of age and marae committees are planning to restore their whare tupuna. Buildings from the 1920 s and 1940 s may also need some maintenance work.

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust is one organisation that gives practical assistance for restoration projects. The Trust has a Maori Advisory Committee with a special task to encourage restoration of Maori buildings. Twice a year the Committee meets to decide on grants. Where a building has special problems, the Trust will send an architect to give a report and a costing for the work. Similarly, if any of the carvings are badly damaged or rotted a museum conservator will recommend treatment.

Restoration can be a long and costly job. If it is done well, the building will last another 100 years. Time spent in discussing what needs to be done and how to do it will not be wasted time. It is the basis of your restoration plan and will be a guide as more and more of the work is completed.

Preparing a restoration plan involves a number of steps: 1. Describe the building as it now stands. Make a note of any special features of the house. 2. Outline the problems that need to be fixed. 3. Try to get some idea of how you would restore the building and the costs involved. 4. Review the marae’s finances and ability to raise funds. 5. Consider whether the building is adequate for your needs or if there are changes you want to make. Let us take each of these in turn.

1. Describe the building

It is important to describe the building exactly as it is. You may want to change something during restoration but a later generation may wish to return to the original appearance. Take photographs. Describe the Kowhaiwhai patterns and the colours used. Note the type of interior lining. List the carved pieces and the name of the carver. Write down the materials that are used for the outside walls and roof and for the porch and interior.

Ask the Historic Places Trust for a Maori Buildings record form as a guide. Approach the local museum to take a photographic record of your building.

2. Outline the problems

Some will be immediately obvious a leaking roof, a wobbly floor, rotted weatherboards. Other problems can be seen

by the trained eye a sagging roof, outward moving walls. Moss and lichen growing on carvings, splitting in the wood, rot and borer, these are easy to see but more difficult to treat. You may need the expertise of a trained conservator.

3. Method and cost

Hardware stores, timber merchants and paint shops will give quotes for amounts of timber, roofing iron and paint. This will give you some idea of the overall cost for materials.

Labour costs are harder to estimate. Is the work complicated or can it be done

by local labour? How many people will be required and for what length of time. If you can use volunteer labour or can run a special government labour scheme, you will not have to worry about budgeting. Otherwise you can expect labour costs to come to quite a high figure.

4. Finances

Your financial resources could come from fundraising, from donations, from grants and from subsidies. It may be necessary to delay work until a reasonable sum is available which will allow one part of the work to be completed.

The Historic Places Trust makes grants of around SI,OOO - $4,000 for the purchase of materials for restoration work. Some local authorities give grants for restoration work on historic buildings on a marae. Maori Affairs subsidies can be applied to restoration projects.

5. Future Use of the Building

Restoration should preserve the original appearance and style of the building. Where changes are envisaged, such as extending the mahau, putting in larger windows or a door to the mattress room these should fit in with the traditional elements of the building.

Your local Council may have certain requirements which need to be met. Alternative egress for fire hazard is a common one. You should note that Councils may grant exemptions because of the historic nature of the building. This is especially true when there is a sash wdndow at the front.

Retaining a dirt floor may be more of a problem. The Historic Places Trust is prepared to support your application to Council to allow a dirt floor. Dry concrete rolled into the floor hardens like concrete but retains the appearance of a dirt floor. This method is used in the historic Chinese goldminers’ huts in Otago and elsewhere in the world.

Assistance from the New Zealand

Historic Places Trust

Write away for our leaflet ‘Historic Buildings and Sites’. This will explain the information you need to send when applying for assistance. Our address is, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Private Bag, Wellington. Ma te wharenui he totoko e te marae It is the meeting house that compliments the marae It is the marae that supports the house

ANNE GEELEN Advisory Officer Historic Places Trust

The stormy Auckland Islands are best known as the place where the ship General Grant sank, reputedly carrying a fortune in bullion. But last century it was also the setting for an attempt by the adventurous NgatiMutunga hapu ofTeAtiawa to establish a settlement. This Maori colonising effort is looked at in this , the first of two articles on the subject.