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Port Molyneux : the story of Maori and pakeha in South Otago : a centennial history : commemorating the landing of George Willsher and his companions at Willsher Bay, June 28, 1840 : with a programme for the unveiling of the centennial cairn, erected by the Clutha County Council, June 28, 1940

Chapter X. — Purchase Of The Otago Block

Chapter X.
Purchase Of The Otago Block.

As we have seen, by the end of 1840, a Government had been established at the Bay of Islands. In Otago the whaling industry had declined, but settlement had commenced at Waikouaiti, where Johnny Jones had commenced farming operations on a large scale. Watkin, the Missionary, had also arrived. Willsher and Russell had built their houses and made their gardens south of the Karoro Creek at Molyneux Bay.

The New Zealand Company had established settlements in the North and at Port Nicholson. Now plans were on foot for the establishment of a settlement in the South Island.

In 1842 Captain W. M. Smith, acting as Chief Surveyor for the New Zealand Company, had examined all southern harbours, and had formed the opinion that Broad Bay in Otago Harbour was the most suitable for a town settlement.

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In 1843 Colonel Godfrey, who had been appointed Commissioner to inquire into land claims, and Dr. Edward Shortland, Protector of the Aborigines, had visited all Native settlements from Akaroa to Aparima.

Tuckett And Symonds.

This visit ran into the year 1844, and the stage was now set for the entry of Tuckett. Frederick Tuckett, a young Quaker, was a surveyor on the staff of the New Zealand Company, and he arrived on the 25th of April, 1844. to finally select a suitable site for the Otago Settlement. He came from Nelson on the brig Deborah, which also–carried the Rev. C. Creed, who relieved Watkin at Waikouaiti, and the Rev. J. F. H. Wohlers, who proceeded to Ruapuke, where for so many years he carried out such devoted work. Among the passengers was a certain Lieut. J. J. Symonds, a magistrate whose difficult job was to restrain Mr. Tuckett from trespassing unduly on the rights of the Natives.

In the tragic affair at the Wairau in June, 1843, twenty–two–pakehas were killed in an affray with Rauparaha and Rangihaeata. In 1841 Captain (not Colonel) Wakefield, agent for the New Zealand Company, had persisted in surveying land about which there was a dispute. Despite Rauparaha's entreaties, the survey proceeded, and on an accidental shot by one of the pakehas killing one of Rangihaeata's wives (a daughter of Rauparaha) the massacre took place. “Mr. Tuckett, one of the surveyors, escaped as soon as the firing began, and crossing the Strait on the second day after the fight to Wellington, told us as much as he had seen.” (Clarke.)

So it was not surprising that the Government sent a magistrate of the type of Symonds to see that the agents of the New Zealand Company did not again provoke an affair with the Natives. The series of letters writteen by Tuckett and Symonds show how, both being determined men, they quarrelled.

Tuckett's reports on the Otago Block are printed in Dr. Hocken's book, so there is no need to reproduce them here. In June, 1844, Tuckett, having consulted his employers, decided on a block of approximately 400,000 acres for the settlement.

Fill Up The Barrel!

Next month, July, 1844, the Native owners having assembled at Koputai (Port Chalmers), the bargaining took place. Tuhawaiki wanted a lot of money. He casually suggested a million. When asked to indicate how much, a barrel was pointed out: “That full!” The price finally agreed upon was £2,400. Dr. Hocken worked this out at three farthings an acre.

The Magistrate Symonds and a young man of 19 years of age, George Clarke, the Sub–Protector of the Aborigines, watched affairs.

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to see that the Natives were not imposed upon, but Tuhawaiki, now a chief with much knowledge of the pakeha's ways, was the dominant figure.

Maori Would Always Fight For Land.

Young Clarke, a very capable Maori scholar, was determined that there should be no disputes later regarding either the boundaries or the Native reserves. His little book, “Early Life in New Zealand,” shows to what trouble he went. Clarke knew the Maori proverb: “He wahine he whenua e ngaro ai te tangata,” which he rendered into English as: “For land or wife, man stakes his life,” commenting “that a man, who is a man, will fight with all his life rather than be forced to surrender either land or woman. The depth of this feeling about their land, to say nothing about the wife, was greatly underrated by Europeans, and their disregard of it was and has continued to be, the source of most of the trouble that we have had with the Maoris… Now anyone who carries these three laws in his mind—the law of the Blood Bond, the law of Tribal Possession, and the law of Possession by Conquest—will have the key to all our great troubles with the Maoris from the Treaty of Waitangi to the present hour.”

“Bill Sikes.”

Arrived at Otago Harbour, Symonds and Clarke found the Maoris ready to sell, but in a very bad temper. Here is Clarke's description of Tuckett: “The irrepressible Tuckett, known familiarly in our expedition as Bill Sikes, who had learnt nothing by his escape from the Wairau massacre, would insist upon cutting his survey lines over anything that came in his way, and took not the least notice of the remonstrances of the Maoris. The Government and Colonel Wakefield together had to make him stop, and until he did so, Mr. Symonds refused to begin any negotiations. So the gentleman was not in very good humour when we arrived.”

They pulled up to the site of Port Chalmers, where there was a little forest of white pine, swarming with pigeons, which they shot from the door of the tent.

As the Maoris wanted the party to cross the harbour and inspect the boundaries of the proposed reserve at the Heads, they did so, and having ascended a hill called Ohinetu, Tuhawaiki asked the party to sit down while he addressed them.

Speech By Tuhawaiki.

Addressing Colonel Wakefield, Mr. Symonds, and Mr. Clarke, Tuhawaiki delivered a most eloquent and pathetic address which, fortunately, was taken down by Clarke. (“Karaka is the Maori version of Clarke): ‘Look here, Karaka,’ he said, ‘here, and there, and there and yonder; those are all burial places, not ancestral burial places, but page 46 those of this generation. Our parents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, children, they lie thick around us.

“We are but a poor remnant now, and the pakeha will soon see us all die out, but even in my time, we Ngailaki* were a large and powerful tribe, stretching from Cook Strait to Akaroa, and the Ngatimamoe to the south of us were slaves. The wave which brought Rauparaha and his allies to the Strait, washed him over to the Southern Island. He went through us, fighting and burning and slaying. At Kaikoura, at Kaiapoi, and at other of our strongholds, hundreds and hundreds of our people fell, hundreds more were carried off as slaves, and hundreds died of cold and starvation in their flight. We are now dotted in families, few and far between, where we formerly lived as tribes. Our children are few, and we cannot rear them.

“But we had a worse enemy than even Rauparaha, and that was the visit of the pakeha with his drink and his disease. You think us very corrupted, but the very scum of Port Jackson shipped as whalers or landed as sealers on this coast. They brought us new plagues, unknown to our fathers, till our people melted away.

“This was one of our largest settlements, and it was beyond even the reach of Rauparaha. We lived secure, and feared no enemy; but one year, when I was a youth, a ship came from Sydney, and she brought measles among us. It was winter, as it is now. In a few months most of the inhabitants sickened and died. Whole families on this spot disappeared and left no one to represent them. My people lie all around us, and now you can tell Wide–awake (Wakefield) why we cannot part with this portion of our land, and why we were angry with Tuckett for cutting his lines about here.”

A Cold Trip To The Molyneux.

Having satisfied himself about the Northern boundary, Clarke came to the conclusion that the Southern line was vague. He refused to accept the line given by the surveyor, and to the disgust of all but Symonds, insisted on seeing the Southern boundary, and having the details pointed out to him on the spot by selected Maoris.

Colonel Wakefield decided to accompany Symonds and Clarke, so with a party of Maoris they started on a fortnight's tramp, in midwinter, with the ground covered with snow. They rowed up from Port Chalmers to the head of the harbour, struck across country, and then came down to the coast, possibly at St. Kilda Beach. They lived on native quail, wild pigeons, and wild pigs. When they reached the mouth of the Taieri, they got a boat and pulled up the river and down Lake Waihola. With firing both barrels of his gun Clarke brought down “nearly a dozen” ducks. They pulled ashore, lit a fire, and roasted them. “Leaving the head of the lake, after hauling the boat page 47 ashore, we struck towards the south–west, dragging wearily over long rolling downs, with here and there a small clump of stunted trees, often miles apart. We always pitched our tent near one of these clumps, for the sake of shelter and firewood. Sometimes it would rain in the night and then freeze, so that the packing of the tent next morning was like folding a sheet of tin, and made it rather an unpleasant back–load for the unfortunate Maori who had to carry it… So we went on until we reached the boundary, and then returned by the same track, luckily killing three or four wild pigs on the journey… Back to Otago, I prepared the Maori deed… I wrote and certified the English translation, and no dispute has ever come of it…”

The Boundaries Of The Block.

The names of the lands were given as “Otakou, Kaikarae, Taieri Mataau, and Te Karoro.” The boundaries were given as: “The Northern Boundary line commences at Purehurehu, runs along the seashore, crossing the entrance of Otakou (Harbour) to Otupa, thence along the coast to Poatiri, the eastern boundary is the ocean from Poatiri to Tokata; thence the southern boundary runs along the summit of Taukohu to Pohueroa, it then runs along the summit of the Kaihiku range and crosses the Mataau River, thence along the summit of the Maunga–atua Range to Wakari, along the summit of Wakari to Mihiwaka and Otuwararoa, thence it descends to Purehurehu on the coast.”

The Karoro Reserve At Molyneux.

The reserves enumerated are at Otago Heads; at the Taieri; “also a portion of land at the Karoro, bounded on the South by the Karoro River, on the east by the ocean; the northern boundary includes the kainga of that place, and extends inland about one mile …”

The Signatories To The Deed.

The chiefs who signed the Deed of Sale to the New Zealand Company were (This is the rendering in McKay's “Native Affairs in the South Island.” Hocken gives different order and spellings):-

  • John Tuhawaiki

  • Taiaroa

  • Karetai

  • Korako

  • Kaikoarare

  • Takamaitu

  • Te Rake

  • John Tuhawaiki for Topi

  • Kihau

  • Horomona Pohio

  • Pohau

  • Kahuti

  • Kurakura

  • Mokomoko

  • Te Ao

  • Korako Karetai

  • Tutewaiuo

  • Papakawa

  • Te Hoki

  • Kaiwakana

  • Te Raki

  • Potiki

  • Pohota

  • Taiaroa for Pokihi

  • Pokene

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  • The witnesses were:—

  • John Jermyn Symonds, P.M.

  • Frederick Tuckett

  • George Clarke, Junior, Protector of Aborigines

  • David Scott

The Question Of A Date.

If we believed some historians, this might well be the last signature made by Tuhawaiki. The date incorporated in the deed is July 31, 1844. Clarke's copy says so; so does the copy printed by Hocken.

But other records state that July 31, 1844, was the day on which Tuhawaiki was drowned at Jack's Point, off Timaru. Both cannot be right.

A search of the transaction as printed in Mackay's “Native Affairs of the South Island” shows the same date in the body of the deed. But in the declaration by Colonel Wakefield attached to the bottom of the papers the date is July 29th, 1840. One explanation might be that the deed was signed on July 29, but that it took effect on the last day of the month, and for that reason the last day of the month was inserted, but the exact wording is: “on this 31st day of July, in the year of our Lord 1844.”

It is probably in keeping with the spirit of the time—a day or two didn't matter!

Division Of The Money.

Symonds records that after the documnets had been formally read over in Maori and English, “the purchase money, to the amount of £2,400, was amicably divided among the different families and they all expressed themselves fully satisfied with the whole transaction.”

Another account says that Tuhawaiki took £900, plus £300 for his Taieri and Molyneux friends, Taiaroa and Karetai got £300 each, and the other £600 was divided among the other chiefs.

Discrepancy Of The Dates.

Re–reading all the documents convinces the writer of these notes that the date of the signing and the distribution of the money took place on July 31.

But the Rev. M. Rugby Pratt, who had access to many early missionary papers, states: “Tuhawaiki, who had survived many a warlike encounter, met his death by drowning at Timaru on July 31, 1844.”

But read Dr. Hocken: “… the portion (the £900) of this chief was devoted to the purchase and fitting out of a little vessel with which to extend the trade which he already carried on. Bold and skilful sailor as he was, he lost his life soon afterwards—in November, 1844—whilst piloting his boat through a tempestuous sea off Moeraki.”

It will be seen that there is a big discrepancy in dates, but Dr. Hocken may be right.

* Ngailaki is probably a misprint for Ngatahu.