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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 9 (December 1, 1936)

The Original Karitane

The Original Karitane.

One of my memories is a first transient meeting with Dr. Truby King in 1903, near the scene of his child-saving activities in its early stages. That was at Puketiraki, the railway station nearest to now-famous Karitane, where the doctor and his wife had a summer home, a few miles from Seacliff. It was an introduction, a few words, and a passing-on at the station; the doctor was bound to Dunedin and I was on the way to explore a place of history and ethnological interest, the massive ancient entrenchments of Te Pa-a-Te-Wera, on Huriawa or Karitane Peninsula. Dr. King was an earnest, thoughtful man, of pleasant, kindly

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(Photo. courtesy W. Forsyth, Riverton.) Turning the first sod of the Riverton-Invercargill Railway, by Superintendent J. Macandrew, Otago Provincial Council, 1875. Elaborate preparations are being made for the celebration of Riverton's centenary in January, 1937.

(Photo. courtesy W. Forsyth, Riverton.) Turning the first sod of the Riverton-Invercargill Railway, by Superintendent J. Macandrew, Otago Provincial Council, 1875. Elaborate preparations are being made for the celebration of Riverton's centenary in January, 1937.

manner, but clearly not a man of robust health. His thoughts all his life were for others, not himself. I met my friend Tame Parata, the Maori member for the South Island electorate, and we walked from his Puketiraki home down to the shore at Karitane, a mile away. That shore of the wide Waikouaiti Bay and its neighbourhood is the most beautiful part of the Otago coastline. The grassy fields go down to the edge of the white sand and the sparkling sea. It is a place of old-time story, the scene of Johnny Jones's whaling station a century ago and of the missionary labours of the Revs. Watkin and Creed. On hilly Huriawa Peninsula, the southern head of Waikouaiti Bay, we explored the olden fortifications. Just at the entrance to the Peninsula, on the sandy neck of land, Mr. Parata showed me Dr. King's house and garden, partly surrounded with tall manuka fences as a sand-barrier and breakwind. It certainly was a well-sunned spot, albeit breezy, a delicious place of warmth and kindly air, I thought, when the winds were at rest. Close by were the massive earth parapets of Te Wera's Pa; there the great gateway called the “Lips of Toretore” stood.

It was there in that sun-drenched corner on Karitane neck that Dr. Truby King carried out his first experiments in the rearing of infants on modern hygienic and dietary principles.

Karitane—a note about that name of fame. It was the name given to the mission establishment of the Rev. Mr. Creed, facing the bay, on a sandy terrace alongside the Maori village and the marae or green called Hau-te-kapakapa. Both words, “Kari” and “tane” are good Maori, but they are meaningless in this conjunction. Enquiry has elucidated the origin. It is a composite name, made up of an abbreviation of “Kariti,” the Maori pronunciation of “Creed,” and “tane,” meaning man. We may, therefore, translate Karitane as “Creed the man”—or, say, “Mr. Creed”—a linguistic memorial to the early-days preacher and teacher.