The Kāpiti Coast

Colonisation & Responses

By Thane Maxwell

Overview:

• 1820/30s: Few whalers at Kāpiti trading and friendly relations with newly arrived Ngāti Toa & allies
• 1840s: large scale European settlement begins in Wellington and Nelson, this leads to conflict over land and Ngāti Toa defeated

• 1850s-70s: European settlement on coastal road north
• 1880s: Railway extended from Wellington after deal with Wi Parata (of Te Āti Awa)
• By 1900 most land now in Pākehā hands following Maori Land Court privatising ownership

Whalers & Sealers

• The first Europeans to live on the Kāpiti Coast were Whalers and sealers, arriving the late 1700s
• Many intermarried with local Maori and depended on them, trade in muskets & other goods
• Image shows Jillet’s Station, on Kāpiti Island
• Another station was located at Wharemauku Pā (Raumati Beach!)

Conflict between the allies

• Ngāti Toa had given lands on the Kāpiti Coast to its allies, including Ngāti Raukawa and Te Āti Awa
• Subsequent waves of migration had led to overpopulation in the region
• Conflict between Ngāti Raukawa and Te Āti Awa developed in the 1830s
• Battle of Haowhenua (near Te Horo) in 1834 see many chiefs from both sides killed
• 1839 Battle of Kuititanga at Waikanae saw Ngāti Raukawa defeated

Arrival of the Missionaries

• Col William Wakefield and Octavius Hadfield arrive in 1839. Hadfield (a missionary) begins the conversion of Te Āti Awa and other Kāpiti Maori
• Founds church at Te Āti Awa village of Kena Kena
• Wakefield begins land deals for settlement in Wellington and Nelson, purchasing 20 million acres of land from Ngāti Toa between Taranaki & North Canterbury (the Kāpiti Deed). Ruled illegal by the new British Governor the next year.

NZ Company take Wellington

• The New Zealand Company’s first settler ship, the Aurora, arrived at Petone on 22 January 1840, and set up a community there.
• Settlers moved across the harbour following floods to Thorndon and Te Aro. By the end of the year 1,200 British settlers had arrived in Wellington.
• The New Zealand Company parcelled up the land into sections for settlers, who were to get one town acre (0.4 hectares) and an accompanying 100 country acres (40 hectares).
• The New Zealand Company surveyors paid no attention to the sites Māori had been promised and, over time as the city grew, Māori moved away.

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Charles Heaphy drew this picture of Wellington in 1841

Kupapa (friends) or ‘Rebels’?

• With the growth of British settlement after 1840, Ngāti Toa faced the difficult choice of how to respond to the British
• Te Rauparaha had benefited greatly from friendship with the Pākehā and wanted to continue this
• Te Rangihaeata (and his Ngāti Raukawa relations) wanted a more aggressive stance to protect Ngāti Toa conquests. Wi Tako even supported the King Movement for Maori sovereignty in the 1850s
• Te Āti Awa decided to break ranks and side with Pākehā in the coming conflicts – although many among the tribe would later support the Parihaka prophets protests against land loss in the 1870s

The Defeat of Ngāti Toa, 1846

• Settlers from Wellington seized the Hutt Valley, following disputes with Ngāti Toa and other iwi over land sales.
• Conflict between British troops and Māori led to an attack on Boulcott’s Farm on 16 May resulting in six British soldiers being killed. Although these attacks involved Whanganui Maori, Ngāti Toa men were also involved. The British blame Te Rangihaeata.
• The British made plans to attack the chief’s Pā located at Pauatahanui. On 30 July, a party of militia and police, as well as 160 Te Āti Awa under the chiefs Te Puni and Wi Tako, set off from the Hutt to converge on Te Rangihaeata’s Pā. This group travelled the Maori track that leads through Belmont Regional Park.
• When they reached the Pā site at Pauatahanui, they found it deserted and set off in pursuit of Te Rangihaeata. Eventually, in the Horokiri Valley, they encountered Te Rangihaeata’s party in a makeshift fortifi cation which was attacked.

Pauatahanui : Te Rangihaeata’s Pā, 1847

Te Rangihaeata’s retreat

• After several days, Te Rangihaeata’s party retreated from the battleground traveling northwards through the hills.
• Te Āti Awa forces caught up with Te Rangihaeata’s party several days later and a brief skirmish occurred on Pouaha Hill behind the Paripari Pā of Paekākāriki. Maori from Wainui Pā (Paekākāriki) had been involved in this engagement.
• Te Rangihaeata and his surviving starving forces make it back to Ōtaki & their Ngāti Raukawa allies

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Chief Rawiri Puaha, who led Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa forces allied to the British

Pauatahanui : Soldier’s barracks 1865, on site of Matai Taua Pā

First Settlers

• ‘Scotch Jock’ Nicholl settled at Paekākāriki, marrying Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi (who famously swam from Kāpiti Island with her child on her back) and ran an inn & traded from 1832/3
• Captain Henry Lynch served with the 65^th Rifles against Te Rangihaeata at Pauatahanui and was awarded a mansion at Emerald Glen (on Waterfall Rd) & 1200 acres of land as a reward for his service to the crown in the NZ Wars (in 1852)

Scotch Jock & Kahe’s house in Paekākāriki, 1850s

Paekakariki-Whanganui ‘Old Coach Road’

• The Wellington to Whanganui mail service was established in 1841 by Cobb and Co. The beach would remain the main thoroughfare in the area for many decades.
• An accommodation house, of which there were many along the route, was being operated at Whareroa & another at Waikanae.
• By 1865 a road had been established over the hills from Pauatahanui to Paekākāriki along the same route as the Hill road is today.
• At Paekākāriki, wheeled transport would access the beach and travel north from there, fording the various streams along the way.

Paekākāriki Hill Road, 1870s

Old Coach Road, 1842/5

Foundation of Paekākāriki

• Wainui Pā established at what is now the north end of Paekākāriki in about 1835
• Settled by the Ngāti Haumia hapu of Ngāti Toa, lead by Ropata Hurumutu
• Te Āti Awa settle Whareroa Pā & Tipapa just to the north at the same time

Ropata Hurumutu on the left, with his wife, Oriwia, seated before him. ON the right is Hohepa Tamaihengia & Riria

Wainui Pā and stream in the fore ground

Ngāti Haumia Pā at Paekākāriki, 1847

• In 1847 450 acres of land were being farmed at Wainui. The land around the Pā was all sand and not suitable for cultivations, so the potato and kūmara grounds were located some distance away.
• A total of 195 persons living at Wainui, 31 of these were children. A majority of 157 persons were belonged to the Church of England, the rest were Wesleyans. Sixty one persons were able to read and write and a further seven could read. Thirty three students were attending the school.
• The settlement was made up of 40 huts and two churches. Nine war canoes were recorded. Stock included nine horses, nine cows and two sheep, but also 40 pigs and 30 goats.
• Three acres of wheat were being grown as well as five acres of maize (corn), 18 acres of potatoes, three acres of kūmara and a further acre of other garden produce. Half a ton of flax had been prepared for market.

Christianity & Wiremu Kīngi

• Te Āti Awa mostly converted to Christianity after Ripahau, an escaped slave, returned to them from Northland
• Ripahau began conversion of other iwi
• In 1848 Wiremu Kīngi leads many local Te Āti Awa to resettle back at Waitara to help protect land from Pākehā
• 1850 Rangiātea church built and becomes influential in helping create peace amongst the Kāpiti iwi

Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke

Rebuilt Rangiātea church, Ōtaki

Purchase of Wainui and Whareroa blocks (now QE2 Park)

• Māori Land Court begins to give the title to land to individuals (rather than the tribe as was traditional) to make land purchases easier and following British law
• Arguments between Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Toa over who owned/controlled the land.
• On 27 November 1858, a purchase had been completed for £850 for 34,000 acres centred on Whareroa stream. The Wainui block (around Paekākāriki) of a further 30, 000 acres was purchased in 1859 for £800.
• Whereas 5,000 acres was farm land, the rest was bushy and heavily timbered. Several Native Reserves were made, including: 135 acres at Wainui and 17 acres at Whareroa (Ramaroa). In addition, a 50-acre reserve was made for the Puketapu (Ngāti Toa) chief Tamati te Whakapakeke.
• The Government Land Agent later stated: “The reserves appear to be large; but when the number of natives resident within the boundaries is taken into consideration they could not in justice be made smaller.”
• From 1850 to 1870, Maori land was confiscated under the Public Works Act with no form of compensation by the Crown and granted to militiamen for farming purposes.

Development of Pākehā Farms

• In the 1860s and 70s, the villages of Wainui and Whareroa declined over the following decades. In 1878, the census recorded 20 persons at Whareroa – 12 adults over 15 years old and 8 children. At Wainui there were only six people, one of whom was a child.
• From 1860, John Telford established a sheep farm know as ‘Waremoko’ around current-day Raumati. In August 1879, William Bentinck Howell leased much of this land, eventually extending it all the way down to Whareroa Stream. He began draining the swamps in between the sand hills and establishing pasture.
• Arthur MacKay, who had arrived in New Zealand in 1840, was granted land in the vicinity of the park in 1870 with his brother. Dating from 1876, the family leased more of the Whareroa plateau. The land north of Paekākāriki was described as being rough with stands of high Manuka covering places.

Whareroa Farm

The Kingite Movement

• In the 1850s, many Maori came together to discuss creating their own King to defend their land from dodgy purchases by the pakeha
• They recognised need for unity and Te Wherowhero of Waikato was crowned King in 1858
• Ngati Raukawa were allies of Waikato and many were keen Kingites and petition the government with the help of local missionary, Octavius Hadfield in 1860
• Wi Tako convinces many Te Ati Awa to support the Kingites after the start of the Taranaki War in 1863
• Pakeha disease sweep the area in the 1860s and the defeat of Maori resistance in the NZ Wars meant that local Maori decided it would be best to try and work with the pakeha

Potatau Te Wherowhero, first Maori King & war leader of Waikato iwi

Arrival of the Railway

• By 1878, Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company began work on a railway from Wellington, to Johnsonville and on to Paekākāriki
• This was connected to Palmerston North and Whanganui in November 1886.
• In December 1908, the line was purchased and taken over the Government.

Ballast mine and turn-table at Paekākāriki

Parata Town to Waikanae

• Wiremu Parata Te Kakakura, Chief of Waikanae Te Āti Awa, gifts land to the railway, in return for stops at Paekākāriki & Waikanae
• This allows local Maori to benefit from development, providing food for railway stops & giving goods access to markets
• Township of Parata moved to Waikanae & new marae established at Whakarōngotai
• After Wi Parata’s death in 1906, township sub-divided to share land amongst local Māori

Wiremu Parata

Circled area shows new township

Growth of the Towns

• After the building of the railroad, villages at Paekākāriki, Paraparaumu and Waikanae were soon established.
• Raumati was settled as a village from 1908.
• The current road from Paekākāriki to Paraparaumu, which now makes up one of the boundaries of the park, was completed just before the turn of the century.
• From the 1920s, the Raumati – Paraparaumu area developed as a holiday resort with people from Wellington building seaside cottages there.

Kāpiti Road, Paraparaumu 1950

Paekākāriki, 1910

Mapping Exercise

Using the outline topographical map of the Kāpiti coast, complete the following exercises:

1. Choose 4 stories from the PowerPoint above, add a speech bubble for each, summarise what happened and draw a line connecting it to the Māori village or site on the map
2. Draw in the modern towns on the map, include Paekākāriki, Raumati, Paraparaumu, Waikanae and Ōtaki