Rahapa Te Hauata

Rahapa Te Hauata

Rahapa Te Hauata, Ngāti Apakura, pictured here holding a patu paroa whalebone club and wearing Victorian style dress. This photograph is from an original Tin-type and would have been taken in Rangiaowhia prior to 1864 when the area was prosperous. We’re not sure of the occasion, however, this photo and its subject holds significance to this district and Ngāti Apakura whānau whanui. Rahapa resided in Rangiaowhia, a thriving peaceful village a few kilometres east of Te Awamutu. The land was rich for agriculture with a very productive Māori mission. In the 1850’s it boasted one of the most industrious Māori -owned flour milling areas in the country.

In 1847, at the age of twenty-two, Rahapa married Irish-born farmer Thomas Power. Thomas was sent to Australia from his native Ireland in 1833 for sheep stealing. It is known he came to New Zealand around 1840, landing in Auckland, and made his way down country into the Waikato region. What is significant about this union is that it formed one of the first Māori-European families in the Waipā district.

Known for his agricultural skills, Governor Grey requested the couple work together to introduce local Māori to European farming practices. During the British invasion of the Waikato in 1864 Rangiaowhia was besieged. Rahapa and Thomas’ house was not attacked but afterwards, while Power was in Auckland with three of their five children, it was looted by soldiers.

He later charged Major Jackson of the Forest Rangers with trespass but lost the case as it was deemed that Rahapa’s land and house was part of Crown confiscations. Rahapa‘s account of events that took place at Rangiaowhia on and after 20th February 1864 deepens our perspective to the atrocities that happened.

Descendants of Rahapa and Thomas are still alive, some of which reside in the Waipā district today.

This is a translation of a letter, written in the Māori language, to His Excellency Sir George Grey by Father L. Vinay, Roman Catholic Priest at Rangiaowhia. As part of the British Crown invasion of the Waikato in 1864, Forest Ranges had sacked Rangiaowhia in February 1864. The letter is a heartfelt plea for help, describing in great depth the actions of soldiers upon Rahapa, her family, their house, stores and belongings during the taking of Rangiaowhia. In one part, Rahapa shares her dismay to a visiting Bishop, asking why soldiers would take her children’s books and clothes. Victims of Rangiaowhia fled to the Powers’ farm, and Rahapa describes the lack of support coming through for any of them. In fact at the end of this letter, it seems a year had now passed with still no help or communication about parcels of land in Rangiaowhia including the Power’s land, store and stock which had been part of the Forest Rangers soldiers compensation for their part in the invasion.

Rangiaowhia

April 20th 1865

To the Governor,

Friend the Governor, salutation to you this is my word to you that you may hear me.

On the 16th July 1863, my husband Thomas Power left here for town with three of our children, leaving me and two, the youngest, behind; we were living comfortably at our home when on the 21st February 1864, a Sunday, the soldiers arrived at Rangiaowhia in the morning. Being in bed with my children, I was awakened by the noise of the guns. I got up, when out and put up a white flag on the top of our wooden house, only a few of the soldiers came to our house this day, but on the following morning, Monday a good many came. They commenced killing our fowls and pigs. I saw a black man amongst them with a stick in his hand killing the fowls, they took away with them a good many of our pigs and fowls on this day. On Tuesday morning a large number of them came, part of them commenced killing our pigs and fowls, the remainder broke open the house and store, and took away a great quantity of goods After breakfast others came and took away more goods, after we had repaired the boards of the house and store, broken by the soldiers, we went into the kitchen, not long after, a large number came they again broke open the house and store, which we had just repaired, went in, broke open the boxes, took our goods and even books including the book of our land and account books. I was then so frightened, almost fainting, my children crying and I not knowing what would happen to us, the soldiers cursing at me and my children and threatening that if I complained against them to the Officers, they, the soldiers, would come at night and kill us. I said if they left in peace and would not return, I would not speak against them to the Officers.

After dinner a European named Robert Moore came and a gentleman with him. Moore said “this is the Colonel of the soldiers, he wishes you, and your children, to go to Te Awamutu, the General will take care of you there”, I asked how will my children do for food? Again, I am not strong to carry them there. Moore answered, “If you consent to go the Colonel will send a dray for them – the old blind man, his lame old wife, some of your things”, I then gave my consent to go. The Colonel wrote a note and gave it to me, saying, “If any more of the soldiers come here to trouble you, show them this note.” After the Colonel and Moore left, some of the soldiers came. I showed them the Colonel’s note, a few of them remained to read it, whilst the largest number of them rushed into the house to see what they could find.

On Wednesday Bishop Selwyn came to see us, after salutations, he said, “My daughter are you the only persons that now remains in all this settlement? I answered, “I am.” He then asked me “where have the people gone to”. I answered that the women went after their husbands and the children followed their mothers, and I do not know how far they are gone. He then asked me, “Do the soldiers come to trouble you at night?” I said, no, but they do in the day time. He asked what do they come here for, I answered, they come for our pigs and fowls, and that they broke open our house and store, and took our goods, but that worse than all they took my children’s clothing. The Bishop then asked me “were there many goods in the house and store when your husband went to town?” I answered, “a great deal of property.” The Bishop then asked me, “Did the Māoris take any of your goods before the soldiers arrived”. I answered, they did not, only what they paid for in the amount of seven pounds.

The Bishop then said, you had better come with me to the Colonel, and we will tell him what you have now told me. I said the Colonel and European named Robert Moore were here yesterday, and the Colonel told me that a dray would be sent up to take my children, the old blind man, his old lame wife and some of our things goods to Te Awamutu. The Bishop said. “Do you wish to go down there?” I asked if Hohaia there? He told me he was, but said he had the same dangers that is here, and another thing, there is no empty house, for they are all full of soldiers, and moreover if you leave here and go to Te Awamutu, the soldiers will then pull down your wooden house and destroy your fences, it is better for you to remain in your own house. The Bishop then asked me if I had any utu. I said, “I have utu”. He then wrote on the doors of the house. After he had done writing, he greeted us with ‘food life” (communion), and told us that God would protect us.

Now Governor that is all I have to say about the coming of soldiers to Rangiaowhia, and the trouble that they have caused to me and my children at our place. It is not all that, but now, me and my children, five in number, are crying to you, for you and the person in New Zealand to do justice to Europeans and Māori alike. And now I have to tell you, that all Rangiaowhia is to be given to strange Europeans in our place. Where is them. O Govenor, that land for us to cultivate, and grow food on for me and my children? I do not believe that you would let me die for want of land to grow food upon, that is the reason I now cry to you.

But before I finish, I would ask you what is to be come of the old blind man Pura and his lame old wife? For I am the only person who has supported them since the soldiers took Rangiaowhia, but now I cannot support them any longer, as the Government has taken my land from me, on which I was born and reared, and which also belonged to my forefathers before me, none of whom have at any time fought against our Queen’s soldiers.

Rahapa Te Hauata

Aroha, Prosperity and Invasion

Aroha, Prosperity and Invasion

Rangiaowhia, a small journey east of Te Awamutu, was a thriving and productive village until 1864.  From the 1830’s Māori and invited European settlers worked collaboratively to develop this into one of the region’s most important agricultural areas.

One of the most significant relationships that nurtured prosperity for both Māori and settlers were between Rahapa Te Hauata and Thomas Power. The following is an extract from Thomas Power, set down by his son-in-law Thomas Moisley in 1938:

“In 1845 Sir George Grey sent Mr T Power to instruct the natives in agriculture and he made Rangiaowhia his headquarters. He brought down from Auckland horses, drays and ploughs, harrows, and cows. The first of these any sorts of implements in the Waikato. They used to bring goods up the Waipa River as far as the Puniu then up the Puniu River as far as what was the Ford Redoubt in the later years. Each settlement around Rangiaowhia and Pukeatua at that time was divided by a row of peach trees to mark their boundaries. That is how Rangiaowhia got such a name for peaches which were very luxurious in those days.”

Mr Power did not confine his efforts to Rangiowhia alone as there were a lot of large native settlements around. He used to visit pa situated on what is called Roto-o-Rangi, Pukekura, Maungatautari, Waimana, Aratetaha and up the Mangatutu stream, Korakonui and Mangarongi, and up the Waipa past Ōtorohanga. The countryside was full of settlements but Rangiaowhia was the most prosperous as they had more horses and implements than the others.”

“Under Thomas Power’s guidance a flour mill was erected on Rua-o-Tawhiwhi stream and a thriving farming industry established. In 1851 one hundred tons of flour from the district was sold in Auckland. With the proceeds horses, cattle, and machinery were purchased and each year a greater area of cultivation was developed.”

“As time went on more Europeans came and things were going on fine and prosperous until the trouble broke out between pāhekā and Māori, and all the white men that were living in the settlements were interred. When the troops came to Rangiaowhia Mrs Power went up a ladder with a child on her back and fixed a white flag on the chimney. It was a house of two storeys and stood on the left hand side of the road just past the first angle after leaving Hairini Cheese factory. When the officer in command found out who they were he put sentries on and they were never out any further than the garden til Mr Power came back.”

“After the war was over, all Rangiaowhia was cut up in soldier sections. Mr Power went to live in Kihikihi until Mrs Power died. She was a member of Ngāti Apakura. Mr Power died in Hamilton hospital in April 1897 and was buried at Rangiaowhia.”

Six months after Rahapa sent her letter to the Governor, Thomas sends this letter supporting Rahapa’s letter where she described the circumstances their family endured when Rangiaowhia was invaded. Thomas shared some of the court proceedings where he petitioned to gain compensation for the sacking of his farm and taking of stock and produce stating they had no way to support themselves and other whānau from Rangiaowhia.

This was a letter to a friend of the Powers who had employed them to develop a skill base to work the land which, through this training and support, created an economic return and distribution networks that reached as far as the Auckland product markets. After Rangiaowhia was sacked, the land lay ravaged, families had been moved off their working lands or their stock and ability to feed their families had been compromised. Along with the loss of skilled labour agricultural activities had slowed.

Sadly, there was a large proportion of Māori productive home lands that had been confiscated during the British Crown invasion of the Waikato, with no compensation.

Below is an excerpt from the Journals of the House of Representatives 1891, showing Thomas Power petitioning for the return of his land after Rahapa’s passing only to be rejected.

To his Excellency Sir George Grey

Governor of New Zealand

P.C E.C O.C

The humble petition of Thomas Power of Rangiaowhia upper Waikato – herewith that your petitioner has resided for the last twenty years at Rangiaowhia, where he has reared a family of five children and has lived comfortably and prosperously with until he was forced to go to Auckland on the 16th July 1863, on the breaking out of the war, taking three of his children with him, and leaving the other two with his wife at Rangiaowhia. That which your petitioner kept a store at Rangiaowhia for the last eighteen years, and at the time of his going to Auckland he left therein a large quantity of goods and was the owner of a very valuable property consisting of horses, cattle, fowls and pigs, (the later of which he made bacon for the Auckland markets) as also a great many farming implements, the whole of which he had to leave behind him at Rangiaowhia. That on your petitioners return on the 6th May 1864, he found that all his property, before name, had been either taken away or destroyed by the soldiers, which was explained in a letter in the Māori language addressed to your Excellency, by your petitioner’s wife during his absence from home dated 20th April 1865, a translation of which is here to answered.

That your petitioner referred his claim for compensation for the before named losses amounting in all to £1973 (pounds) – before Captain Beckham at the Compensation Court, but being unable to bring witnesses from Rangiaowhia, to substantiate this claims except three who happened to be in Auckland at the time, because of the want of the means, and his wife not being able to leave her family, your petitioner was unable to satisfy Capt. Beckham that some of his horses and cows were not still running at Rangiaowhia, and he has learned from the newspaper that in consequence of this Cap. Beckham has only awarded him the small sum of £356 (pounds) none of which is forthcoming.

That your petitioner has not since recovered any of the property lost during his absence. That when the troops arrived at Rangiaowhia on the 21st July 1864 during your petitioners forced absence, an old blind man and his wife, who came out of the whare in which the Native’s were burned, were sent by Lieut. General Cameron to your petitioner’s house for safety. General Cameron promising at the time that rations should be supplied for them, there and the, which promise was not fulfilled, nor could the petitioner, on his return, obtain any rations for them, although he made repeated applications, until 1st September 1865. Your petitioner having in the meantime a period of 18 months, had to keep and feed these poor old people solely at his own expense, not having received any assistance whatever, and that the hardship of the loss hereby incurred, is now especially severe.

The man and woman above referred to are mentioned in your petitioner’s wife’s letter before name. That 200 acres of land which has been in the possession of your petitioner’s wife and her forefathers generations, and which at the time of the first survey was allotted to your petitioner, and on which he has spent large sums of money in buildings, fencings, improving (O.C.) (E.C) has been cut up by the recent survey and allotted to men of Major Jackson’s company of Forest Rangers, and that your petitioner does not know they day when he may be ordered to leave the house he lives in and the ground he has cultivated, be taken from him by the person’s who have drawn it in their farm sections and, your petitioners after 20 years residence thrown upon the world without a home for himself and family he having being cautioned by Major Jackson of the Forest Rangers, not to cultivate or fence as the land has been drawn up for numbers of his company.

That your petitioner humbly praise that your Excellency will mercifully consider the peculiar hardships of his case, and that you will in your wisdom order such steps to be taken, as will secure him a recompense for the great losses he has sustained during the war, he being greatly reduced in circumstances and having a large family to maintain and that you will be pleased to prevent himself and family being turned out of their house and home, as afford him some other means of supporting them, and is duty bound your petitioner will forever pray.

Thomas Power

Rangiaowhia

25th October 1865

WALTER HARSANT 1811—1897

WALTER HARSANT 1811—1897

An outstanding personality in the history of Te Awamutu and Raglan districts was Doctor Walter Harsant.

He was Government factotum for these districts from 1854 to 1878. Let us turn back and learn something of this Doctor’s background.

He was born at Haverland, Norfolk, England, on the 3rd. October 1811. Of his youth, or as to where he received his early education, nothing is known. Fortunately his diplomas[1] in medicine and surgery have been preserved, and were presented to this Society. Although somewhat battered after 130 years, they are still decipherable. The most distinguished diploma is that of M.R.C.S., a large sheet headed by the coat of arms of the Royal College of Surgeons in London with the motto “Quae prosunt Omnibus Artes” with the seal of the College and the signatures of the President and two Vice-presidents and seven examiners. Two diplomas of the Medical Theatre, London, certify that he also attended lectures in the Principles and Practice of Medicine, and the Principles and Practice of Midwifery and the Diseases of Women and Children. From St. Bartholomew’s Hospital there are diplomas in Anatomical Demonstrations, Practice of Surgery and Lectures on Surgery.

The most spectacular diploma is that of the Court of Examiners chosen and appointed by the Master Wardens and Assistants of Apothecaries of the Society of the Art and Mystery of Apothecaries of the City of London, and, certifies that Walter Harsant has been carefully and deliberately examined as to his skill and abilities in the Science and Practice of Medicine and as an Apothecary, and certifies that he is entitled to practice as an apothecary accordingly. This diploma is authenticated by the seal of the Society and twelve signatures. These diplomas were issued in the years 1830 to 1834.

The only other facts known of his life in England are in a short statement in his own handwriting and signed by himself, which reads: “Walter Harsant, surgeon, practised at Coniston in Norfolk, from May 1836 to July 1840. Removed from thence to the neighbouring small town of Reepham where I continued to practise till August 1853.”

Allured like others, probably, by glowing but untruthful accounts  of conditions in Auckland, the Doctor decided to emigrate, arriving at Auckland on Nov. 30th. 1833, with his wife and nine children, on the vessel “Hamilla Mitchell”. The eldest child being 15 years. He had married a Miss Ann Eliza Noakes at Puehurst, Sussex, on the 2nd July 1836. Disgusted with conditions in Auckland, and also no doubt with the misrepresentations, he resolved to return to his homeland on the first available vessel. It was partially on account of his wife’s health that he had come to New Zealand, she suffering from asthma. The doctor had brought a letter of introduction with him to Sir George Grey Governor of New Zealand, who, after receiving it offered him a post at Otawhao[2], which surprisingly, he accepted largely because his wife’s health was much improved, and perhaps because he was ignorant of what lay ahead.

So they set out on their long journey into the unknown. Mrs. Harsant and the three youngest children were carried in an amo (litter) made of flax, the rest of the party walked, and the Maoris carried the baggage etc., till they reached the Waikato River, where they continued the journey in a fleet of canoes carrying them and their personal luggage and household effects. Up the Waikato they went, then up the Waipa River to the nearest point to Otawhao where they left the canoes and covered the last seven or eight miles cross country. They arrived at their destination after seventeen days travelling, which was considered fast in those days. What must their feelings have been when they saw that a Maori whare was to be their home till a house was built.

The Te Awamutu Historical Society has been fortunate in obtaining photostatic copies of the documents giving Doctor Harsant his appointments. The Commissions of Dr. Harsant are signed by Lt-Colonel Wynyard[3], as officer administering the Government of New Zealand following the appointment of Sir George Grey as Governor of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope in 1854. Lt-Col. Wynyard was administrator from 3rd. Jan. 1854 to 6th. Sept. 1855. While administrator he was elected Superintendent of the Auckland Province. All of the documents are ponderous and flowery, and I will give a full transcription of some of them.

The first notice of Dr. Harsant’s appointment as Resident Magistrate and Colonial Surgeon is contained in a letter written in beautiful copper plate from the Colonial Secretary’s Office, Auckland, and signed by the Colonial Secretary, Andrew Sinclair, on the 8th. February 1854. This states :

“Sir, in reference to your letter of the 2nd. December last, I have the honour by direction of the Officer Administering the Government to inform you that His Excellency has been pleased to appoint you to the office of Resident Magistrate and Colonial Surgeon for the District of Waikato, with a present salary of £175 per annum from 1st. instant. Your commission of appointment will he issued to you from this office on payment of the prescribed fee of 10s 6d.

“I have also to inform you that the sum of £250 will be allowed you for the building of a house at Otawhao for your accommodation”[4].  

The Doctor must have paid his fee promptly, for on the same date his commission of appointment was issued from the Colonial Secretary’s office.

“By His Excellency Lieutenant Colonel Robert Henry Wynyard, a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, the Officer Administering the Government of the Islands of New Zealand.

“Whereas by an ordinance made by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council of the said Colony passed on the seventh day of November in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty six, instituted ‘An Ordinance to provide for the establishment of Resident Magistrate’s Courts and to make special provision for the administration of justice in certain cases,’ it is enacted and ordained that it shall be lawful for His Excellency the Governor to appoint Resident Magistrates provisionally until Her Majesty’s pleasure shall be known. Now know ye that in pursuance of the power and authority in me vested by said ordinance, I do hereby appoint Walter Harsant Esquire to have, hold, exercise and enjoy the office of a Resident Magistrate by the provisions of the said ordinance until the pleasure of her Majesty shall be known. Given under my hand and issued under the Public Seal of the Islands of New Zealand at Auckland in the said Islands this eighth day of February in the seventeenth year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria and in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty four.”

The three inches square seal is affixed to the bottom left hand corner of the document.

Almost a year later Dr. Harsant was appointed Registrar of Marriages for the district of Rangiaowhia[5], under the Marriage Act of 1854. This is also an interesting document bearing the Public Seal of the Islands of New Zealand and signed by Lt-Col. R. H. Wynyard. The boundaries of the “District of Rangiawhia” are given as follows:

“On the East by the mid channel of the Horotiu[6] branch of the Waikato River, to its source at Lake Taupo, thence by the Eastern shore of Taupo and by the mid channel of the Upper Waikato[7] until its junction with the Southern boundary of the Province. On the West by the mid channel of the Waipa from its junction with the Horotiu to its source, from thence by a straight line to the source of the Mokau River, thence by the Western boundary of the Province to its junction with the Tunua River and along the 39th degree of South latitude[8], being the Southern boundary of the Province, to its junction with the Upper Waikato”.

As Registrar of Marriages it will be seen that the versatile Doctor had a large district, the only consolation being that it was sparsely populated by Europeans. Shortly after his appointment to Rangiaowhia, 37 Europeans and 25 “Aboriginal Natives” signed a petition which was forwarded to the Provincial Superintendent in January 1855:

The petitioners, settlers of the district of Rangiaohia asked that:

“Whereas we have for some years passed, felt the inconvenience of our isolated position in respect of being debarred from receiving any communication by letter or otherwise from Auckland within any reasonable time, and whereas some time a post was proposed as a branch one from that of Kawhia, but which your petitioners deemed unadvisable from the badness of the road to be travelled over, and the extra time and expense it would entail, your petitioners would therefore humbly beg that a postal communication be established by the following route: Viz. From Auckland to Onehunga from thence to Waiuku by the cutters plying across the Manukau, and from Waiuku to Rangiaowhia by canoe, the expenses attending upon which your petitioners should think would not be greater than thirty pounds per annum for a fortnightly transmission and your petitioners would lastly state that in case of any extra expenses over that above mentioned they would cause them to be collected and defrayed amongst them, and your petitioners would ever pray etc.”

As a result of this petition Lt-Col Wynyard recommended the establishment of a bi-monthly post to Rangiaowhia. The cost of carrying the mails to be borne by the Provincial Government. On the 7th May Dr. Harsant, in his capacity of deputy postmaster contracted a native chief William Toe Toe, living at Rangiaowhia, to carry the mails. The agreement, interpreted and duly witnessed and certified was as follows:

“William Toe Toe binds himself during the space of twelve months from this date (7th May 1855) to convey the mails safely, twice in a month to and from Auckland and Rangiaowhia – the days of starting to be appointed from Auckland by the Post Office Authorities – on consideration of which duty the said Walter Harsant makes himself responsible to the said William Toe Toe for the payment of ten pounds sterling quarterly.”

Another photostatic copy of documents held by the Historical Society is related to the Doctor’s appointment as a Commissioner of the oaths for the supreme court. This, like other documents, is ponderous and gives the Doctor power to take affidavits and other Supreme Court documents, and witness them. This document is “Given under the seal of the said Supreme Court and the hand of His Honour Sidney Stephen Esq., Chief Justice thereof at Auckland in the Province aforesaid this twenty sixth day of March one thousand eight hundred and fifty six.”

As can be seen the Doctor must have been very versatile to have held all the various offices, and had excellent education. Unfortunately documents do not tell the hardships of those early days. It is known that on his arrival at Otawhao he, as already stated, lived in a Maori whare for some time. A study of an early survey map shows that the Doctor’s residence was on the corner of Bank Street and Puniu Road. At that time the mission settlement of Otawhao was 15 years of age, and was in charge of the Rev. John Morgan and his wife, who had been as far as is known, the only white woman living at Otawhao, until the arrival of Mrs. Harsant. It is stated that the newly arrived family worshipped in the mission church, St. John’s which was built the year they arrived. The Harsant family had a long seat provided for them in the front of the church, the natives sitting on the floor behind them. Unfortunately the diary the Doctor kept has been lost and only snippets of his work at Otawhao are known. One account speaks of the Doctor always carrying a large umbrella with him on any journeys he made, under which he slept at nights. It is to be hoped that more will be known of his work and experiences in this district from Government archives and perhaps from private sources.

In 1858 Dr. Harsant was transferred to Raglan district[9].  Recollections of a daughter, as printed in the Te Awamutu Courier 9th Nov. 1938, gives a brief account of this journey.“Mrs. Thompson retained a clear memory of the arduous Journey from Te Awamutu to Raglan, which was made on foot with Maori carrying their baggage. The three youngest children and Mrs. Harsant were also carried by the natives over the mountains, and the whole trip took the party twelve days. Each Maori was given food during the journey and received a blanket  in payment.”

Probably the only appointment the Doctor took to Raglan district was that as Commissioner of Oaths for the Supreme Court, and he continued to practice as a doctor and surgeon. His first appointment in Raglan was that of coroner, this being dated 2nd August 1858. The following year he received the appointment of Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages. On the 20th November 1860 another appointment, this time as Collector of Customs for the port. He was informed of this in a letter from the office of the Commissioner of Customs, Auckland. This states that he had been appointed “coastwaiter” at Raglan with a salary of £50 per annum, commencing on the 1st November of that year. He was advised to communicate with the Collector at Auckland who would forward the necessary forms and instructions for his guidance. How much simpler must have been a custom officer’s work in those days.

The authorities must have thought that the Doctor had still time to spare, because in 1863 he was appointed emigration officer for the Port of Raglan. This last appointment indicates that the Port of Raglan was used by some emigration ships, instead of Onehunga. Raglan in those days would be primitive, although perhaps not quite as much as Otawhao, there being, of course, coastal transport. The stores came by cutter and frequently they would be delayed by weather and be late in arrival with the result that provisions for the settlers would be almost exhausted. What was worse, it was not unknown for the stores not to arrive because of some not very creditable reason. The result was that the Harsant children knew what it was like to go to bed hungry. Apparently at one time the family existed on small potatoes for some thirteen weeks. Mrs. Harsant was in poor health at the time, when there came the wonderful present of one loaf of bread. She had a slice every day until it was finished, and an illness was staved off. Though there was water transport the Doctor thought nothing of walking to Auckland if need be for medical supplies. Often on these trips he was accompanied by one of his daughters who was an expert interpreter. This was his eldest, Lucy, who often interpreted for her father on official occasions. The Doctor never attained any proficiency in Maori; even so it is obvious that the Doctor must have been held in high regard by the Maoris, for as far as is known he was never molested by them, or his family. No doubt he would have some anxious moments, as he lived in Otawhao and Raglan when the Maoris were becoming restless and rebelling against the Pakeha. This eventually led to the outbreak of the Waikato War.

The Doctor and his family lived in Raglan through the Maori wars, and no doubt would meet many men who were to figure prominently during the war in the Te Awamutu district. One of these would be Colonel Waddy, commander of the 50th Regiment, who built a redoubt at the head of Raglan Harbour in 1864. This regiment fought on several occasions in this district. Another was the Government surveyor, Richard Todd, who was later killed on the slopes of Pirongia Mountain in 1870. He, in 1863, when it was feared that Kingite Maoris from the Waikato or Kawhia would attack Raglan, strengthened the Court House with heavier timber and dug a deep trench around it and the local gaol.

After twenty years in Raglan came Dr. and Mrs. Harsant’s retirement to Onehunga; where they celebrated their diamond wedding in July 1896. In 1897 the Doctor died and was buried in the Methodist Cemetery at Mangere near his eldest daughter. In 1900 Mrs. Harsant, in her 90th year, was laid beside him.

This account of the lives of these two pioneers, who no doubt played a prominent part in the early days of the Waikato, has been compiled from records held by this Society, and an article written in the N.Z. Woman’s Weekly, 29th July 1954 by C.B. Hay. The Society also owes a great deal to Miss Lucy Gilmore[10], a great-granddaughter of the Doctor. She presented to the Society Photostat copies of all his appointments and other details of his life. Recently she also presented to the museum a deeply fringed hand-painted silk shawl, over 100 years old and still in perfect order, although perhaps the silk is fragile with age. There was also a gold key-wind watch still in working order. Both these were the property of Mrs. Harsant. These gifts, together with the Doctor’s surgical kit which was presented to the Society some years ago, form a link with early Te Awamutu, and add another reminder of our past.

[1] These diplomas were presented to the Society by Mrs. Seifert of Raglan, who is a direct descendant of the Doctor.

[2] Otawhao was the name of the large pa which stood where Wallace Terrace now is. Te Awamutu district was known by this name before the Maori War.

[3] Mr. R. H. Wynyard of Great South Road, Kihikihi, is a direct descendant.

[4] There is an interesting reference to this in Govt. Archives. In 1856 the Doctor was driven to complain that he had been obliged to build a shelter for his family, but also to “secure a place where my duties may be transacted”. Probably referring to a dispensary and possibly a courthouse. Governments have not altered over the years.

[5] Cowan states that the correct spelling is “Rangiaowhia”. An explanation is given in the Editorial in the Te A.Hist.Soc. Jounl Vo.l, No. 2, page 23. I have not altered the spelling as given in the documents.

[6] Horotiu was the name given by the Maoris to the Waikato River from its source to the junction with the Waipa at Ngaruawahia.

[7] By Upper Waikato is probably meant the Tongariro River.

[8] The 39th degree South Latitude passes through Waitara on the coast, just south of Owhanga on the main trunk rail, to a point on the Tongariro River just south of Tokaanu.

[9] Raglan District. The official description of this district is given as bounded on the North by Whaingaroa Harbour (Raglan) from its entrance to the Waitetune River. On the East by the inland boundary of the Whaingaroa Block, on the South-east and South by the boundary of the Ruapuke and Karioi Blocks to the sea. And on the West by the sea northwards to the entrance to the harbour.

[10] I should like to thank Miss Gilmore for reading my draft copy and correcting such facts as were known to be incorrect.

Journal of the Te Awamutu Historical Society, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1968

By J. F. Mandeno.

For more info online, try this link to our collections online: https://collection.tamuseum.org.nz/objects?query=Walter+Harsant

A SALUTE TO THE LADIES

A SALUTE TO THE LADIES

A Story of the Wives of the Waikato Missionaries

By Joyce Neill.

This is a tribute to the first European Ladies to make their homes in the Waikato. Most Church histories show the wives of the men who served them, as just a shadow behind their man; a few Maiden names are mentioned but their Christian names are often only known from their grave-stones.

After an uncomfortable, or even hazardous journey by ship from some other part of New Zealand, these people would arrive at the nearest little port; then usually they walked a Maori track inland. Sometimes they worked their way up the rivers, the highways of those days. At the appointed site, near some Maori pa, they gathered their few personal belongings about them and made a home.

Most of these gentle-women were from England, from homes where there were servants, and daughters were forbidden the kitchen area; when they arrived in New Zealand they learnt to cook over an open fire, for large numbers of people. They had also to do the most menial tasks for their families, without the simplest conveniences. The fear of fire was always in their thoughts, particularly while they lived in raupo-walled houses; so the cooking was done in a separate building.

Swishing to and fro to the “kitchen” in their long frocks, especially in the muddy winter-time, must have been a continuing aggravation.

Whether their men were attached to the Anglican Church Missionary Society, or to the Wesleyan Missionary Society of England, a comprehensive training for these women before they left for New Zealand, would have made a considerable difference. No attempt seems to have been made to give any medical service so even a better supply of medications would have been welcomed.

It is doubtful if many English mission ladies had a clear idea of the life they were expected to live here, or the full extent of their duties. Perhaps it was just as well they were left to learn them as they came along!

Apart from their practical work the missionaries relied on their wives for companionship. As a single man George Buttle, of the Wesleyan Mission, found life so unbearably lonely that he obtained permission to visit Australia in search of a wife. The journey was unsuccessful in spite of John Whiteley, his superior, giving his blessing to the enterprise.

Eventually, while completing some organising work in Auckland he married a Miss Jane Newman, a few months later they were transferred Te Kopua Station on the Waipa River, where she bore eight children before her death eleven years later.

THE MAORI PEOPLE. It is almost impossible for us, looking back from this time of great respect for the Maori people, to picture how they were living when the first white men came among them. From the extensive pa sites which have been discovered in the Waikato, it is evident that there was once a very large Maori population here. Writing of Northland, Judge Maning states his reasons for considering the immense numbers there had decreased by two-thirds during the last two generations before his arrival in 1833. He concluded this, not only from the size, number and closeness of these extensive pas, the number of men necessary to build and defend them, but also by the nearness of the hearth stones to each other at the hut sites within the pa’s. He considered the accepted form of cannibalism was the reason for the decimation; of course this genocidal trend hastened as they acquired guns. The same thing occurred in the Waikato.

Many of the Maori leaders saw what was happening and welcomed the “men of peace”; some chiefs changed and influenced their tribe when they accepted the Christian Faith; others, terrible fighting men, could not, although they encouraged the coming of the missionaries who brought education, agriculture, trade and prosperity, as well as the status symbol of owning a missionary. Most of the Waikato mission sites were selected by the tribes but without taking into account intertribal fighting and movements of population.

It transpired that several of them were badly chosen; the men and women finding themselves in the centre of a local war; or, as at Matamata (C.M.S), on a busy native track where war-parties frequently passed back and forth. There, cannibal feasts were not unusual – and very frightening.

It was at the end of 1834 that the Wesleyan missionaries arrived in the Waikato area and a few months later were making their way to an already chosen site. As they paddled up the Waihou River their canoe stopped at Puriri, near the C.M.S. Thames station, for Mrs. Stack’s time had come and her son was born there on the river bank; this baby was to become Canon James West Stack, well-known for his work at Kaiapoi.

When they moved on, Maori helpers carried the mother and babe in a litter-like amo made of vines and saplings. The haka welcome at each village frightened the young mother, especially as the Maori women, seeing their first white woman, would not leave her alone or give her privacy. They even touched her precious baby. Pretty Mary Stack, married at nineteen just before leaving England, had lived several months among Europeanised Maoris at the Bay of Islands. Now, with the Hamlins they were going to the new C.M.S. Station at Mangapouri, a large village at the junction of the Waipa and Puniu Rivers.

Here the excitable, untamed chief had recently murdered a relative; the wives, left on their own while Stack and Hamlin visited other villages had frightening experiences. Mr. Stack was home when the chief fired a gun, striking their house several times before a convert took away the weapon. One bullet went near where Mrs. Stack was sitting.

They closed the mission and moved to Matamata, where there was the same danger. The Hamlins were sent to open a station at Orua, Manukau Harbour, where the Stacks later joined them for a few months before transferring to Tauranga and Gisbourne.

Mary Stack lived only until she was thirty-five but it was because of her husband’s broken health that they returned to England where she died a few years later. Sometime afterward Canon Stack wrote this tribute:

“I have often wondered since how my dear young mother, with her English training and English ideas, and small experience of the world, could endure the thought of living alone with her little children in the midst of a lawless people who possessed no regular form of government, and all whom within the seven previous years had taken part in cannibal feasts. Nothing to my mind proves so convincingly her possession of perfect trust in the overruling providence of God. She felt quite safe, because she believed she was in God’s keeping.”

While they were living in that insecure situation at Mangapouri the Hamlin’s first child was born, and possibly he was the first child of white parents born in the Waikato. Canon Brown conducted his wife from Tauranga to assist when Henry Martyn Hamlin was born in 1836.

A few bricks, a dying grapevine, a plaque and rows of trees are all that remains from two houses, a store shed, a jetty and a church that once stood for eighteen months of labour and danger. When the Anglicans began again it was Otawhao, further south. There is now no sign of the large Maori Pa at Mangapouri.

The Waipa River was a very important highway leading into the interior, connecting through to Raglan, Kawhia and south to the Mokau and Wanganui Rivers. The Wesleyan mission at Te Kopua upstream from the settlement now called Pirongia, was in a very strategic position; it played an important role from 1841 until well into the Maori War. Six months before they arrived at the Waipa Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Buddle had, with Mr. and Mrs. Ironside been wrecked just outside the Kawhia Harbour entrance. The Buddle’s infant daughter, and most of their possessions were saved with the help of the Maoris. The Buddles lived with the Wallis family at the Raglan mission while the position of the Waipa station was chosen amid difficulties.

Te Wherowhero would not allow them to settle at the first place selected, while at the second choice they had made a home before the Maoris discovered it was “rahi-tapu” and the Buddles were told to move to Te Kopua; they were allowed to wait until a house could be built. To get settled anywhere must have been a relief. Under the shadow of Mt. Kakepuku lived a large population; it was reported that 200 Maoris attended one of the services; the site of this mission is marked by a cairn. After the Buddles the work was continued by George and Jane Buttle, and later Alexander Reid contributed to the peace of the area until the nearness of the fighting made staying unsafe.

HOSPITALITY. There are many recorded stories of the hospitality of these Te Kopua missionaries to others walking the Maori tracks. When Mr. H.H. Turton made an exploratory journey south, hoping to find a more suitable situation for the Wesleyan Mokau mission, he brought his wife and child the difficult trip from their home on the north western side of Aotea Harbour, near the entrance; over to Raglan and up the Waitetuna River. From there they went across swamp and hill country to the Waipa River where they thankfully rested at Te Kopua until his return five weeks later; then the return journey had to be undertaken.

Having the company of other women must have been a great joy on these occasions but unexpected visitors occasionally posed problems. In Rev. Lush’s diary Alison Drummond found the account of how, when he arrived at Kaitokohe, Taupiri, ahead of his host who had invited him, Mrs. Ashwell had to explain to him that as she had four young Maunsell children staying unexpectedly with her for a week, the only place she could put a bed for Lush was in a “closet”. Luckily it proved to be a large cupboard-like room “with shelves loaded with medicine” – the mission dispensary!

It is easy to imagine the baking and scouring that went on at Te Kopua when in April 1840 Thomas Buddle received word that Governor Hobson would be visiting there during the week-end of the 17th. The Rev. G.I. Laurenson in “Te Hahi Weteriana” describes how Rev. Buddle, on invitation from Mr. Morgan, joined in receiving and preaching to Hobson and his party at Otawhao. After dealing with local problems with the chiefs the Governor discussed with the Anglican and Wesleyan missionaries “matters dealing with recent and forthcoming legislation bearing on Marriages conducted by Maori or Dissenting Ministers”.

After enjoying hospitality in Buddle’s house at Te Kopua, sharing in worship, and inspecting the station, Governor Hobson, whose health was deteriorating at this time, went on a visit to the other Wesleyan Stations at Aotea and Whaingaroa……

SADNESS. Beside the cairn at Te Kopua is the grave of Mrs. George Buttle (Jane Newman); in her late thirties she died there, at the bend of the Waipa, three days after the birth of her eighth child; the baby appears to have survived.

In the story of Mrs. Maria Morgan are many aspects of sadness. Some of it is told by a grave-stone behind old St. John’s Church, near where the Otawhao Mission House stood at the Anglican mission at Te Awamutu. This stone tells the anguish of a mother’s grief. One of their sons died of an obscure disease at three years; the baby born a month later lived only four months; and even their eldest son died at fourteen years of age. Before they moved the Rotorua mission from Mokoia Island a child had died and been buried there. They had moved because the sulphur fumes caused a deterioration in Mrs. Morgan’s health. Their next home, on the eastern shore of the lake was made unsafe by warring tribes so they were transferred to the Waikato.

When Kate Hadfield, with her husband Octavius and baby son, were travelling from Auckland to their home in Otaki, the first overland journey by a white woman, she was able to stay three days with her aunt, Maria Morgan. The older women seemed unable to let Kate “our of her sight” during this brief visit of a relative.

One writer remarks that these early missionaries were all “old before their time”; is it any wonder? The women were inspired by Faith; on occasions its reward would compensate for days of worry. An apparent coincidence once saved the lives of Mrs. Morgan and two of her children. They were all sick the day there were two Europeans in the congregation when Rev. Ashwell of Pepepe preached at Rotokauri Lake near Hamilton. The one was a doctor who agreed to walk down to attend the Morgans.

John and Maria had built up a very successful Government-subsidised school and fertile, picturesque farm there on the bank of the Mangahoe Stream. Nevertheless they left the Station in distressing circumstances after seeing the productive land neglected by the Maoris while they rushed from place to place attending “king” meetings. After being harassed by the Kihikihi Maoris, the unsettled times of 1861 caused the Government to send John Gorst as Resident Magistrate to the district to take over the mission property. Morgan felt he should have been consulted and resigned from the C.M.S. when the Church would not “protect his rights”.

DIFFICULTIES. In the early days Mrs. Maunsell at Maraetai Station, Waikato Heads, and Mrs. Ashwell at Pepepe near Ngaruawahia, (C.M.S. Stations) both lived much the same lives, feeding and caring for Maori and half caste children who lived at the school; as well as their own families. What difficulties there were in training the older Maori girls in the domestic arts – and managing their native servants!

Lack of “time sense” was the beginning of the trouble so when excitement occurred duties of any kind were forgotten immediately. A problem arose when the pa Maoris enjoyed their favourite foods and servants and pupils joined in the fun. Kaanga-wai, or maize kept moist until well-rotted “smelt worse than any drain”; while dried shark and dried turnips produced such an indescribably bad smell that all natives had to be ordered away from the house.

A different trouble was experienced by the Stacks when they had a frightening time with the irate husband of their nursemaid, who feared and hated him. Peace was restored when the Maoris induced him to swap Ani for some blankets and axes.

At Pepepe and Maraetai they had the worry of too many people for the food they could grow. In each case it was found advisable to re-establish where land was more fertile. The Maunsells moved to Te Kohanga a few miles upriver. Mrs. Maunsell died while still young and her grave is at Maraetai. The Ashwell’s moved down river a short distance to Kaitokohe, althought the boys’ school remained at Hopuhopu, over the river from Pepepe.

There were many times of tension there at Taupiri; the greatest was when a Maori was killed further north in Franklin district – by a pakeha, it was thought, and the Maoris were demanding the right to examine and punish. The Ashwell’s were alarmed when Wiremu Tamihana arrived with a war party of 300 men but he said that “Mr. Ashwell’s house and family were tapu and no one would dare to meddle with them.”

Mrs. James Wallis, like Mrs. Stack, was carried with her baby to her new home at Horea on the north side of Raglan Harbour. It had been a difficult journey from Kawhia so understandably she was delighted to arrive, although the raupo whare is reputed to have had then, neither doors nor windows. It would be well ventilated during the south-westerly gales!

Without any white women to assist, in fact twenty-six toilsome miles from the nearest mission house, her next baby was born there and Mrs. Whitely hurried from Kawhia, through swamp and bush, to help the household. When the Wallis’ returned to Raglan after a spell further north, they found the population had moved to Nihinihi across the harbour. Here the Wallis’ temporary shelter was a “four posted bedstead, roofed over with boards and blankets and had to answer the double purpose of drawing room and bed room. With as little delay as possible the Maoris erected a large raupo Church, one end of which they partitioned off as a temporary dwelling while a weatherboard house was being built”. This is how Rev. Laurenson quotes from Mr. Walli’s account of their home. Elsewhere he mentions that at this time in March they had all recently been ill with influenza.

DANGER. There was always danger; Mr. Wallis nearly lost his life off the coast in his small boat; Mrs. Ironside must have worried about her husband as he flitted back and forth across Cook Strait; until the Wairau incident brought them back, to work in Taranaki. In his book “Tainui” Mr. Kelly remarks that there was danger also from the rough white men who roamed the Waipa-Waikato river country. These mission women were often left alone with their children for days. Also there was always the embarrassment of naked men strolling into their homes; or, as Dr. Maunsell found, coming naked to Church.

The dangers for the missions became more real as the Maori Wars drew nearer, until one by one they closed. Cort Schnackenberg moved from the Mokau Mission to Kawhia and Aotea, taking charge of the coastal missions until they became unsafe; but Aotea continued its work well into the war.

LITTLE ANGELS ONLY LEFT. The saddest part of the story of these women is the number of babes they lost. Mrs. Ashwell bore a son and five daughters. The boy died when he was eleven, while Sarah and Mary were the only girls to survive to adulthood. In 1858, the young lady who became the wife of James West Stack (the baby born at Puriri) visited this mission and describes Mrs. Ashwell: “I wish I could have seen more of Mrs. Ashwell, for the little I did see of her made one deeply interested in the story of her life in New Zealand. She had passed, like all the Missionaries’ wives, through periods of great danger and privation which had left their mark upon her health. The death of her only boy, Benjamin, whom she had hoped to see some day engaged in the sacred work of the ministry, was a sad blow to her, and some lines (a poem) she gave me at parting afford touching proof of the depth of her sorrow and the chastened spirit in which it was borne.”

Kawhia and Whaingaroa (Raglan) were the busy ports of the Waikato and the ladies of the missions, Mesdames Whiteley, Woon and Wallis, were beset by similar problems. Mrs. Woon appears to have been the only mission wife with nursing experience – a course in a London Hospital made her assistance invaluable. Being frequently in demand she travelled long distances giving what help she could. It is sad to read that one of her own babies lived only six months; he starved while his mother was sick, at a time when they were all short of food. The tribes around them were too busy with arguments, and preparations for wars to produce the needed food.

A few years afterwards the Whiteley’s son died and was buried beside James Woon at Ahuahu, Kawhia.

At this large harbour missions were begun in several places before Whiteley settled on a permanent site which later renamed Te Waitere after him. From Kawhia he helped Mr. and Mrs. H. Hanson Turton establish another Wesleyan Station at Raoraokauere, Aotea Harbour, in 1840; Turton named the station “Beechamdale”. Mrs. Turton is reported to have stayed eight weeks with the Whiteleys; her husband lived in a tent while the house was being built. Later Turton successfully delivered their first child, although his relief was overshadowed by his irritation that such a situation should be necessary. In 1846 Mr. and Mrs. Gideon Smales took over that post but months later Smales reported that his wife was “still suffering severely” because of too many journeys in small ships. Previous to arriving Mary Anna Smales’ baby had died as the result of a dreadful voyage from Hokianga to Porirua; which had left both Mrs. Smales and the older child very ill. Mrs. Turton died soon after leaving the Waikato shortly after the birth of her fourth child.

Mary, Mary Anna, Maria, Susan, Jane and ………..the other names seem lost. We remember these women, sadly, by their graves, or the headstones above their little children.

In spite of danger, discomfort and sadness there were moments when the strain was eased by a little humour. One recorded incident occurred after the Matamata house was hurriedly evacuated, their most precious belongings sent down river to the Thames Mission. Mrs. Chapman from Rotorua who had taken refuge at Matamata, spent a very cold night with Mrs. Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan and several native servant girls on the banks of the Waihou River; under a piece of canvas thrown over the bushes. Their small fire of damp wood did not penetrate the cold of a fog and they were not helped by the knowledge that marauding Maoris had captured the baggage canoe containing their treasures. They were taken to Puriri when rescued by two missionaries. They must have laughed with relief as much as amusement when Mr. Morgan returned from a luggage hunt and told how he met a rescue party of friendly Maoris led by Wiremu Tamihana – son of Te Waharoa. This young chief looked grotesque “marching before the rest, with the utmost consequence, his head and olive-coloured face being enveloped in a black silk bonnet belonging to a Mrs. Chapman, while a strip of coloured print, tied around his neck, formed the remainder of his apparel.”

A lonely grave under a White Pine tree with name-stones broken and nearly lost; a clump of arum lilies, a rambling old-fashioned rose, old fruit or acacia trees or a very old grape vine; even a patch of oxalis in a paddock; these are some of the signs that these ladies once lived nearby.

SOURCES

J.W. Stack, Early Maori Land Adventures.

Alison Drummond, Early Days in the Waikato; Vicesimus Lush.

Dick Craig, South of the Aukati Line.

Canon H.T. Purchas, The English Church in New Zealand (1914).

George L. Laurenson, Te Hani Weteriana.

H.C.M. Norris, Armed Settlers.

Leslie G. Kelly, Tainui.

  1. Maning, Old New Zealand

Barbara Mac Morran, Octavious Hadfield.

John Gorst, The Maori King.

The Ashwell Papers, (Letter from Mrs. James West Stack – nee Jones).

Te Mata. Aotea, R.T. Vernon and C.E. Buckridge.

MISSION STATIONS MENTIONED.

Church Missionary Society – Anglican:- Thames at Puriri;  Matamata at Waharoa; Orua, Manukau Harbour; Mangapouri; Otawhao (called by the Maoris Te Awamutu); Pepepe, Hopuhopu, Kaitokohe, at Taupiri; Maraetai, Te Kohenga, at Waikato Heads; Tukupoko – a name sometimes given to a Taupiri site.

Wesleyan Missionary Society of England:- Te Kopua (sometimes called Waipa); Te Horea, Nihinihi, at Whangaroa (Raglan); Beechamdale at Aotea Harbour; Kawhia at Papakarewa, Waiharakeke, Ahuahu or Lemon Point (changed to Te Waitere. Raoraokauere Maori name for Aotea situation.

Journal of the Te Awamutu Historical Society, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1974

THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST IN KIHIKIHI.

THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST IN KIHIKIHI.

In the late 1830’s the KihiKihi area was served by Father Pezant S.M. from the flourishing “Mission of the Holy Angels” at Rangiaohia the chief village of the Waikato District and it is on record that Bishop Pompellier confirmed 146 people there in 1844 and that Bishop Ward (afterwards first Bishop of Wellington) visited the district in 1848 and confirmed 580 people. In 1850 Fr. Garaval was appointed and served until 1858 when he was followed by Fr. O’Hara until 1862. The area is described as beautifully situated, with a peaceful industrious population busily engaged in the cultivation of Wheat, Maize, potatoes; caring for numerous horses and herds of cattle, and greatly helped by a water driven flour mill (probably the one which was situated on St. Leger Road – some of the earthwork of the dam are still intact and the grinding stones from it are in the Te Awamutu Museum).

Unhappily the Battle of Rangiaohia in February 1864 and the Battle of Orakau in April 1864 changed all the pattern of life in the district.

Fr. Viney was appointed in 1864 and served the wide Waikato area until 1871 and Fr. Golden came in 1874.

KihiKihi was now coming into prominence as a centre of population and the need for a church was pressing so a temporary church innocent of paint or lining was built on land donated by Mr. William Corboy at the corner of Rolleston and Short Streets which forms part of the present Church property. In addition to this acre and a half a further acre was purchased from Mr. and Mrs. Kenny at a cost of £264.16.2. That year also saw the appointment of Fr. A. Luck, 0.S.B., who served the district for eighteen years. At first he resided in Hamilton but in 1884 assisted by a few local men he built the first Presbytery in KihiKihi. One of those men was a Mr. Jones (many years afterwards a Mayor of Dargaville) who learned the building trade from Fr. Luck. Next he built a stable, then a workshop, and from this there flowed much evidence of his skilled hands the old carved altar which graced St. Benedict’s Church in Auckland for many years was an example. Also in the KihiKihi church there are many examples particularly of work he did with a foot lathe in the ornamentation of the building. Unfortunately much of this work was with soft wood and it became borer infested. The church built in 1880 was complete with a tower but apparently this part of the structure was poorly built as it was very rickety in 1884 and was pulled down by Fr. Luck personally. (legend has it that no-one else was game to do the job) and he built the present very ornate tower and spire in its place and he also built a sanctuary. Fr. Luck was very interested in gothic architecture and he modelled the alterations to make the church similar in plan to the Parish Church at Ramsgate in England (his old parish church) and it is interesting to relate that a few years ago some relatives of the late Fr. Luck called when passing to see the Church but unfortunately no-one was at home in the Presbytery at the time so they left a note to the effect that the likeness was remarkable. Unfortunately the ravages of time and the borer have made inroads into this very lovely old church and as it is now too small for present needs it must give place to a new building and be demolished unless the National Historic Places Trust can find some means of preserving what is probably one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in New Zealand – certainly in the Auckland province.

During his term at KihiKihi Fr. Luck attended to the spiritual need of the people from Rangiriri to Taumarunui and apparently he was also capable of looking after their material needs also for it is related that on one occasion be was riding along a road and came upon a steam driven traction engine which had broken down. He dismounted from his horse and proceeded to effect repairs – a truly remarkable man. He died in 1899 and was succeeded by Fr. Croke and he in turn by Fr. Lynch who in 1913 transferred his headquarters to Te Awamutu. In 1916 the Mill Hill Fathers made Kihi Kihi their headquarters for the Maori Mission until 1935, and the area was served in succession by Fathers Jansen, Zanna, Schoonhof and Hoogveld. When the Mill Hill Fathers withdrew Kihi Kihi was served from Te Awamutu first by Fr. O’Flynn and then by Fr. Colgan until 1959 when Fr. Gormly was appointed parish priest of Kihi Kihi. When Fr. Lynch transferred to Te Awamutu the Presbytery built by Fr. Luck was sold and shifted to a new site in the Kihi Kihi township and some years later was destroyed by fire. When Fr. Gormly arrived a new presbytery was built and a small building which had served during the time of the Mill Hill Fathers was converted into a Parish Hall. Fr. Daly succeeded Fr. Gormly in 1960 and was himself succeeded by Fr. Shannahan in 1967 and the present parish priest Fr. Fagan was appointed in 1970.

Associated with the church from earliest days were the Corboy family, a Miss Donovan (whose legacy of £500 in the 1920’s was the nucleus of the fund for the proposed new church) the Verner family, the Moody family (Mrs. Moody played the organ) the Roger Kay family, the Fitzpatrick family, the Hayes family (the late Mr. Hayes took up the collection for many years and could remember the tower being built) the Linehan family (father and two sons successive parish secretaries) the Brill family, the 0’Brien family whose daughter Mrs. Kerr was very prominent in organising the catering side of so many social functions to mention some who come to mind. In many cases two and even three and four generations of the same family have served on various committees and have worshipped in this church so it will be a sad day for many people when the building is demolished.

Journal of the Te Awamutu Historical Society, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1970.

By C. Linehan.

THE PUNIU BRIDGE AND MISSION LANDS

THE PUNIU BRIDGE AND MISSION LANDS

Waikato Argus, 3.12.00. The Hon. Minister for Public Works (Mr. Hall-Jones) arrived at Te Awamutu yesterday afternoon by special train from Poro-o-tarao, having come the same day by road from Maramataha to the Tunnel…..

On the arrival of the Ministerial party at Te Awamutu they were met by Messrs. Teasdale, North, Greenslade and others and driven to Bathurst’s Hotel, where they were put up…..

The members of the Town Board, headed by the Chairman, Mr. North, made a request for a bridge over the Puniu, in the vicinity of the railway bridge. They pointed out that a vote had been passed for altering the railway bridge to adapt it for road purposes also, but the Railway Department had vetoed the proposal, and it was now suggested that a new bridge should be built. It would be of great use to settlers on the west side. In reply to the Minister, Mr. Teasdale said the estimated cost was £250…..

The same deputation, with the addition of Mr. Johns, brought the subject of the Mission Lands before the Minister. The area of the land is 173 acres, and the Government was asked to acquire it for settlement.

Mr. Johns said the purposes for which the Trust was formed no longer existed. It was intended for the benefit of native children long before the Waikato was settled, but at the present time all the revenue received from it was sent to England. The matter was in the hands of the Government. The Church Missionary Society would not offer the land for sale, and it was for the Government to take it.

Mr. Hall-Jones did not think the land could be taken under the Lands for Settlement Act, as some of it was already settled. Mr. Lang said a special act was necessary, or an agreement with the trustees. Mr. Hall-Jones said he would consult the Premier, who was already in possession of the facts, and see what could be done. The deputation thanked the Minister for his courtesy and withdrew.

Waikato Argus, 25.11.01. The usual monthly meeting of the Te Awamutu Town Board was held on Thursday evening last. There were present Messrs. Wm. North, F.R. Gibson, S. Matthews, J.B. Teasdale and G. Ahier. Permission was granted to the Waikato Mounted Rifles, No. 2 Company to use one of the rooms at the back of the hall as an armoury. A letter was received from Mr. A. Swarbrick with reference to the sale of the Mission property. The land proposed to be purchased by the Government includes the whole of the Mission property except the parsonage and the Church site. It was decided that the members of the Board meet on Monday afternoon for the purpose of making a valuation of the lands and forward particulars to the Government. A unanimous vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Swarbrick for his assistance to the Board in this matter.

Te Awamutu Courier 5.8.57. Recollections of Mr. C. North. Later on Mr. Seddon came to Te Awamutu and saw for himself how the growth of the township was being restricted. Later, he put through a Bill in Parliament empowering the Government to purchase the property. The survey was completed about 1907. The road through the property later became the main road to Pokuru when the bridge was built over the Puniu Stream.

These excerpts come from the Journal of the Te Awamutu Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1966.