RANGITANE O TAMAKI-NUI-A-RUA
SUMMARY OF GENESIS ENERGY CASTLEHILL WINDFARM
CULTURAL VALUES ASSESSMENT.
1. Introduction.
My name is Patrick Parsons and I live at Poraiti, west of Napier. I have a
long background in Maori history and custom and finished a career as a
secondary school teacher in 1990 to focus on Waitangi Tribunal claims in
my area. In the Hawke’s Bay region I specialise in traditional Maori
history and genealogy. I am author of the histories In the Shadow of Te
Waka and Waipukurau-the History of a Country Town and co-author of
West to the Annie.
2. I have previously been commissioned by Rangitane o Tamaki-Nui-aRua to prepare a cultural values assessment for the Contact Energy
Waitahora Windfarm project. Castlehill is located to the south-east of the
Puketoi Range about 30 kilometres east of Pahiatua. It is a remote area
with an elevated and rugged terrain and much of the access is along
valley floors.
3. This Cultural Values assessment investigates the relationship between
Rangitane and the landscape along a corridor extending from the coast at
Mataikona, through the Castlehill windfarm zone and on to the Tararua
Ranges west of Pahiatua. It explores the ancestral links between
Rangitane and the land beginning with the Kupe people and extending to
the era of Government alienations (1853-1875).
4. Sections 1 and 2 of this report address the rationale and methodology
used to gather the material for the assessment. In terms of preservation of
customary history it was found that early Government purchases equated
to loss of identity with the land and a corresponding loss of history. The
establishment of the Maori Land Court in 1866 provided the Maori with a
vehicle to tell their history and have it recorded in the minute books. Until
Maori became familiar with the system, the evidence gathered was rather
sparse. By the 1880s Maori were more forthright, titles were more
contested and history was recorded in more detail.
5. Sections 3-6 and 8 relate to Government purchases and surviving
documentation concerning each of them. In some cases survey maps
survive which provide boundary names in Maori. The purchase deeds
identify Maori who were present at their signing and who presumably had
ancestral and occupational rights to the land. This was not always the
case as visiting Maori of rank were often invited to sign the deeds as a
courtesy or as witnesses. Purchase details such as recorded in Turton’s
Deeds don’t include information on customary rights. Purchase
commissioners were not required to identify tribal affiliations as part of
the purchase protocol. Negotiations were conducted with principal chiefs
and it would have required specialist genealogical knowledge to identify
each by tribe.
6. Section 7 of the report, titled Alfredton: the School and the People
provided a surprisingly comprehensive study of Maori occupation in the
area known as the Moroa clearing. This area follows the river tributaries
of the Waitawhiti, Te Hoe, Ihuraua and Tiraumea flowing west from
Castlehill, then north to the Manawatu. Large sections of the valley floor
were clear of forest. It is likely they weren’t all natural clearings and that
generations of seasonal occupants had burnt parts for cultivations and
kainga. Archaeological sites including fortifications, cultivations and
urupa all add to the knowledge of bygone times.
7. Section 9 of the report concerns the writings of the Anglican
missionary William Colenso who passed through the seventy mile bush in
March 1846. Not only does he leave a description of the primaeval forest
but he visits the settlements of Te Hawera and Ngaawapurua. It was at Te
Hawera that he met the aged chief Karepa Te Hiaro who became a
staunch convert to the new faith. Shortly before his death in December
1849 Te Hiaro called his people together and exhorted them to cleave to
the new faith.
8. Section 10 of the report contains extracts from the addresses of
Norman Elder, botanist and tramper who taught at Hereworth School,
Havelock North and belonged to the H.B. Historical Society. He
discusses vegetation, weather hazards and the best routes across the
Tararua ranges for early Maori.
9. Section 11 makes the case for Rangitane occupation of Puketoi No. 4
rather than the list of sellers identified by the Makuri purchase. The
Crown-grantees of Puketoi No 4 all identify with one or other of the
descent lines of Rangitane, and principally with Rangitane of the
Manawatu river.
10. Section 12 examines in greater detail Maori occupation of the valley
floors and rivers of the Moroa clearing. The justification for this is that it
is one of the few records of how Maori lived and utilised the resources of
the land and conveys a sense of seasonal relationship to a remote and
sparsely-settled territory. It provided fishing and fowling grounds, shelter,
cultivations and timber for dwellings, fencing and canoes. Birdlife, some
of it now extinct was plentiful until the late 1800s and Maori continued to
exercise customary rights even after alienation of the land.
11. Section 13 of the assessment considers wahi tapu or places of spiritual
significance to the Maori. It makes the case that alienation of title to the
land has a devastating impact on the places and events that were
important to earlier generations. Memory of these places and their
significance is dependant on generational access to them and the retelling
of the story. When regular habitation ceases the knowledge of past deeds
soon fades, in much the same way that European colonists to this land
lost contact with their places of spiritual significance.
12. A genealogy is provided at Section 14 for the chief Te Kawe who was
killed along the riverways of Moroa. Was this the same chief who W.J.
Saunders learned was buried near the Waipori stream? It is rather a
tenuous link but it serves to illustrate how associations with the land
vanish if not preserved.
13. The interview with Hanatia Palmer at Section 15 demonstrates the
knowledge that remains with people of long association with the land.
They are a valuable resource and are sometimes the sole repository of key
elements of tribal history. Locating these people and taking the time to
listen to them is not always a priority and their value is often only
recognised when they have gone.
14. The summary of the above research appears at Section 16. The
historian who sets out to identify and record what is left of the story of
tribes like Rangitane always comes away with unanswered questions.
Have I represented the ancestors of this land fairly? Is there more material
out there that I have missed? Have I provided enough for young
Rangitane to grasp hold of and regain a sense of belonging?
15. Sections 18-20 concern consultation with Rangitane, contemporary
cultural values and issues and recommendations. Questions concerning
this section will be addressed by Rangitane.