APPENDICES

[Contents]APPENDICES[Contents]SOME MAORI PLACE NAMES.The following are the meanings of a number of native place-names in the Te Awamutu district; some of these names are now for the first time placed on record:—Te Awamutu: The end of the river; i.e., the head of canoe navigation.Rangiaowhia: Beclouded sky.Kihikihi: Cicada, tree-locust.Orakau: The place of trees.Paterangi: Fort of heaven; i.e., the pa on the high part of the ridge, the skyline.Waiari: Clear water.Mangapiko: Crooked creek.Te Rore: The snare.Mangatea (on the Manga-o-Hoi, where the mill stood): White stream.Matariki (a short distance above the bridge at Te Awamutu, right bank of river): The Pleiades constellation; also reeds used for lining the interior of a house.Te Reinga (old village site behind R.C. Church, Rangiaowhia): Leaping, rushing; thus the place of leaping, the final departing place of spirits of the dead.Hikurangi (the Rangiaowhia heights above the Manga-o-Hoi; Gifford’s Hill; also place on Pirongia-Kawhia Road): Skyline; horizon.Pekapeka-rau (swamp between Hairini and Rangiaowhia): Place where the native bat was numerous.Tioriori (native village, near where the Hairini cheese factory now stands): A kind of kite, made of raupo.Tau-ki-tua (the site of the English Church at Rangiaowhia): The farther ridge.Te Rahu: Basket made of undressed flax.Te Rua-Kotare (Taylor’s Hill, or Green Hill, north of Te Awamutu): The kingfisher’s nest (in hollow tree).Tauwhare (ancient pa on cliffy right bank of Mangapiko River, above Waiari): Overhanging.Tokanui: Great Rock.Waikeria: Dug-out waterway, or watercourse gouged out.Otorohanga: O, food carried for a journey; torohanga, stretched out. According to a Ngati-Maniapoto tradition, a certain warrior chief who set out from this spot for Taupo with only a very small quantity of food caused it by supernatural means to “stretch out” and to last until he had reached his destination. Hence the name.[Contents]THE CAPTURE OF WINIATA.The Maori murderer Winiata, captured at Otorohanga by Robert Barlow, was brought into Kihikihi early on the morning of Tuesday, 27th June, 1882. At about three o’clock that morning Constable Finnerty, of the Armed Constabulary, found Barlow and Winiata struggling violently outside the Alpha Hotel. Winiata, who was in a naked condition, had recovered from the effects of the grog, and was making a desperate effort to escape. He was overpowered and taken to the Constabulary barracks in the redoubt, and chained to a bedstead. Major Minnett, who was in command of the Armed Constabulary Force at Kihikihi, sent him to Te Awamutu with Barlow in the Government waggon under an armed guard, and Constable Gillies then took the prisoner in charge and delivered him to Sergeant McGovern at Hamilton the same day.There were two other Maoris in the whare at Otorohanga, and both of these were made helplessly drunk or drugged by Barlow.[102][Contents]MR HURSTHOUSE’S ADVENTURE IN THE KING COUNTRY.The capture of Mr Charles Wilson Hursthouse and Mr William Newsham, Government surveyors, by a band of King Country fanatics under the prophet Te Mahuki occurred at Te Uira, near Te Kuiti, on 20th March, 1883. Mr Hursthouse was on his way from Alexandra to explore the country from the Waikato frontier to the Mokau, and he and his assistant surveyor were accompanied by the Mokau friendly chiefs Te Rangituataka and Hone Wetere te Rerenga and twenty-five other Mokau men. At Te Uira, sixteen miles beyond Otorohanga, on the afternoon of the 20th, as they rode up they saw a large body of Maoris mustering excitedly. These were natives under the leadership of the fanatic Te Mahuki, or Manukura, a Ngati-Maniapoto man who had been a follower of Te Whiti at Parihaka, and who had returned to the Rohepotae to found a sect of his own. He called his followers the “Tekau-ma-rua,” or “The Twelve”—although they numbered many more—after the Twelve Apostles. This was a revival of a term of the Hauhau war days. The selected war-parties of the Taranaki fighting chief Titokowaru were called the “Tekau-ma-rua.” These men attacked Hursthouse’s party, and a lively fight followed, although no deadly weapons were used. The Tekau-ma-rua pulled the surveyors and the Mokau men off their horses, Rangituataka’s followers fighting desperately with stirrup-irons and leathers. The prisoners were marched to the village at Te Uira, in the midst of the terribly-excited Tekau-ma-rua, who were dancing and yelling and chanting ngeri or war-songs. Te Rangituataka and Wetere and their men were not ill-used—there were too many of them; moreover the leaders were high chiefs of the tribe—but the surveyors and a native named Te Haere were thrust into a cookhouse and imprisoned there. Hursthouse and Newsham had been stripped of their coats, waistcoats, and boots. Their hands were tied behind their backs and their feet were fastened together with bullock-chains. In this condition, suffering great pain from the tightness of their bonds, tortured by mosquitoes which they could only brush off by rubbing their faces on the ground, and without drink or food except dirty water and some pig’s potatoes thrown in on the floor, they remained there two nights and a day, listening to the yells and threats of the natives outside, and expecting to be killed. Early on the morning of 22nd March there was a new commotion outside, and Hursthouse heard Te Kooti’s voice. In a few moments the door of the cookhouse was burst open and the prisoners were released by Te Kooti—who had just been promised an amnesty by Mr Bryce, Native Minister—and a large party of natives, including Wahanui’s people; Wahanui himself arrived a little later. Hursthouse and Newsham had already worked their hands free, and the former had picked up a piece of iron chain as a weapon in case he was attacked. The extreme tension and anxiety of the thirty-six hours’ painful confinement and the want of food had affected even the indomitable Hursthouse, old campaigner though he was, and, as he related afterwards, when he was released he fairly broke down and wept. The surveyors were escorted to Alexandra by a large body of Wahanui’s people, and presently resumed their exploring expedition, after their late captor in his turn had been locked up.[Contents]MAHUKI’S RAID ON ALEXANDRA, AND HIS CAPTURE.On Sunday, 25th March, 1883, three days after the release of Hursthouse and Newsham, Mahuki and twenty-six followers invaded the township of Alexandra (now Pirongia), in pursuance of the leader’s announced intention to loot the place. Mahuki had prophesied many extraordinary things, and his followers had implicit belief in his supernatural powers. He had even sent word of his intended visit, so Alexandra was prepared. A force of Armed Constabulary under Captain (afterwards Major) Gascoyne, who was in command of the Alexandra Redoubt, and the Te Awamutu Cavalry troop were on hand, and so disposed in detachments out of sight as to surprise and surround the invaders. Mahuki’s men, fortunately for themselves, were not armed. Two Europeans who had ridden out to reconnoitre the road to the Waipa bridge had to make a speedy retreat when the Tekau-ma-rua came in sight. One of them—Mr Alfred H. Benge, the schoolmaster at Te Awamutu[103]—returned safely with the loss of only his hat; the other, a well-known Alexandra resident, parted company with his horse in the race, and was caught, tied up, and deposited by the roadside to reflect on the position at leisure, while the Hauhau troop galloped on into Alexandra. Their surprise was complete. Armed Constabulary and Cavalry troopers rushed out and surrounded them, pulled them off their horses, and tied them up. Twenty-three were captured in this way, including the much-astonished prophet himself, and four more were arrested at the bridge. Only one man got clear away to carry the news of the prophet’s capture to the kainga at Te Kumi. Four of the twenty-seven, being young boys, were released; the rest were marched, handcuffed in couples, to Te Awamutu, where they were entrained for Auckland. Mahuki and his principal followers were tried at the Supreme Court for the assault on Hursthouse and Newsham, and received terms of imprisonment.Some years later Mahuki ran amok again, this time at Te Kuiti, and was once more imprisoned, and he died while serving his sentence. He was the last of the troublesome religious fanatics of the Rohepotae.[Contents]THE NAME RANGIAOWHIA.Rangiaowhia has been spelled in a variety of ways, ranging from the curious “Rangahaphia” in one of the Auckland papers of 1851 to “Rangiaohia” and “Rangiawhia.” The old men of Ngati-Maniapoto pronounce and write the name as spelled in this book.[Contents]THE FIRST WAIPA MISSIONARY.The Rev. Benjamin Yates Ashwell, although the first to establish a mission settlement at Te Awamutu, did not live there. He made several visits, travelling through the Waikato and Waipa, and left native teachers in charge at each village where he was early favourably received. In the Forties he established his headquarters at Kaitotehe, near Te Wherowhero’s pa, on the opposite side of the Waikato River to Taupiri. This spot, on the most beautiful bend of the Waikato, became a favourite halting place for canoe crews passing up and down the river, and pioneer travellers have described to the writer the pleasure of landing at Kaitotehe on a hot midsummer day, after a long, cramping voyage in a Maori canoe, and feasting in the cherry groves at the mission station. Mrs B. A. Chrispe, of Mauku, describing Mr Ashwell’s station, says that the church was a large and lofty thatched building, with the walls beautifully lined in the artistic Maori fashion with arapaki lattice work of coloured lathes and reeds arranged in many patterns. The site of the long-deserted mission station, which is seen from the railway train as it passes along the Taupiri bend, is covered with a growth of acacia. The Maoris pronounced the missionary’s name “Ahiwera.”[Contents]THE KING COUNTRY RAILWAY.A highly-important event in the story of this district, and, indeed, of the Dominion, was the turning of the first sods of the Te Awamutu-Marton railway, the King Country section of the Main Trunk line, in 1885. The sods were turned on the south side of the Puniu bridge by the high chiefs Wahanui, Taonui, and Rewi. The Premier of New Zealand, Sir Robert Stout (then Mr Stout), was present, but he contented himself with second place in diplomatic compliment to the lords of the soil. There is a curious inner history to the ceremony on the banks of the Puniu; it was related to the present writer some years ago by Sir Robert Stout. “The sod was nearly not turned that day,” said Sir Robert; and he told the story of the dispute between the Waikato and Ngati-Maniapoto tribes. Early that morning there was a conference at Te Awamutu between the Premier and his colleague, Mr John Ballance, and the Maori chiefs. Mr G. T. Wilkinson was the interpreter. Wahanui, Taonui, and Rewi were there, and all three had agreed that the sod should be turned and the railway should go on through the Rohepotae. But Waikato sent two chiefs to protest against the work in the name of the Maori King, whose headquarters were then at Whatiwhatihoe, on the Waipa.[104]There were long speeches; the only one who was silent was the huge-framed Wahanui; but he was fuming with indignation; his chest was heaving in his efforts to suppress his anger. At last one of the Waikato chiefs, regardless of the fact that his tribespeople were only in the Rohepotae by sufferance of Ngati-Maniapoto, had the hardihood to declare that the sod would not be turned because it was Waikato’s land. “Oh, well,” said the Premier, quietly regarding the deeply-incensed Wahanui, “if it is Waikato’s land we have come to the wrong place.” Then the tall, dignified rangatira Taonui, almost as big a man as Wahanui, arose and said, with angry determination: “It is our land; the sod shall be turned, and turned to-day!”And it was done. Waikato were ousted; literally they had nolocus standi; and, baffled and disgruntled, they saw the big work begun and the first step taken in the civilisation of the great Rohepotae.ColophonAvailabilityThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.org.This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team atwww.pgdp.net.Scans of this book are available from the Internet Archive (copy1).MetadataTitle:The old frontier: Te Awamutu, the story of the Waipa ValleyAuthor:James Cowan (1870–1943)InfoLanguage:EnglishOriginal publication date:1922Revision History2022-02-19 Started.External ReferencesThis Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These links may not work for you.CorrectionsThe following corrections have been applied to the text:PageSourceCorrectionEdit distance25,81,96[Not in source].127GovernmenGovernment141[Not in source].)270despacheddespatched172”))”289[Not in source]a band of King Country fanatics.33101[Not in source])1104’”1

APPENDICES

[Contents]SOME MAORI PLACE NAMES.The following are the meanings of a number of native place-names in the Te Awamutu district; some of these names are now for the first time placed on record:—Te Awamutu: The end of the river; i.e., the head of canoe navigation.Rangiaowhia: Beclouded sky.Kihikihi: Cicada, tree-locust.Orakau: The place of trees.Paterangi: Fort of heaven; i.e., the pa on the high part of the ridge, the skyline.Waiari: Clear water.Mangapiko: Crooked creek.Te Rore: The snare.Mangatea (on the Manga-o-Hoi, where the mill stood): White stream.Matariki (a short distance above the bridge at Te Awamutu, right bank of river): The Pleiades constellation; also reeds used for lining the interior of a house.Te Reinga (old village site behind R.C. Church, Rangiaowhia): Leaping, rushing; thus the place of leaping, the final departing place of spirits of the dead.Hikurangi (the Rangiaowhia heights above the Manga-o-Hoi; Gifford’s Hill; also place on Pirongia-Kawhia Road): Skyline; horizon.Pekapeka-rau (swamp between Hairini and Rangiaowhia): Place where the native bat was numerous.Tioriori (native village, near where the Hairini cheese factory now stands): A kind of kite, made of raupo.Tau-ki-tua (the site of the English Church at Rangiaowhia): The farther ridge.Te Rahu: Basket made of undressed flax.Te Rua-Kotare (Taylor’s Hill, or Green Hill, north of Te Awamutu): The kingfisher’s nest (in hollow tree).Tauwhare (ancient pa on cliffy right bank of Mangapiko River, above Waiari): Overhanging.Tokanui: Great Rock.Waikeria: Dug-out waterway, or watercourse gouged out.Otorohanga: O, food carried for a journey; torohanga, stretched out. According to a Ngati-Maniapoto tradition, a certain warrior chief who set out from this spot for Taupo with only a very small quantity of food caused it by supernatural means to “stretch out” and to last until he had reached his destination. Hence the name.[Contents]THE CAPTURE OF WINIATA.The Maori murderer Winiata, captured at Otorohanga by Robert Barlow, was brought into Kihikihi early on the morning of Tuesday, 27th June, 1882. At about three o’clock that morning Constable Finnerty, of the Armed Constabulary, found Barlow and Winiata struggling violently outside the Alpha Hotel. Winiata, who was in a naked condition, had recovered from the effects of the grog, and was making a desperate effort to escape. He was overpowered and taken to the Constabulary barracks in the redoubt, and chained to a bedstead. Major Minnett, who was in command of the Armed Constabulary Force at Kihikihi, sent him to Te Awamutu with Barlow in the Government waggon under an armed guard, and Constable Gillies then took the prisoner in charge and delivered him to Sergeant McGovern at Hamilton the same day.There were two other Maoris in the whare at Otorohanga, and both of these were made helplessly drunk or drugged by Barlow.[102][Contents]MR HURSTHOUSE’S ADVENTURE IN THE KING COUNTRY.The capture of Mr Charles Wilson Hursthouse and Mr William Newsham, Government surveyors, by a band of King Country fanatics under the prophet Te Mahuki occurred at Te Uira, near Te Kuiti, on 20th March, 1883. Mr Hursthouse was on his way from Alexandra to explore the country from the Waikato frontier to the Mokau, and he and his assistant surveyor were accompanied by the Mokau friendly chiefs Te Rangituataka and Hone Wetere te Rerenga and twenty-five other Mokau men. At Te Uira, sixteen miles beyond Otorohanga, on the afternoon of the 20th, as they rode up they saw a large body of Maoris mustering excitedly. These were natives under the leadership of the fanatic Te Mahuki, or Manukura, a Ngati-Maniapoto man who had been a follower of Te Whiti at Parihaka, and who had returned to the Rohepotae to found a sect of his own. He called his followers the “Tekau-ma-rua,” or “The Twelve”—although they numbered many more—after the Twelve Apostles. This was a revival of a term of the Hauhau war days. The selected war-parties of the Taranaki fighting chief Titokowaru were called the “Tekau-ma-rua.” These men attacked Hursthouse’s party, and a lively fight followed, although no deadly weapons were used. The Tekau-ma-rua pulled the surveyors and the Mokau men off their horses, Rangituataka’s followers fighting desperately with stirrup-irons and leathers. The prisoners were marched to the village at Te Uira, in the midst of the terribly-excited Tekau-ma-rua, who were dancing and yelling and chanting ngeri or war-songs. Te Rangituataka and Wetere and their men were not ill-used—there were too many of them; moreover the leaders were high chiefs of the tribe—but the surveyors and a native named Te Haere were thrust into a cookhouse and imprisoned there. Hursthouse and Newsham had been stripped of their coats, waistcoats, and boots. Their hands were tied behind their backs and their feet were fastened together with bullock-chains. In this condition, suffering great pain from the tightness of their bonds, tortured by mosquitoes which they could only brush off by rubbing their faces on the ground, and without drink or food except dirty water and some pig’s potatoes thrown in on the floor, they remained there two nights and a day, listening to the yells and threats of the natives outside, and expecting to be killed. Early on the morning of 22nd March there was a new commotion outside, and Hursthouse heard Te Kooti’s voice. In a few moments the door of the cookhouse was burst open and the prisoners were released by Te Kooti—who had just been promised an amnesty by Mr Bryce, Native Minister—and a large party of natives, including Wahanui’s people; Wahanui himself arrived a little later. Hursthouse and Newsham had already worked their hands free, and the former had picked up a piece of iron chain as a weapon in case he was attacked. The extreme tension and anxiety of the thirty-six hours’ painful confinement and the want of food had affected even the indomitable Hursthouse, old campaigner though he was, and, as he related afterwards, when he was released he fairly broke down and wept. The surveyors were escorted to Alexandra by a large body of Wahanui’s people, and presently resumed their exploring expedition, after their late captor in his turn had been locked up.[Contents]MAHUKI’S RAID ON ALEXANDRA, AND HIS CAPTURE.On Sunday, 25th March, 1883, three days after the release of Hursthouse and Newsham, Mahuki and twenty-six followers invaded the township of Alexandra (now Pirongia), in pursuance of the leader’s announced intention to loot the place. Mahuki had prophesied many extraordinary things, and his followers had implicit belief in his supernatural powers. He had even sent word of his intended visit, so Alexandra was prepared. A force of Armed Constabulary under Captain (afterwards Major) Gascoyne, who was in command of the Alexandra Redoubt, and the Te Awamutu Cavalry troop were on hand, and so disposed in detachments out of sight as to surprise and surround the invaders. Mahuki’s men, fortunately for themselves, were not armed. Two Europeans who had ridden out to reconnoitre the road to the Waipa bridge had to make a speedy retreat when the Tekau-ma-rua came in sight. One of them—Mr Alfred H. Benge, the schoolmaster at Te Awamutu[103]—returned safely with the loss of only his hat; the other, a well-known Alexandra resident, parted company with his horse in the race, and was caught, tied up, and deposited by the roadside to reflect on the position at leisure, while the Hauhau troop galloped on into Alexandra. Their surprise was complete. Armed Constabulary and Cavalry troopers rushed out and surrounded them, pulled them off their horses, and tied them up. Twenty-three were captured in this way, including the much-astonished prophet himself, and four more were arrested at the bridge. Only one man got clear away to carry the news of the prophet’s capture to the kainga at Te Kumi. Four of the twenty-seven, being young boys, were released; the rest were marched, handcuffed in couples, to Te Awamutu, where they were entrained for Auckland. Mahuki and his principal followers were tried at the Supreme Court for the assault on Hursthouse and Newsham, and received terms of imprisonment.Some years later Mahuki ran amok again, this time at Te Kuiti, and was once more imprisoned, and he died while serving his sentence. He was the last of the troublesome religious fanatics of the Rohepotae.[Contents]THE NAME RANGIAOWHIA.Rangiaowhia has been spelled in a variety of ways, ranging from the curious “Rangahaphia” in one of the Auckland papers of 1851 to “Rangiaohia” and “Rangiawhia.” The old men of Ngati-Maniapoto pronounce and write the name as spelled in this book.[Contents]THE FIRST WAIPA MISSIONARY.The Rev. Benjamin Yates Ashwell, although the first to establish a mission settlement at Te Awamutu, did not live there. He made several visits, travelling through the Waikato and Waipa, and left native teachers in charge at each village where he was early favourably received. In the Forties he established his headquarters at Kaitotehe, near Te Wherowhero’s pa, on the opposite side of the Waikato River to Taupiri. This spot, on the most beautiful bend of the Waikato, became a favourite halting place for canoe crews passing up and down the river, and pioneer travellers have described to the writer the pleasure of landing at Kaitotehe on a hot midsummer day, after a long, cramping voyage in a Maori canoe, and feasting in the cherry groves at the mission station. Mrs B. A. Chrispe, of Mauku, describing Mr Ashwell’s station, says that the church was a large and lofty thatched building, with the walls beautifully lined in the artistic Maori fashion with arapaki lattice work of coloured lathes and reeds arranged in many patterns. The site of the long-deserted mission station, which is seen from the railway train as it passes along the Taupiri bend, is covered with a growth of acacia. The Maoris pronounced the missionary’s name “Ahiwera.”[Contents]THE KING COUNTRY RAILWAY.A highly-important event in the story of this district, and, indeed, of the Dominion, was the turning of the first sods of the Te Awamutu-Marton railway, the King Country section of the Main Trunk line, in 1885. The sods were turned on the south side of the Puniu bridge by the high chiefs Wahanui, Taonui, and Rewi. The Premier of New Zealand, Sir Robert Stout (then Mr Stout), was present, but he contented himself with second place in diplomatic compliment to the lords of the soil. There is a curious inner history to the ceremony on the banks of the Puniu; it was related to the present writer some years ago by Sir Robert Stout. “The sod was nearly not turned that day,” said Sir Robert; and he told the story of the dispute between the Waikato and Ngati-Maniapoto tribes. Early that morning there was a conference at Te Awamutu between the Premier and his colleague, Mr John Ballance, and the Maori chiefs. Mr G. T. Wilkinson was the interpreter. Wahanui, Taonui, and Rewi were there, and all three had agreed that the sod should be turned and the railway should go on through the Rohepotae. But Waikato sent two chiefs to protest against the work in the name of the Maori King, whose headquarters were then at Whatiwhatihoe, on the Waipa.[104]There were long speeches; the only one who was silent was the huge-framed Wahanui; but he was fuming with indignation; his chest was heaving in his efforts to suppress his anger. At last one of the Waikato chiefs, regardless of the fact that his tribespeople were only in the Rohepotae by sufferance of Ngati-Maniapoto, had the hardihood to declare that the sod would not be turned because it was Waikato’s land. “Oh, well,” said the Premier, quietly regarding the deeply-incensed Wahanui, “if it is Waikato’s land we have come to the wrong place.” Then the tall, dignified rangatira Taonui, almost as big a man as Wahanui, arose and said, with angry determination: “It is our land; the sod shall be turned, and turned to-day!”And it was done. Waikato were ousted; literally they had nolocus standi; and, baffled and disgruntled, they saw the big work begun and the first step taken in the civilisation of the great Rohepotae.

SOME MAORI PLACE NAMES.

The following are the meanings of a number of native place-names in the Te Awamutu district; some of these names are now for the first time placed on record:—Te Awamutu: The end of the river; i.e., the head of canoe navigation.Rangiaowhia: Beclouded sky.Kihikihi: Cicada, tree-locust.Orakau: The place of trees.Paterangi: Fort of heaven; i.e., the pa on the high part of the ridge, the skyline.Waiari: Clear water.Mangapiko: Crooked creek.Te Rore: The snare.Mangatea (on the Manga-o-Hoi, where the mill stood): White stream.Matariki (a short distance above the bridge at Te Awamutu, right bank of river): The Pleiades constellation; also reeds used for lining the interior of a house.Te Reinga (old village site behind R.C. Church, Rangiaowhia): Leaping, rushing; thus the place of leaping, the final departing place of spirits of the dead.Hikurangi (the Rangiaowhia heights above the Manga-o-Hoi; Gifford’s Hill; also place on Pirongia-Kawhia Road): Skyline; horizon.Pekapeka-rau (swamp between Hairini and Rangiaowhia): Place where the native bat was numerous.Tioriori (native village, near where the Hairini cheese factory now stands): A kind of kite, made of raupo.Tau-ki-tua (the site of the English Church at Rangiaowhia): The farther ridge.Te Rahu: Basket made of undressed flax.Te Rua-Kotare (Taylor’s Hill, or Green Hill, north of Te Awamutu): The kingfisher’s nest (in hollow tree).Tauwhare (ancient pa on cliffy right bank of Mangapiko River, above Waiari): Overhanging.Tokanui: Great Rock.Waikeria: Dug-out waterway, or watercourse gouged out.Otorohanga: O, food carried for a journey; torohanga, stretched out. According to a Ngati-Maniapoto tradition, a certain warrior chief who set out from this spot for Taupo with only a very small quantity of food caused it by supernatural means to “stretch out” and to last until he had reached his destination. Hence the name.

The following are the meanings of a number of native place-names in the Te Awamutu district; some of these names are now for the first time placed on record:—

[Contents]THE CAPTURE OF WINIATA.The Maori murderer Winiata, captured at Otorohanga by Robert Barlow, was brought into Kihikihi early on the morning of Tuesday, 27th June, 1882. At about three o’clock that morning Constable Finnerty, of the Armed Constabulary, found Barlow and Winiata struggling violently outside the Alpha Hotel. Winiata, who was in a naked condition, had recovered from the effects of the grog, and was making a desperate effort to escape. He was overpowered and taken to the Constabulary barracks in the redoubt, and chained to a bedstead. Major Minnett, who was in command of the Armed Constabulary Force at Kihikihi, sent him to Te Awamutu with Barlow in the Government waggon under an armed guard, and Constable Gillies then took the prisoner in charge and delivered him to Sergeant McGovern at Hamilton the same day.There were two other Maoris in the whare at Otorohanga, and both of these were made helplessly drunk or drugged by Barlow.[102]

THE CAPTURE OF WINIATA.

The Maori murderer Winiata, captured at Otorohanga by Robert Barlow, was brought into Kihikihi early on the morning of Tuesday, 27th June, 1882. At about three o’clock that morning Constable Finnerty, of the Armed Constabulary, found Barlow and Winiata struggling violently outside the Alpha Hotel. Winiata, who was in a naked condition, had recovered from the effects of the grog, and was making a desperate effort to escape. He was overpowered and taken to the Constabulary barracks in the redoubt, and chained to a bedstead. Major Minnett, who was in command of the Armed Constabulary Force at Kihikihi, sent him to Te Awamutu with Barlow in the Government waggon under an armed guard, and Constable Gillies then took the prisoner in charge and delivered him to Sergeant McGovern at Hamilton the same day.There were two other Maoris in the whare at Otorohanga, and both of these were made helplessly drunk or drugged by Barlow.[102]

There were two other Maoris in the whare at Otorohanga, and both of these were made helplessly drunk or drugged by Barlow.[102]

[Contents]MR HURSTHOUSE’S ADVENTURE IN THE KING COUNTRY.The capture of Mr Charles Wilson Hursthouse and Mr William Newsham, Government surveyors, by a band of King Country fanatics under the prophet Te Mahuki occurred at Te Uira, near Te Kuiti, on 20th March, 1883. Mr Hursthouse was on his way from Alexandra to explore the country from the Waikato frontier to the Mokau, and he and his assistant surveyor were accompanied by the Mokau friendly chiefs Te Rangituataka and Hone Wetere te Rerenga and twenty-five other Mokau men. At Te Uira, sixteen miles beyond Otorohanga, on the afternoon of the 20th, as they rode up they saw a large body of Maoris mustering excitedly. These were natives under the leadership of the fanatic Te Mahuki, or Manukura, a Ngati-Maniapoto man who had been a follower of Te Whiti at Parihaka, and who had returned to the Rohepotae to found a sect of his own. He called his followers the “Tekau-ma-rua,” or “The Twelve”—although they numbered many more—after the Twelve Apostles. This was a revival of a term of the Hauhau war days. The selected war-parties of the Taranaki fighting chief Titokowaru were called the “Tekau-ma-rua.” These men attacked Hursthouse’s party, and a lively fight followed, although no deadly weapons were used. The Tekau-ma-rua pulled the surveyors and the Mokau men off their horses, Rangituataka’s followers fighting desperately with stirrup-irons and leathers. The prisoners were marched to the village at Te Uira, in the midst of the terribly-excited Tekau-ma-rua, who were dancing and yelling and chanting ngeri or war-songs. Te Rangituataka and Wetere and their men were not ill-used—there were too many of them; moreover the leaders were high chiefs of the tribe—but the surveyors and a native named Te Haere were thrust into a cookhouse and imprisoned there. Hursthouse and Newsham had been stripped of their coats, waistcoats, and boots. Their hands were tied behind their backs and their feet were fastened together with bullock-chains. In this condition, suffering great pain from the tightness of their bonds, tortured by mosquitoes which they could only brush off by rubbing their faces on the ground, and without drink or food except dirty water and some pig’s potatoes thrown in on the floor, they remained there two nights and a day, listening to the yells and threats of the natives outside, and expecting to be killed. Early on the morning of 22nd March there was a new commotion outside, and Hursthouse heard Te Kooti’s voice. In a few moments the door of the cookhouse was burst open and the prisoners were released by Te Kooti—who had just been promised an amnesty by Mr Bryce, Native Minister—and a large party of natives, including Wahanui’s people; Wahanui himself arrived a little later. Hursthouse and Newsham had already worked their hands free, and the former had picked up a piece of iron chain as a weapon in case he was attacked. The extreme tension and anxiety of the thirty-six hours’ painful confinement and the want of food had affected even the indomitable Hursthouse, old campaigner though he was, and, as he related afterwards, when he was released he fairly broke down and wept. The surveyors were escorted to Alexandra by a large body of Wahanui’s people, and presently resumed their exploring expedition, after their late captor in his turn had been locked up.

MR HURSTHOUSE’S ADVENTURE IN THE KING COUNTRY.

The capture of Mr Charles Wilson Hursthouse and Mr William Newsham, Government surveyors, by a band of King Country fanatics under the prophet Te Mahuki occurred at Te Uira, near Te Kuiti, on 20th March, 1883. Mr Hursthouse was on his way from Alexandra to explore the country from the Waikato frontier to the Mokau, and he and his assistant surveyor were accompanied by the Mokau friendly chiefs Te Rangituataka and Hone Wetere te Rerenga and twenty-five other Mokau men. At Te Uira, sixteen miles beyond Otorohanga, on the afternoon of the 20th, as they rode up they saw a large body of Maoris mustering excitedly. These were natives under the leadership of the fanatic Te Mahuki, or Manukura, a Ngati-Maniapoto man who had been a follower of Te Whiti at Parihaka, and who had returned to the Rohepotae to found a sect of his own. He called his followers the “Tekau-ma-rua,” or “The Twelve”—although they numbered many more—after the Twelve Apostles. This was a revival of a term of the Hauhau war days. The selected war-parties of the Taranaki fighting chief Titokowaru were called the “Tekau-ma-rua.” These men attacked Hursthouse’s party, and a lively fight followed, although no deadly weapons were used. The Tekau-ma-rua pulled the surveyors and the Mokau men off their horses, Rangituataka’s followers fighting desperately with stirrup-irons and leathers. The prisoners were marched to the village at Te Uira, in the midst of the terribly-excited Tekau-ma-rua, who were dancing and yelling and chanting ngeri or war-songs. Te Rangituataka and Wetere and their men were not ill-used—there were too many of them; moreover the leaders were high chiefs of the tribe—but the surveyors and a native named Te Haere were thrust into a cookhouse and imprisoned there. Hursthouse and Newsham had been stripped of their coats, waistcoats, and boots. Their hands were tied behind their backs and their feet were fastened together with bullock-chains. In this condition, suffering great pain from the tightness of their bonds, tortured by mosquitoes which they could only brush off by rubbing their faces on the ground, and without drink or food except dirty water and some pig’s potatoes thrown in on the floor, they remained there two nights and a day, listening to the yells and threats of the natives outside, and expecting to be killed. Early on the morning of 22nd March there was a new commotion outside, and Hursthouse heard Te Kooti’s voice. In a few moments the door of the cookhouse was burst open and the prisoners were released by Te Kooti—who had just been promised an amnesty by Mr Bryce, Native Minister—and a large party of natives, including Wahanui’s people; Wahanui himself arrived a little later. Hursthouse and Newsham had already worked their hands free, and the former had picked up a piece of iron chain as a weapon in case he was attacked. The extreme tension and anxiety of the thirty-six hours’ painful confinement and the want of food had affected even the indomitable Hursthouse, old campaigner though he was, and, as he related afterwards, when he was released he fairly broke down and wept. The surveyors were escorted to Alexandra by a large body of Wahanui’s people, and presently resumed their exploring expedition, after their late captor in his turn had been locked up.

[Contents]MAHUKI’S RAID ON ALEXANDRA, AND HIS CAPTURE.On Sunday, 25th March, 1883, three days after the release of Hursthouse and Newsham, Mahuki and twenty-six followers invaded the township of Alexandra (now Pirongia), in pursuance of the leader’s announced intention to loot the place. Mahuki had prophesied many extraordinary things, and his followers had implicit belief in his supernatural powers. He had even sent word of his intended visit, so Alexandra was prepared. A force of Armed Constabulary under Captain (afterwards Major) Gascoyne, who was in command of the Alexandra Redoubt, and the Te Awamutu Cavalry troop were on hand, and so disposed in detachments out of sight as to surprise and surround the invaders. Mahuki’s men, fortunately for themselves, were not armed. Two Europeans who had ridden out to reconnoitre the road to the Waipa bridge had to make a speedy retreat when the Tekau-ma-rua came in sight. One of them—Mr Alfred H. Benge, the schoolmaster at Te Awamutu[103]—returned safely with the loss of only his hat; the other, a well-known Alexandra resident, parted company with his horse in the race, and was caught, tied up, and deposited by the roadside to reflect on the position at leisure, while the Hauhau troop galloped on into Alexandra. Their surprise was complete. Armed Constabulary and Cavalry troopers rushed out and surrounded them, pulled them off their horses, and tied them up. Twenty-three were captured in this way, including the much-astonished prophet himself, and four more were arrested at the bridge. Only one man got clear away to carry the news of the prophet’s capture to the kainga at Te Kumi. Four of the twenty-seven, being young boys, were released; the rest were marched, handcuffed in couples, to Te Awamutu, where they were entrained for Auckland. Mahuki and his principal followers were tried at the Supreme Court for the assault on Hursthouse and Newsham, and received terms of imprisonment.Some years later Mahuki ran amok again, this time at Te Kuiti, and was once more imprisoned, and he died while serving his sentence. He was the last of the troublesome religious fanatics of the Rohepotae.

MAHUKI’S RAID ON ALEXANDRA, AND HIS CAPTURE.

On Sunday, 25th March, 1883, three days after the release of Hursthouse and Newsham, Mahuki and twenty-six followers invaded the township of Alexandra (now Pirongia), in pursuance of the leader’s announced intention to loot the place. Mahuki had prophesied many extraordinary things, and his followers had implicit belief in his supernatural powers. He had even sent word of his intended visit, so Alexandra was prepared. A force of Armed Constabulary under Captain (afterwards Major) Gascoyne, who was in command of the Alexandra Redoubt, and the Te Awamutu Cavalry troop were on hand, and so disposed in detachments out of sight as to surprise and surround the invaders. Mahuki’s men, fortunately for themselves, were not armed. Two Europeans who had ridden out to reconnoitre the road to the Waipa bridge had to make a speedy retreat when the Tekau-ma-rua came in sight. One of them—Mr Alfred H. Benge, the schoolmaster at Te Awamutu[103]—returned safely with the loss of only his hat; the other, a well-known Alexandra resident, parted company with his horse in the race, and was caught, tied up, and deposited by the roadside to reflect on the position at leisure, while the Hauhau troop galloped on into Alexandra. Their surprise was complete. Armed Constabulary and Cavalry troopers rushed out and surrounded them, pulled them off their horses, and tied them up. Twenty-three were captured in this way, including the much-astonished prophet himself, and four more were arrested at the bridge. Only one man got clear away to carry the news of the prophet’s capture to the kainga at Te Kumi. Four of the twenty-seven, being young boys, were released; the rest were marched, handcuffed in couples, to Te Awamutu, where they were entrained for Auckland. Mahuki and his principal followers were tried at the Supreme Court for the assault on Hursthouse and Newsham, and received terms of imprisonment.Some years later Mahuki ran amok again, this time at Te Kuiti, and was once more imprisoned, and he died while serving his sentence. He was the last of the troublesome religious fanatics of the Rohepotae.

Some years later Mahuki ran amok again, this time at Te Kuiti, and was once more imprisoned, and he died while serving his sentence. He was the last of the troublesome religious fanatics of the Rohepotae.

[Contents]THE NAME RANGIAOWHIA.Rangiaowhia has been spelled in a variety of ways, ranging from the curious “Rangahaphia” in one of the Auckland papers of 1851 to “Rangiaohia” and “Rangiawhia.” The old men of Ngati-Maniapoto pronounce and write the name as spelled in this book.

THE NAME RANGIAOWHIA.

Rangiaowhia has been spelled in a variety of ways, ranging from the curious “Rangahaphia” in one of the Auckland papers of 1851 to “Rangiaohia” and “Rangiawhia.” The old men of Ngati-Maniapoto pronounce and write the name as spelled in this book.

[Contents]THE FIRST WAIPA MISSIONARY.The Rev. Benjamin Yates Ashwell, although the first to establish a mission settlement at Te Awamutu, did not live there. He made several visits, travelling through the Waikato and Waipa, and left native teachers in charge at each village where he was early favourably received. In the Forties he established his headquarters at Kaitotehe, near Te Wherowhero’s pa, on the opposite side of the Waikato River to Taupiri. This spot, on the most beautiful bend of the Waikato, became a favourite halting place for canoe crews passing up and down the river, and pioneer travellers have described to the writer the pleasure of landing at Kaitotehe on a hot midsummer day, after a long, cramping voyage in a Maori canoe, and feasting in the cherry groves at the mission station. Mrs B. A. Chrispe, of Mauku, describing Mr Ashwell’s station, says that the church was a large and lofty thatched building, with the walls beautifully lined in the artistic Maori fashion with arapaki lattice work of coloured lathes and reeds arranged in many patterns. The site of the long-deserted mission station, which is seen from the railway train as it passes along the Taupiri bend, is covered with a growth of acacia. The Maoris pronounced the missionary’s name “Ahiwera.”

THE FIRST WAIPA MISSIONARY.

The Rev. Benjamin Yates Ashwell, although the first to establish a mission settlement at Te Awamutu, did not live there. He made several visits, travelling through the Waikato and Waipa, and left native teachers in charge at each village where he was early favourably received. In the Forties he established his headquarters at Kaitotehe, near Te Wherowhero’s pa, on the opposite side of the Waikato River to Taupiri. This spot, on the most beautiful bend of the Waikato, became a favourite halting place for canoe crews passing up and down the river, and pioneer travellers have described to the writer the pleasure of landing at Kaitotehe on a hot midsummer day, after a long, cramping voyage in a Maori canoe, and feasting in the cherry groves at the mission station. Mrs B. A. Chrispe, of Mauku, describing Mr Ashwell’s station, says that the church was a large and lofty thatched building, with the walls beautifully lined in the artistic Maori fashion with arapaki lattice work of coloured lathes and reeds arranged in many patterns. The site of the long-deserted mission station, which is seen from the railway train as it passes along the Taupiri bend, is covered with a growth of acacia. The Maoris pronounced the missionary’s name “Ahiwera.”

[Contents]THE KING COUNTRY RAILWAY.A highly-important event in the story of this district, and, indeed, of the Dominion, was the turning of the first sods of the Te Awamutu-Marton railway, the King Country section of the Main Trunk line, in 1885. The sods were turned on the south side of the Puniu bridge by the high chiefs Wahanui, Taonui, and Rewi. The Premier of New Zealand, Sir Robert Stout (then Mr Stout), was present, but he contented himself with second place in diplomatic compliment to the lords of the soil. There is a curious inner history to the ceremony on the banks of the Puniu; it was related to the present writer some years ago by Sir Robert Stout. “The sod was nearly not turned that day,” said Sir Robert; and he told the story of the dispute between the Waikato and Ngati-Maniapoto tribes. Early that morning there was a conference at Te Awamutu between the Premier and his colleague, Mr John Ballance, and the Maori chiefs. Mr G. T. Wilkinson was the interpreter. Wahanui, Taonui, and Rewi were there, and all three had agreed that the sod should be turned and the railway should go on through the Rohepotae. But Waikato sent two chiefs to protest against the work in the name of the Maori King, whose headquarters were then at Whatiwhatihoe, on the Waipa.[104]There were long speeches; the only one who was silent was the huge-framed Wahanui; but he was fuming with indignation; his chest was heaving in his efforts to suppress his anger. At last one of the Waikato chiefs, regardless of the fact that his tribespeople were only in the Rohepotae by sufferance of Ngati-Maniapoto, had the hardihood to declare that the sod would not be turned because it was Waikato’s land. “Oh, well,” said the Premier, quietly regarding the deeply-incensed Wahanui, “if it is Waikato’s land we have come to the wrong place.” Then the tall, dignified rangatira Taonui, almost as big a man as Wahanui, arose and said, with angry determination: “It is our land; the sod shall be turned, and turned to-day!”And it was done. Waikato were ousted; literally they had nolocus standi; and, baffled and disgruntled, they saw the big work begun and the first step taken in the civilisation of the great Rohepotae.

THE KING COUNTRY RAILWAY.

A highly-important event in the story of this district, and, indeed, of the Dominion, was the turning of the first sods of the Te Awamutu-Marton railway, the King Country section of the Main Trunk line, in 1885. The sods were turned on the south side of the Puniu bridge by the high chiefs Wahanui, Taonui, and Rewi. The Premier of New Zealand, Sir Robert Stout (then Mr Stout), was present, but he contented himself with second place in diplomatic compliment to the lords of the soil. There is a curious inner history to the ceremony on the banks of the Puniu; it was related to the present writer some years ago by Sir Robert Stout. “The sod was nearly not turned that day,” said Sir Robert; and he told the story of the dispute between the Waikato and Ngati-Maniapoto tribes. Early that morning there was a conference at Te Awamutu between the Premier and his colleague, Mr John Ballance, and the Maori chiefs. Mr G. T. Wilkinson was the interpreter. Wahanui, Taonui, and Rewi were there, and all three had agreed that the sod should be turned and the railway should go on through the Rohepotae. But Waikato sent two chiefs to protest against the work in the name of the Maori King, whose headquarters were then at Whatiwhatihoe, on the Waipa.[104]There were long speeches; the only one who was silent was the huge-framed Wahanui; but he was fuming with indignation; his chest was heaving in his efforts to suppress his anger. At last one of the Waikato chiefs, regardless of the fact that his tribespeople were only in the Rohepotae by sufferance of Ngati-Maniapoto, had the hardihood to declare that the sod would not be turned because it was Waikato’s land. “Oh, well,” said the Premier, quietly regarding the deeply-incensed Wahanui, “if it is Waikato’s land we have come to the wrong place.” Then the tall, dignified rangatira Taonui, almost as big a man as Wahanui, arose and said, with angry determination: “It is our land; the sod shall be turned, and turned to-day!”And it was done. Waikato were ousted; literally they had nolocus standi; and, baffled and disgruntled, they saw the big work begun and the first step taken in the civilisation of the great Rohepotae.

ColophonAvailabilityThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.org.This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team atwww.pgdp.net.Scans of this book are available from the Internet Archive (copy1).MetadataTitle:The old frontier: Te Awamutu, the story of the Waipa ValleyAuthor:James Cowan (1870–1943)InfoLanguage:EnglishOriginal publication date:1922Revision History2022-02-19 Started.External ReferencesThis Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These links may not work for you.CorrectionsThe following corrections have been applied to the text:PageSourceCorrectionEdit distance25,81,96[Not in source].127GovernmenGovernment141[Not in source].)270despacheddespatched172”))”289[Not in source]a band of King Country fanatics.33101[Not in source])1104’”1

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.org.

This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team atwww.pgdp.net.

Scans of this book are available from the Internet Archive (copy1).

This Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These links may not work for you.

The following corrections have been applied to the text:

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