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Tommy the Maori and Teapot

John Marris

My interest in the story of the two maoris known to many early local settlers as Tommy the Maori and Teapot began just before Christmas sometime in the 1950's when I was farming at the head of Garden Valley in the Wairoa Gorge. It so happened that in those days the late Mr L. E. H. Baigent used to call on us each year to collect a few geese for Christmas dinner. It was a glorious summer morning on this occasion and as he was a keen and knowledgable historian it wasn't long before we got around to discussing local history.

When he mentioned that Garden Valley was once known as Teapot Valley and named after a maori of that name, who with his friend Tommy, had lived at the back of our farm the conversation took a more interesting and serious turn, first to be discussed while seated on the garden wall and later with a cup of tea around the kitchen table.

Over the intervening years further information has come to hand which has helped to throw a little more light on the lives of these two maoris and the F. V. Knapp papers held by the Nelson Provincial Museum have been a valuable source of information.

The story begins about the year 1828 when Tommy and Teapot lived in the Ngaitara Pa of Waimea where life went on as usual and in reasonable harmony with other maoris in the region where they were said to be less hostile towards one another than their North Island neighbours. However, dramatic changes were about to take place as at this time the well known and feared chief Te Rauparaha was making plans for an attack on the Tasman Bay maoris.

A few years earlier the South Island maoris had attacked his stronghold on Kapati Island and had caused him a few anxious moments before being driven off. They retreated southwards knowing full well that Te Rauparaha would not let the matter rest there. Several years passed before the attack came and when it did it was savage, devastating and far more deadly than they could have imagined.

Te Rauparaha despatched a war party under the command of several chiefs, the best known was probably Te Puoho, who was a clever tactician. These warriors were well trained and most were armed with muskets. The defenders had mostly conventional weapons suited to hand to hand fighting and had no hope of repelling their enemies. The war party swept through the sounds and into Tasman Bay by way of the French Pass carrying everything before it.

Many were to die and very few were to escape on that fateful day when Te Puoho guided his war canoes into the mouth of the Waimea River and without warning attacked the Pa. Little is known about the ensuing battle but the inhabitants soon found themselves in a hopeless situation and their only hope was to try and escape the musket fire.

Tommy and Teapot, who would probably have been about twenty years of age, were most certainly of this opinion and with youth on their side they made a desperate bid for freedom by heading for the safety of the Wairoa Gorge.

We are left wondering if they passed by way of the Pohare Pa near Brightwater (believed to be named after a chief) or was it already too late to warn the inhabitants. The "Examiner" of 9 April 1842 mentions how T. J. Thompson was surveying in this locality and after having burnt off some fern he discovered the remains of this Pa which he said reminded him of an old Roman camp. It is interesting to note the spelling Weiti and Weimea (sic) Rivers at the junction of which this Pa was situated.

There are many and varied reports of escapers from the Waimea Pa being pursued into the back country and it is fairly certain that the sound of musket fire was not far away as Tommy and Teapot made their hasty retreat. It is generally believed they headed directly up the river into the Wairoa Gorge as this route would afford them the best cover if they were being pursued. Having reached this page 15area they could make use of the more or less permanent camps which their fellow tribesmen had maintained and used when hunting tuis, kaka and pigeons which were numerous in those times.

An alternative route known to early settlers as the "Old Maori Track," once passed along the foothills and gradually climbed around the face of the high ridge away to the east of the Spring Grove Cemetery. This was across the property owned by the late Mr F. D. Higgins who told this story to the writer about thirty years ago. He said the track made the top of the hill about the south east corner of his farm where the main ridge dividing Garden Valley from The Plain falls away abruptly and is very noticeably lower. From this point southwards along the ridge it is level walking to the head of the valley where the "Old Track" swung eastward and gave fairly easy access to nearby Jacks Valley, and to the south down an easy slope to Pig Valley and the Wairoa River. Whichever of the two routes the two maoris took they would be able to reach this locality.

In pre European times parts of this area around Garden Valley were in heavy bush and even as late as a hundred years ago there were large totara and matai logs lying in high fern. The late Mr Ben Eves of Bridge Valley remembered it when it was in this condition and told how the early pioneers believed the forest had been burnt off by the maoris many years before Nelson was settled. It is not uncommon today when cultivating these hills to find dry areas of soil where "old man" totara trees once grew.

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Tommy and Teapot spent fifteen or more years in these valleys of the Wairoa Gorge and it was not until the early 1840's when William Budge and several others were surveying the land to the south east of Wakefield that they discovered them in a camp on the edge of the bush to the south of Pig Valley. At first nothing would convince them that it was safe to return to the Waimeas and the thought of returning to their old home near the estuary of the river made them very nervous. It was clear that their experiences at the hands of Te Rauparaha's warriors were not easily forgotten. However, after further reasurances they did come out and were able to find work with the settlers who came to know them as Tommy the Maori and Teapot. They both had a reputation for being good trustworthy workers and were well liked by those who knew them.

According to F. V. Knapp (see plan) Tommy lived in a whare built among the manuka trees situated on a small terrace on the south bank of Badman's Creek now known as Teapot Valley stream Waimea West. The spot would be southwest of the present Teapot Valley Christian Camp (1984) which is located at the junction of the Waimea West and Teapot Valley roads. Perhaps Tommy's friend lived here with him, and, is it just co-incidence that this area carries his name?

It is of interest to note that this was once known as Dron's Corner (not to be confused with the old Eves Valley corner also known by the same name) the family having owned the land on both sides of the Waimea West Road while the farm to the south belonged to Samuel Badman 1856–61 and then John Palmer, farmer and innkeeper of Waimea West who passed it on to other members of his family when he died in 1898.

Knapp goes on to say that Tommy worked for James and John Kerr on the farm opposite St Michael's Church and later went to the Lake Station with John. He is also mentioned in Saxton's Diary 20 September 1849 when he was with a party shooting rabbits on the "Large Island" i.e. Rabbit Island. "Tommy the Maori" was recorded as "catering for Mr Carkeek." They had a successful day, most of them going home with rabbits, mussels and oysters from Oyster Island. Although Tommy is said to be buried in the Waimea West Public Cemetery there is no record of the event in the burial records.

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This is mentioned in Harry H. Moffat's book Adventures by Sea and Land. Moffat called at Station Creek near Lake Rotoiti in the early 1860's and states that he had a very enjoyable evening with "the proprietor and a native, Teapot by name." Maori people believe this name to be a corrupt form of the name T1POU which means the one who likes the largest share or, the greedy one. There is another story which tells how he was very fond of a cup of tea and that if anyone lit a fire to boil up he was sure to be on hand by the time the tea was made. This, it is said, earned him the name Teapot and the name was given to the valley in the Wairoa Gorge near where he had lived for many years.

It is not likely that it will ever be established exactly where Tommy and Teapot lived while in hiding and it is almost certain they would move around from place to place making use of the old camps of their dead friends and relatives. There was a fine stand of native trees in the area where Budge found them in Pig Valley. This was later known as Budges Bush, and was milled by Mrs Charles Fawcett about the turn of the century.

Some people believe they lived on a small sheltered flat at the head of Jack's Valley. Certainly there was evidence of maori habitation there. There was argillite chips and stones which had been carried up from the Wairoa River over a mile away. An earlier owner found a skull on the surface of the ground while Mr W. Murcott found four adzes and several pounders as well as burnt stones that appeared to have been used in cooking fires.

The name Garden Gully was used on some Geological Survey maps in 1878 but was not used officially. There was once a hop garden in the valley which was owned by Mr William Hastelow about 1863 and this is how the name probably originated.

It was called Teapot Valley until in May 1939 Mr H. Murcott who then lived at the top end of the valley wrote to the Waimea County Council asking for the name to be changed to Garden Gully. In September the Lands and Survey Department gave their approval saying that the old name had not been used on maps or deeds so that the way was clear for the proposed change. It was to be called Garden Valley and in due course the sign post at the end of the road was changed and so this reminder of the past has gone.

Note: The photograph of Tommy had the words "Freeman's Maori" written down the side of the negative. Did he work for Freeman who had a share in the contract to build the bridge over the Wairoa at Brightwater 1863?

References: F. V. Knapp Papers — Nelson Provincial Museum. Saxton's Diaries — The Nelson Provincial Museum (2 Sept. 1849). Harry Moffat — Adventures by Land and Sea. Peart "Old Tasman Bay."