Te Whatanui

Transcription

[Traditional Māori instruments (14 secs)] [Colonial woman's account] Few New Zealanders have ever seen their own bush as it was in the beginning. The surviving patches of it, on hillsides or on poor stoney soil, or where stock has been through it, bear but slight resemblance to the virgin rainforest grown on fertile flats. [Narrator] Lake Papaitonga Reserve lies just off State Highway One, 4 kilometres south of Levin. It is one of the few surviving tracts of original lowland forest in New Zealand. On entering the reserve, a lush collection of graceful nikau palms are immediately apparent. Then the track descends to a wetland where a raised boardwalk allows access across a swampy area. Above the boardwalk stand tall kahikatea and pukatea trees. The track soon returns to high ground and a lookout offers excellent views of Lake Papaitonga. In the centre of the lake are two islands. The larger island is natural but the smaller one was created by the Muaūpoko tribe. To build it, they transported many canoe-loads of soil and shells. These islands became useful refuges in times of conflict. In 1822, the Ngāti Toa tribe settled nearby, after migrating from the Waikato to the less populated Horowhenua. Among Ngāti Toa's leaders was Te Rauparaha, a chief who had made many enemies, but who also showed great resourcefulness in organising his people's migration. The arrival of Ngāti Toa alarmed the Muaūpoko tribe, who feared for their safety, despite the newcomers' assurances that they came in peace. So Muaūpoko decided to kill Te Rauparaha. An invitation was extended to him to attend a feast on an island in Lake Papaitonga. To lure him, they promised a gift of much-needed canoes. Despite warnings, Te Rauparaha arrived, unarmed, and with a small group that included a number of his adult children. After the feast, as their guests lay sleeping, Muaūpoko attacked. Only Te Rauparaha and one other man escaped alive. The consequences of the botched assassination were calamitous for the Muaūpoko tribe. Furious at the deaths of his children, Te Rauparaha and his tribe took every opportunity to hunt down and kill members of Muaūpoko. The few survivors left retreated to a series of artificial islands in the lakes of their tribal area. Two of these islands were built in Lake Papaitonga and a further seven in nearby Lake Horowhenua. But Muaūpoko weren't even safe on these islands. Ngāti Toa warriors simply swam to them at night, with weapons tied to their bodies. At Papaitonga, as many as 600 Muaūpoko were slaughtered. The survivors fled to the nearby Tararua mountains, where they lived a miserable existence. In the late 1820s, Muaūpoko's fortunes improved when Te Whatanui, a chief from the Ngāti Raukawa tribe then living in the area, gave them protection against Ngāti Toa. Forty years later, Muaūpoko fought for the colonial government in the Taranaki Wars, and in return for their support, won back some of the land they had lost. But Muaūpoko did not regain Lake Papaitonga, which was acquired by the lawyer and noted ornithologist, Sir Walter Buller. The lake was part payment for his legal services to the tribe in their campaign to regain their lands. Buller had grand plans for Papaitonga, including building a mansion on its shores. But Buller also had a knack for making enemies, which included members of the government. It did everything it could to stop Buller's purchase of Papaitonga. When Buller finally got his land, he had only a few years to enjoy it before he died in 1906. His mansion never materialised, though a number of modern mansions dot the countryside around the lake today.