Te Hau Kapua: Devonport's Buried Past

VOLUME ONE

TE HAU KAPUA

DEVONPORT’S BURIED PAST

Karakia

I te tīmatatanga
Ko Te Kore

Te Kore-te-whiwhia
Te Kore-te-rawea

Te Kore-i-ai
Te Kore-te-wiwia
Nā Te Kore Ko Te Pō

Te Pō-nui
Te Pō-roa
Te Pō-uriuri
Te Pō-kerekere
Te Pō-tiwhatiwha
Te Pō-te-kitea
Te Pō-tangotango
Te Pō-whāwhā
Te Pō-namunamu-ki-taiao
Te Pō-tahuri-atu
Te Pō-tahuri-mai-ki-taiao
Ki te Whai-ao
Ki te Ao-mārama
Tihei mauri-ora

In the beginning there was
the void in which nothing is possessed

the void in which nothing is felt
the void with nothing in union
the space without boundaries

from the void the night
the great night
the long night
the deep night
the intense night
the dark night

the night in which nothing is seen
the intensely dark night
the night of feeling

the night of seeking the passage to the world
the night of restless turning

the night of turning towards the revealed world
to the glimmer of dawn
to the bright light of day
there is life

Mihi

Ka tika me tukuna te mihi ki a rātou kua huri ki tua o paerau, o tātou tupuna kua
waihotia ngā tini taonga hei oranga ngākau hei pikinga waiora hoki, he mihi

mutunga kore.Tuia ki te rangi, tuia ki te papa, tuia tātou ki ngā kaupapa whakahirahira
kua whakatakoto ki tēnei puna kōrero. Ngā tini kōrero e hāngai ana ki ngā pakiwaitara o
nehe, mai i te tihi o Maungauika me ngā pae maunga o Te Hau Kapua, ā, tiro iho ana ki
Takapuna. Nō reira e aku rau rangatira mā, kua whakatakotoria te manuka kia horohia kia
whakamana i te karanga o te whenua, e aku raurangatira tātou te hunga ora ki a tātou

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

4

T-u-i Painting

Tuia i runga, tuia i raro, tuia i waho, tuia I roto, tuia te here tangata,
ka rongo te pō, ka rongo te ao, Haumi ē.... Hui ē.... Taiki ē. Tūī is both beginning and end, point of
departure and destination, and symbolises life as tukutuku (Lattice work) an ever-present whole

into which Tūī is forever woven.

Contents

Mihi Page 4 Torpedo Bay Navy Museum: Page 35
Acknowledgments Page 7
Preface Page 8 The loss of a rare archaeological site in
Tāmaki Makaurau and for Aotearoa

More of Moa Page 38

Introduction: Page 10 Street Names & their Origins Page 40

Te Hau Kapua: A Buried Past

Street Names Map Page 42

The Journey South of Tūpuna Page 12

Devonport & the Dog Tax Page 44

Maunga: Takarunga, Page 14 Glossary Page 48
Maungauika, Takararo

Takarunga and Maungauika: Page 24 Bibliography Page 49

Whispers of an ecological past

The Masonic Tavern: Page 30

A Tragic Tale of Lost Taonga

Acknowledgments

Te Hau Kapua - Devonport, this whenua to whom we give our
thanks, is the heart of this kaupapa. It acknowledges and

embraces tūpuna, mana whenua and those who protect this
community, past and present and in so doing, maintain its
meaning and distinctive identity in Aotearoa.

In this spirit we also thank those who have contributed to this
publication and the stories that shape identity and meaning, and
those who actively sustain this kāinga/community and its wairua.
Among them are: Devonport Heritage, Devonport Peace Group,

Devonport Peninsula Trust, Roger Giles, Kuini Karanui,
Dave Veart, Ruth Coombes, kaumātua John Retimana,

Trish Joughin, Richard Tong, Devonport Museum.

7

Preface

New Zealanders are often surprised by the fact that we have a
history. Peter Wells describes us as an ‘ahistorical society’. We
exist in a sort of bubble of the present. It’s always intrigued me
that we don’t encourage interest in our history. What’s unique
about New Zealand is that it’s the last major piece of land on
the planet to be settled by humans. We’re at the end of a huge
millennial experiment of colonising the planet and you can still
clearly see what happened from the arrival of the first Māori
and then with large scale European settlement.

Dave Veart, NZ Herald 2015

The inquiry into a distinctive Aotearoa New Zealand vernacular
and its many forms of expression, along with its evolution, has
been the subject of the Vernacularist publications.

Issues explored and addressed have included the urban-rural
divide, the environment, concepts of community, the place of
art in an evolving vernacular and women in NZ Aotearoa society.

In this, our latest publication we enter a past, an environment,
landscape, population and settlement patterns, profoundly
different from those generally recognised as part of Devonport’s
history.

8



Introduction

Te Hau Kapua: A Buried Past

A social history of Devonport is generally ring-fenced Te Hau Kapua is not intended as comprehensive or
by its colonial past, with scant reference made to the rigorous documentation of pre-1840 occupation or
years preceding this. Villas, picket fences and carefully settlement. Its intention is to create a respect for the
cultivated gardens abound, along with street names rich past that extends beyond received knowledge
and landmarks that represent the English about this community by compiling and presenting
monarchy and a nostalgic view of our truncated past. information research, stories and snapshots to
Devonport is described as one of the oldest settled illustrate life, whenua/land and community before
areas in Auckland, but this relates to its colonial Pākehā populated the area. Its inspiration has a
settlement from 1840 when it was initially known as number of sources; the repatriation of the maunga to
Flagstaff. In fact settlement took place at least 500 Māori, the recognition by archaeologists and
years before this when Māori migrated to this area. geologists of the vast history of the land, and local
Māori who currently live in this community and who
Te Hau Kapua is a collection of stories about have, over time, shared their whakapapa, knowledge
Devonport which attempt to dispel the prevailing and experiences with us.
perception that a meaningful history began with
European settlement. They reveal to us a rich and
vastly different landscape, population and natural
environment from the one with which we are mostly
familiar.

10



The Journey South
of Tu--puna

In the urupā to the north of Maunga Takarunga lie the
remains of a rangatira from the Hokianga River, north of the
North Island whose accolades as a bold adventurous fighter
and diplomat preceded his journey south to Tāmaki
Makaurau.

This rangatira, christened Eruera (Edward) Maihi (Marsh)
Patuone was the son of a Tohunga named Tapua of the
Ngāti Hao hapū of Ngāpuhi. The name Patuone
commemorates the death of an ancestor in battle as well as
those of his two older brothers. Patu means ‘to strike’ or ‘to
be killed’ and one means ‘sand’ or ‘beach’.

The life of Patuone was filled with significant incidents that
influenced his journey, kaupapa and settlement.
In 1769, as a child, while fishing off the coast of Matauri Bay,
Patuone encountered Captain Cook and the Endeavour as it
was about to anchor near the Bay of Islands.

As a rangatahi Patuone fought with Ngāpuhi led by the great
rangatira Hongi Hika. Patuone sought the approval of Hongi
by taking the head of a chief in battle, and subsequently led
the Ngāpuhi expeditions of 1819-1820. Joined by Te Roroa
tribe he set off from the Hokianga and headed south via the
west coast to Kaipara then Kumeu and Te Whau to
Waitematā.

12

The paths of Patuone and Hongi crossed again as they prepared for
another excursion south to secure the whenua from Ngāti Pāoa in
their pā at Mokoia and Mauinaina. Under the leadership of Te
Hinaki Ngāti Pāoa put up a courageous fight so that Hongi
considered withdrawing, but Patuone was successful in his
execution of a strategy which captured both pā. A union was made
through marriage between Patuone and a daughter of Ngāti Pāoa
named Takarangi, to settle grievances and consolidate an alliance
between Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Pāoa.

In his later years Patuone settled on the North Shore and acted as
an intermediary between Māori and Pākehā settlers. He was
subsequently granted land in Waiwharariki by the Crown,
effectively controlling the Northern borders of Tāmaki Makaurau.

He cannily took advantage of the new economy precipitated by
trading of desirable goods, including land, with Pākehā. Domestic
animals and especially horses became significant property and took
the imagination of Patuone, who became involved in the breeding
and sale of horses to the military. He also owned and bred
racehorses, and his prize horse, New Zealander, enjoyed success
at the Auckland races.

Patuone played an integral part in shaping modern Aotearoa,
particularly Te Whakaputanga, the Declaration of Independence of
the Independent Tribes of New Zealand of 1835 and of the later,
Te Tiriti o Waitangi; the Treaty of Waitangi signed initially on
6 February.

Maunga of Devonport, Takarunga,
Maungauika, Takararo

The information presented in this section comprises cone itself (Searle 1981: 76-7). These events occurred
research undertaken by the late Susan Bulmer for the between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago (Searle 1981:46).
Science and Research Directorate, Department of This rise in sea levels in post-glacial times badly eroded the
Conservation, Auckland Sources for the Archaeology of the North Head cone. At this time the coast was not protected by
Māori Settlement of the Tāmaki Volcanic District 1994 and Rangitoto (Searle 1981: 79-80). The results of this erosion can
Dave Veart, Devonport archaeologist. be most clearly seen on the eastern and northern sides where
the volcanic material has been markedly undercut and
There were originally three scoria cones in the Takapuna indented.’
field. Their volcanic fields were not extensive, the only
substantial basaltic flow being south of Takarunga. The area Takarunga Pā (Mt Victoria)
has not been intensively surveyed for archaeological A large proportion of this pā has survived, in spite of 150 years
features, other than at North Head and along the coastline. of European use and reconstruction as a signal station, a
Archaeological excavations that have been done so far European fort, and a radio station. A brief archaeological
include a brief investigation on Takarunga and current excavation was done when the foundations for a new post
investigations on Takapuna Pā (North Head) Maungauika office mast were dug on the northern edge of the summit,
(North Head). adjacent to the reservoir. It was thought unlikely that any
evidence of the Māori site would remain, as the summit has
Maungauika (North Head) been flattened. However, at a depth of 90 cm a digging
This prominent volcanic cone was first a Māori pā, but machine encountered a black soil with midden, thought to
because it was reconstructed in historic times as a have been associated with the former pā. It was much
European fort, only a little of the original Māori site has consolidated, possibly a well-used living surface, and the
survived. Nevertheless it is a traditionally very important layer contained many pieces of charcoal, fishbone and shells.
site. More detailed information is provided by local Six features were found in the area then archaeologically
archaeologist, Dave Veart. excavated (2.4 X 1.7 m); a store pit, four postholes, and a long
narrow trench, a drain or a bedding trench for palisading.
‘The land form of North Head before settlement was
determined by two factors; volcanic activity and erosion Takararo Pā (Mt Cambria)
caused by altering sea levels. On North Head the volcanic This former small cone, next to Takarunga, is now almost
activity consisted of the initial formation of a tuff cone with entirely destroyed by quarrying. No archaeological records
a later small, steep scoria cone almost burying the previous have been made of it, but from early photographs and
structure. Lava flows from the North Head eruption were paintings it is apparent that it had terraces and garden
small and feeble and did not extend much further than the features (walls and mounds).
14

Maungauika



1879 Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 4-2978

Looking west from Maungauika (North Head) showing Torpedo Bay (left),
King Edward Parade (centre left), Victoria Wharf (far left), Victoria Road
(upper centre left to far right), Takarunga (Mount Victoria) (far right).



Looking north across Waitematā Harbour towards Te Hau Kapua (Devonport)
showing a waka taua (Māori war canoe), yachts, houses on the foreshore,
Mount Victoria (right distance) 1898.

Looking north from the vicinity of Official Bay,
showing two Māori and a canoe (foreground), a
sailing ship on the harbour, and the North Shore

with Rangitoto in the background 1870-79.



Looking north east from the vicinity of Karangahape
Road across the harbour towards the North Shore and
Rangitoto, showing Albert Barracks to the right, St Pauls

Church, centre, High Street Methodist Church,

left of centre, Queen Street, diagonally across
centre, St Patricks Cathedral, left, shipping in the
harbour and a group of Māori driving pigs along the

road, foreground 1840-49

Takarunga andCeliaWalker
Maungauika

Whispers of an ecological past

The maunga Takarunga and Maungauika contain
histories embedded in the landscape, with scattered
erosions telling of layers of occupation through
exposed middens, shaped landforms speaking of
lived landscapes, and structural impositions
broadcasting the more recent history.
The trees that would have once watched over this
place come from a more whispered past, one that is
only hinted at in quiet corners, and though we do
hear the voices of passing birds, these are just
occasional calls in an otherwise hushed landscape.

It is easy to imagine great forests of broadleaf/
podocarp/conifer species cloaking these coastal
slopes, such as those rich, dense overlays the artist
Mark Woollier has painted of Takarunga and other
volcanic cones across the region. Although this may
well have been the case before human contact, by
the time Europeans were making their arrivals felt
in the area their slopes had been largely cleared for
settlements and food cultivation. Edible bracken and
mānuka scrub were the predominant cover, and this
was the case with much of the Tāmaki Makaurau
region. Colonial paintings and later photographs of
the mountains show largely barren slopes, with only patches of vegetation
around the shoreline.

24

We need to look elsewhere for some hints as to how this peninsula might have
presented itself to the earliest voyagers here. As living repositories of ecological
memory, some of the scattered remnants of forest around the North Shore give
separate glimpses into a state of richer biodiversity. The vestigial scraps of coastal
pōhutakawa forest that cling to the cliffs above St Leonards Beach in Takapuna/
Hauraki, the thriving stand of kahikatea on the low-lying ground of Smith’s Bush,
and those flourishing remnants of kauri forest dotted across the region are each
host to diverse plant assemblages that would have originally been present on
different parts of the peninsula.

Other tantalising traces of forgotten forests come from the lava tree stumps that
can be seen at the northern end of
Takapuna Beach. Here the burnt out
and hollow moulds of tree trunks
lie in basalt flows that came from
the eruption of the Pupuke volcano.
The largest of these basalt trees
are the remains of trunks of around
1.6m in diameter, and multiple
smaller trunks march out towards
the low tide line, a spectral forest
of preserved fragments.

The European voices that carry the
first written descriptions of the area
note a paucity of large trees, and
dominance of bracken and scrub.
For some of the later arrivals this
was also a eulogy for what had been
lost, particularly the decimation of
kauri forests across the region.
The first of these accounts comes
from Dumont D’Urville, who arrived
in the Hauraki Gulf in February 1827.
His ship’s surveyor Lottin is thought
to be the first European to climb Takarunga/Mt Victoria: While M. Lottin set up a
geographical observation post on the top of a mountain, which we had noticed

Tiritri Matangi Island

Takapuna

Signal Tower

1st & 2nd Avenue Narrow Neck Mt Victoria

Mt Cambria

Stanley Point Devonport
Beach Ferry

Stanley Point

DEVONPORT

26

Rangitoto Motutapu
North Head

Cheltenham Torpedo Bay
Duders Hilll

Auckland City

the day before from a great distance, I had a look at the country around. Although it was
well covered with plenty of herbaceous plants, there were no trees growing here, only
bushes. (1)

Further on, in the Parnell/Newmarket area, there were more signs linking this bracken
cover to Māori occupation:

Apart from the path that we were following, there were no signs of the passage of men
except a few felled trees and various patches of ground recently dug for pulling the fern
roots nga doua that are one of the chief articles of food among the natives of these
regions. (2)

John Bidwill, writing a decade or so later (1841), writes that in the vicinity of the
Waitematā harbour even wood for fuel is scarce, and ‘the soil is bad and very swampy’.
(3) Ferdinand von Hochstetter, in his New Zealand (1867), notes the cover on North
Head as low manuka bushes and fern, with some intrusions of the European weed
Verbascum (curiously still present as an occasional weed on both Maungauika and
Takarunga, and still as noticeably out-of-place). When travelling (by foot) further up the
peninsula, Hochstetter notes the total absence of trees, other than dwarf manuka scrub
and fern. He writes a long lament for the disappearing kauri forest and the
transformations into ‘now sterile fern-heaths’ where ‘fragments of upturned
wood-giants half decayed, half changed into lignite, which are found here and there
buried beneath mounds of earth, are the only remnants of the former forest.’ (4)

These eye-witness accounts are supported by the evidence from pollen core samples
taken across the region, which reveal successive waves of transformation. The time of
Polynesian arrivals was followed by marked increases in bracken pollen, and declines in
tree species such as rimu, kahikatea, kauri and toatoa, declines hastened significantly
after further changes wrought by European settlement. (5)

The patches of fertile volcanic soil around the volcanic cones across Tāmaki Makaurau
were the focus of Māori settlement and horticulture. Early photographic evidence,
supported by some European accounts, suggests this was the case in the vicinity of
Takarunga and Takararo (Mt Cambria), and on the lower slopes of Maungauika near
Torpedo Bay.] Adjacent to these were large areas of swamp (now drained). Although
these areas may have once supported kahikatea swamp forests, by the 1860s occasional
tī-kōuka were the only noticeable trees. (6)

Even so, swampy ground and massed fern and flax would some time, and hint towards what could be gained by larger
have provided habitat for some of our more elusive species, scale habitat restoration. Hopefully with a careful and sustained
such as moho-pererū (banded rail) and matuku hūrepo restoration process we can make the hints and whispers we do
(bittern), as well as lizards and invertebrates. have speak loudly, to create a landscape that reflects not just
the ways people have lived in this landscape, but also connects
The current overlay on both Takarunga and Maungauika of more strongly to an older, richer, ecological past.
exotic trees and invasive weeds, mixed with occasional
planted pockets of indigenous species both adds to and D’Urville, D., (ed., Olive Wright), ‘Exploration of Shouraki Bay [Hauraki Gulf]’, in New Zealand
detracts from any sense of connection with past ecology. 1826-7, From the French of Dumont D’Urville, Wingfield Press, 1950, p 154
The large number of mature trees on Takarunga, for http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WriNewZ-t1-g1-t2-body-d6.html
example, provides a welcome habitat for roosting and
nesting birds. However, many of these are exotics planted at Ibid.
various times, alongside native pūriri and pōhutukawa.] Bidwill, J.C., Rambles in New Zealand, London, 1841, (Capper Reprint Series, 1971), p. 89.
Still, those trees approaching 80, 90 or 100 (just Von Hochstetter, F., New Zealand: Its Physical Geography, Geology and Natural History with
teenagers on a tree scale) would have been host to g Special Reference to the Results of Government Expeditions in the Provinces of Auckland and
enerations of birds and multitudes of invertebrates. We can Nelson, Stuttgart, 1867, pp. 251 – 255.
only speculate that some of the recent visiting kererū, kākā Abrahim, G., R. Parker and M. Horrocks, ‘Pollen core assemblages as indicator of Polynesian and
and pīwakawaka are the straggling descendants of more European impact on the vegetation cover of Auckland isthmus catchment’. Estuarine, Coastal
ancient flocks. Historical associations with some of the and Shelf Science, 2013, Vol. 131, pp. 162 – 170. The large areas of sterile clay soils, and kauri
planted trees also lends a complexity to any thoughts of a gum deposits also back this up. Gum diggers were finding deposits across the peninsula,
more ‘pure’ restoration – the belt of Gallipoli pines along including in Bayswater, Narrow Neck and Hauraki into the early 20th century. (D. Verran, The
the northern face of Maungauika that were planted as a North Shore: An Illustrated History, Auckland, 2010.
‘false horizon’ to confuse attacking ships; or the mature Veart, D., North Head: The Development of a Fort, Science and Research Internal Report No.
oaks, elms, plane trees and other exotics around the 79, Department of Conservation, 1990, pp. 5 - 7.
cemetery at the base of Takarunga that have strong Hochstetter, op. cit., p. 254
associations with the early. European history of settlement One significant planting of 2000 oaks, elms and pines was in 1873. (North Shore City Council,
in the area. Elsewhere on both the maunga patches of Mount Victoria = Takarunga: Reserve Management Plan, Auckland, 1994, p. 11). This also notes
emerging natives give a sense of hope of what could be the ring of pines was felled in 1935.Department of Conservation, North Head Historic Reserve:
attained through a consistent restoration process. Abundant Conservation Management Plan, 1999, p. 37.
ferns on damp overhanging banks evoke a sense of
following more ancient pathways, and fruiting pūriri,
wharangi and tī-kōuka provide food for birds.

Those nearby areas benefitting from the recent impetus
towards predator control (such as that other volcano that
watches over the peninsula, Rangitoto) offer an expanded
and more abundant birdlife than has been experienced for

The Masonic Tavern

A Tragic Tale of Lost Taonga

In 2010 archaeological investigations at Devonport’s House has been relocated and the area underneath the
Masonic Tavern on King Edward Parade revealed that the Boarding House footprint investigated.
North Shore building site was a graveyard after evidence of Constructed in 1864, the tavern is located on the Devonport
human remains (kōiwi) were found. The remains were foreshore, and is undergoing substantial redevelopment,
discovered in one of the two trenches (pictured) excavated including the construction of apartments on the site and
on the site beside the bottle store and confirmed earlier redevelopment of the tavern building itself, which is being
findings. changed to a mixed-use apartment and café setup.

A consultant geotechnical firm made the discovery Photograph by Sarah Ivey for New Zealand Herald, 1 March 2010
after it used ground penetrating radar.

Technical details of the discovery are worth
recording as, given their significance, it is a
mystery as well as a travesty that development
of the site was permitted to proceed.

Excavations at the Masonic Tavern,
Devonport (submitted by Russell Gibb,
Geometria Limited):

A team from Geometria has recently completed
stage 2 of a three-stage project investigating
the archaeology of the Masonic Tavern in
Devonport, Auckland. Stage 1 focused on the
in ground archaeology in the car park, whereas
Stages 2 and 3 are more focused on the
archaeology of two extant buildings: the
main tavern building and a smaller building annexed to this
known as the “Boarding House. During Stage 2 the Boarding

30

Behind the Masonic Tavern: Excavation and discovery of Māori fire pits and fish hooks
(from Geometria website: http://www.geometria.co.nz/ a New Zealand based heritage management consultancy.

These projects also include the relocation of one building and European settlement included a stable, shed complex, and
restoration of the tavern facade to its original 19th-century outhouses. Little was known of the Māori history of the site,
configuration. but the area has a long settlement history that continued up
until 1863, when all the local Māori left the area overnight
Archaeological investigations at the site began in 2008 with prior to the outbreak of war between the government and
an archaeological assessment that identified three previous Waikato tribes. A preliminary excavation was conducted to
buildings at the site, including the first European cottage, investigate the archaeological potential of the site, which
built in 1854, and two cottages that were built adjacent to the revealed remains of the 1870s cottages and an earlier under-
tavern in the 1870s. Other curtilage related to the early lying Māori occupation. The investigation also provided insight

into the local geology. Further work at the site was delayed The artifact assemblage consists of a wide variety of expected
until April 2008, when the project commenced with artifacts from the European phase and along with the
archaeological investigations in advance of redevelopment. prehistoric assemblage will provide a significant amount of
new information on the history of the site and the area in
Evidence of the early European activity included significant general.
remains of the two 1870s cottages and brick foundations of
an earlier structure provisionally identified as relating to the The archaeological evidence confirmed the earliest phases
1854 cottage, which was known to have been removed from of the site’s development with dense concentrated areas of
the site prior to the construction of the tavern in 1864. Māori occupation situated behind the original ore-dune and
rising dune to the rear of the site.
Other features included wood-lined rubbish pits, bottle
dumps, paths, chimney bases, water and gas pipes, brick These occupation areas featured rich working floors
foundations, and brick-lined paths. A system of deep where thousands of greywacke, basalt and obsidian artifacts
scoria-filled soak holes, drains, cesspits, and drainpipes was were recorded along with large faunal assemblages,
recorded and was associated with both the earlier buildings numerous bone and shell fish a shell lure, adzes, cores and
and the early drainage system of the main tavern building. chert scrapers, a bone bird spear barb, and worked sea
mammal bones.





Torpedo Bay Museum

The loss of a rare archaeological site in Ta--maki
Makaurau

35

Torpedo Bay is a recorded archaeological site Three species of Moa and at least five individuals were
(NZAAR11/1945) of national significance due to the historic identified from the lower two settlement layers. All of the
Beddoes and Holmes Boat Yard and Submarine Mining Base. species are known North Island Species of Coastal bush Moa
Significant 19th century buildings were still present when the (Anomalopteryx didiformis, Pachyornis geranoides and
site was redeveloped and these were refurbished to form the Euryapteryx curtus).
new Navy Museum in 2010. These buildings are considered
Category A and B heritage buildings under NZDF’s Heritage As the only site in the Auckland, Coromandel Northland
Policy and had to be developed with due consideration to region with definitive evidence of hunted Moa rather than
heritage values. industrial Moa usage by Māori, the dating of this site will
potentially answer long held questions concerning moa
The scale of the works associated with the Navy Museum extinction in the North Island. It may dismiss the general
redevelopment proposal along with the required storm water belief that the Auckland Coromandel area was not
upgrade works meant that the archaeological site would be associated with Moa hunting and is not a primary area of
damaged and modified, therefore an Archaeological archaic settlement by early Polynesians and was therefore
Authority from the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) occupied later than other areas of settlement. A small
was required, which included the requirement for an ex- rectangular adze (hand tool) made from Motutapu greywacke
tensive archaeological investigation. Unexpected nationally was found in the prehistoric site. The Hauraki Gulf was a
significant prehistoric Māori archaeology was also found near centre of adze production and the evidence found suggests
the end of the investigation, including cooking ovens, moa that occupation of Torpedo Bay, at least during the Archaic
bones and an adze. period, was extensive, and that the find was thought to be

Archaeologist Mica Plowman takes soil samples from the site. Pic: NZPA By Ian Stuart of NZPA

more than 500 years old, possibly dating back to the 1400s. Local archaeologist Tony Hall said it was a huge discovery of
The find was hugely significant because “first-settlement pre-European history and the first find of this kind on the east
sites” were very rare and few had been excavated in coast and that it was likely to be one of the first campsites
Auckland. before Māori settled on the North Shore.

Moa bones were a very valuable commodity in early Māori Kupe, the great Māori navigator, was thought to have landed
society. It was a robust large bone which enabled them to his canoe in the bay about 900AD and named it Te Hau Kapua
make large fish hooks and things out of it. Historians say (cloud bank carried along by the wind).
Torpedo Bay had many layers of history from the early days of
Māori settlement in Auckland. The preliminary radiocarbon Later one of the great ‘seven canoe’ fleet commanded by
dates indicate settlement at the site ranged between the early Chief Hoturoa landed the Tainui people who were thought to
15th century and the late 17th century. It could be one of the have named a spring in the area ‘Takapuna’, which later came
earliest sites discovered in Auckland. to refer to the surrounding area.

More of Moa

The iconic moa of New Zealand were giant flightless The smallest of three moa species in the genus Pachyornis,
endemic birds grouped in three families, six genera and nine Mantell’s moa vied with the little bush moa for the title of
species. They evolved into a wide variety of sizes to become smallest of all moa species. It was one of two moa species that
the largest terrestrial herbivores in prehistoric New Zealand. were confined to the North Island and Aotea/Great Barrier
Together they represent the most diverse radiation of any Island, the other being the North Island giant moa. Adult
New Zealand endemic bird group, ranging from the small females were markedly larger than adult males; the average size
little bush moa to the two giant moa species of the South increased further south and during glacial periods. Its remains
and North Islands. The nine moa species occurred across a are abundant in archaeological sites, indicating that it was
variety of habitat types. All the moa species became extinct hunted for food. It was probably preyed on by the large North
abruptly, 500-600 years ago, as a result of human Island Eyles’ harrier. The species was named after Walter
overhunting. DNA study suggests that moa were more Mantell, a pioneering New Zealand naturalist, government
closely related to the flighted South American tinamou than administrator and politician of the 1800s.
to the kiwi.

The little bush moa was the smallest and most widespread
moa species, occurring in forest throughout the North and
South Islands. Slender with relatively long legs, it inhabited
dense forest and shrubland. It was the only species in the
genus Anomalopteryx. Its relatively short, sharp-edged bill
appears to have been more suited to cutting than those of
other moa species. This attribute and the large number of
stones typically found in the bird’s gizzard, suggest that it
had a woody, fibrous diet. It appears to have lived singly or
in small groups at a suggested density of one pair per square
kilometre. It was probably preyed on by both Haast’s eagle
and Eyles’ harrier in the South Island, and the larger Eyles’
harriers of the North Island. Its bone remains are common in
archaeological sites near Wellington and Nelson, indicating
that it was hunted for food.

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The Euryapteryx moa was a
short-legged, stocky moa that is
placed in its own genus. In the Far
North individuals of this species
were some of the smallest moa
known, but in the South Island birds
of the same species were large and
robust. Short-legged moa and
eastern moa were impressive in
having a very long, elongated
windpipe which probably enabled
them to make louder calls than
those of other moa species.

The windpipe included a loop up to
one metre long that went
downwards inside the left side of
the body, and across to the other
side before it came back on itself
to the breast and into the lungs.
Modern day swan, crane and some
spoonbill species also have
elongated windpipes, used to make
their resonant bugling calls.

Street Names
of Devonport,
Te Hau Kapua

After reading the chapter in Martin Edmond’s book, Waimarino Country, about growing up
in Ohakune, it occurred to us that the names of streets in a community seldom referenced
Māori. In Devonport this is also true, and ex-Devonport potter, railway enthusiast,
conservationist and all-round genius, Barry Brickell, also waxed vehemently about this. (1)

“I grew up in a large wooden villa in Burns Street, Ohakune. Burns street was named after
the Scots poet Robert Burns but I didn’t know this at the time. I thought the name came
from the fact that the old business district of the town had stood in our street until
destroyed by a fire in 1917. The original street names in Ohakune, given in 1908, were all
Māori, but as early as 1914 the citizenry were advocating that the main ones be changed
- on the grounds that present…names are meaningless, lacking in euphony and conducive
to confusion in pronunciation - for the names of British poets and rivers: Milton, Burns,
Moore, Clyde, Shannon, Wye. Burns Street had no name of its own previously; it was
simply called Pipiriki Road because that’s the way you went then to get to Pipiriki on the
Whanganui River.” Martin Edmond, Waimarino Country, 2007.

A distinctive aspect of New Zealand place naming is the interplay of Māori and non-Māori
names. European naming displaced Māori names. This was little discussed by Pākehā
at the time. Māori continued to use their own place names as well as new names. New
names were often for new features, like towns. Many features which Māori had named,
such as eel weirs or fishing grounds, were unfamiliar to Europeans, or were obliterated in
the course of settlement. Of the approximately 69 total street names in Devonport (Te Hau
Kapua), up to Aramoana Ave, 15 are Māori; Aramoana Ave, Arawa Ave, Ariho Tce, Huia St,

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Kapai Rd, Kawerau Ave, Kiwi Rd, Matai Rd, Moata Pl, Ngataringa Rd, Patuone Ave, Rata Rd,
Tainui Rd, Takarunga Rd, Tui St. A clutch of Māori names recur in street names throughout
Auckland, most often native birds or trees: tūī, huia, kiwi and mataī, rata.

Less common are references to Māori individuals. Devonport has only Patuone Ave, the
Ngāti Hao chief who was an integral part of Treaty relations between Māori and Pākehā,
who eventually settled in the Devonport area and was subsequently buried there. Taupō
has Heuheu and Tamamutu streets, Rotorua has Arawa, Tūtānekai and Hinemoa streets,
and Hutt Valley has the suburb Epuni (Te Puni).

The colonial street names and the names for landmarks, especially here in Devonport,
indicate a sense of alienation from whenua. These names, Victoria Road, King Edward
Parade, Queen’s Parade, Cheltenham Road, Mt Victoria, Mt Cambria, indicate rather, a
heart-felt longing for ‘home’ and the monarchy that is its core defining feature.
Even the pioneering spirit, where names represent the colonial settlers and missionaries,
appears largely absent in Devonport.

(1) Barry Brickell and Martin Edmond are
featured in the Depot Artspace Cultural
Icons series. www.culturalicons.co.nz.
They have both been Writers in
Residence at the Michael King Writers’
Centre.

Ohakune-born Martin Edmond is now
based in Sydney but is often in
New Zealand. Several of his screenplays
have been produced as award winning
films and four of his books have been
shortlisted in the national book awards.
Waimarino County is a book of essays
described as ‘elegant discursions on
themes of memory, words and travel’. 

Coromandel denizen Barry Brickell,
1935-2016, grew up in Devonport and
moved to the Coromandel in 1969,
where he established Driving Creek
Railways and Pottery. He was a frequent
visitor to Devonport and launched two
of his books, Rails Towards the Sky and
Plastic Memories, at the Depot Artspace.

Barry was an ardent New Zealander and
believed that most of the population
suffered from ‘overseasure’.

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Devonport and
the Dog Tax

Dog registration was introduced in 1865, amended in 1880 and there were fees and
penalties for non-payment.

“The fee to be paid for registration of any dog shall be ten shillings. Any person who keeps
any dog of a greater age than six months for a period of fourteen days without causing
such dog to be registered, and such registration to be again made from year to year in
the manner hereinafter mentioned, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for
every such dog, over and above the amount of any fee payable in respect of the
registration of such dog.” http://www.enzs.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1908/1908C051.pdf

Some areas fought the dog tax. In Rawene war
almost erupted as government troops marched
towards armed Māori ‘rebels’ opposing the
payment. This was the climax of widespread Māori
opposition to dog registration. Most Māori had
little involvement with the cash economy and
owned many dogs, especially for hunting.
They saw the annual ‘dog tax’of 2s 6d per dog
as discrimination.

In April 1898 a relative of Hōne Tōia of
Te Mahurehure told officials that his people
would not pay land, dog or other taxes. After
armed Māori visited Rāwene, Richard Seddon’s
government responded by sending a warship
with 120 armed men from Auckland.

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As Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Newall’s force trudged towards Waimā, Hōne Heke
Ngapua MP urged Hōne Tōia to surrender. In the nick of time, he sent a messenger to
call off a planned ambush.
Next day the Waimā leaders laid down their arms. Sixteen men, including Tōia,
were arrested and pleaded guilty to illegal assembly; the ‘ringleaders’ were jailed for
18 months. The fines and taxes were paid after the authorities prudently awarded the
hapū a contract to produce railway sleeper.

Māori arrested for taking part in the ‘Dog Tax Rebellion’ (Alexander Turnbull Library, 1/2-018754-F)

However, in Devonport, it was a different story.
About 1890-91 residents along the
waterfront in the harbour had to make a serious
complaint concerning the number of animal
carcasses that were washed up on the beaches.
On one occasion the workmen of the Borough of
Devonport had to remove 45 carcasses. The mayor at
the time surmised that the fact that it was “dog tax
time” explained the presence of so many dead dogs
on the beaches.

Kurī is the Polynesian dog introduced to New Zealand
by Māori during their migrations from East Polynesia
sometime around 1280 AD. Kuri had a number of
uses by Māori, as a food source as well as for
dog-skin cloaks (Kahu kurī), belts, decorating
weapons and poi. In the 1800s, kurī were used for
catching kiwi, kakapō, weka, pūkeko and māunu
(moulting ducks).

Kuri were also valued companions, as Captain Cook’s
naturalist George Forster reported on seeing kuri in
waka in Queen Charlotte Sound in the 1770s:

“A good many dogs were observed in their canoes,
which they seemed very fond of, and kept tied with a
string round their middle; they were of a rough
long-haired sort with pricked ears, and much
resembled the common shepherd’s cur.”



Conclusion

As we reach the end of Te Hau Kapua we realise both the
limitations and the scope of the endeavour we have
undertaken, that what we have revealed is mere dust on the
surface of a vast hidden landscape and subject to our
personal peregrinations. We have followed our noses,
pausing at places that piqued our interest, touched our spirit
or revived a memory of the type that Len Lye remarks on as
being stored in the ‘old brain’ (1) and free from the
constraints of intellect or received data, whose
extrapolations cannily trap, rather than liberate us.

We also recognise that the story of Te Hau Kapua,
Devonport, is one that repeats itself across Aotearoa. The
history with which each of us is largely conversant is largely
colonised, referencing a truncated past as fact that lends
itself to neither imagination nor inquiry. As we have
noted, Martin Edmond provides a clear example in
Waimarino Country, (2) where street names are changed
from Māori to Pākehā and subsequently expunge not only
local history imparted by the names and their whakapapa,
but a use of and facility with te reo itself.

Te Hau Kapua is multi - layered but its underpinning motive
is to present a series of perspectives that cause us to look
beyond what we generally know, to what has been, what
could have been, and to what remains as a past buried but
also almost tangibly present.

We anticipate a further volume which comprises the
contributions of (1) Art That Moves: The Work of Len Lye,
by Roger Horrocks . AUP 2009 (2) Waimarino Country.
AUP 2007.

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Glossary

On the necessity of a glossary, by Hone Tuwhare M
Middens - a dunghill or refuse heap.
  Maunga - mountain, mount, peak.
“Tuwhare has a predilection for glossaries and footnotes to explain Māori Maungauika - is a volcano forming a headland called North Head at the east
words and phrases. These are directed mainly at the non-Māori sector of his end of the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland in the suburb of Devonport.
readership but with an eye also on some Māori. In 1989 he wrote arguing for N
the inclusion of a glossary with his short story Taniwha to Andrew Mason, O
literary editor of the Listener: Obsidian - is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive
  igneous rock.
‘With a sure-footed stance in each culture, Andrew, I do the best I can in P
helping to make Māori of easier access in creative writing (…) I’m perturbed Pā - fortified village, fort, stockade, screen, blockade, city
with your “… and most readers would know many of the Māori words Paucity - the presence of something in only small or insufficient quantities or
anyway, and those they don’t they can guess or go and look up.” It’s like amounts.
telling the poor to go and eat cake; presumptuous, and arrogant. Why don’t R
you trust my judgement in the use of a glossary? Who are your Māori Rangatira - chief (male or female), chieftain, chieftainess, leader, landlord,
advisers? I mean, any urbanised, second-generation-born, de-tribalised owner, proprietor - qualities of a leader is a concern for the integrity and
Māori of working-class stock born in the 1970s will not have easy access to prosperity of the people, the land, the language and other cultural treasures
the revised edition of W.H. Williams’s ‘A Dictionary of the Māori Language’. (e.g. oratory and song poetry), and an aggressive and sustained response to
The cost of it alone would be prohibitive. If street kids rummaging around in outside forces that may threaten these.
rubbish bins dig out the Listener with my glossary in it, well, it’s hooray, I say: Rangatahi - Younger generation or youth.
progress.’ S
Spectral - When something is spectral, it has a ghostlike quality; it seems to
Mason conceded. vanish or disappear.
Hone Tuwhare - A Biography Janet Hunt. (page 122),Godwit, 1998 . T
Takararo - Mount Cambria.
A Takarunga - Mt. Victoria Is the highest volcano on Auckland’s North Shore.
B Te Hau Kapua - Devonport.
Basalt - is a common extrusive igneous (volcanic) rock formed from the rapid Tāmaki Makaurau - Auckland region.
cooling of basaltic lava exposed at or very near the surface of a planet or Tohunga - skilled person, chosen expert, priest, healer - a person chosen by
moon. the agent of an tupuna and the tribe as a leader in a particular field because
C of signs indicating talent for a particular vocation. Tohunga were trained in a
Curtilage - an area of land attached to a house and forming one enclosure traditional whare wānanga(place of higher learning) or by another tohunga.
with it. - the open space situated within a common enclosure belonging to a Tūpuna - ancestors, grandparents .
dwelling-house. Te Tiriti o Waitangi - Treaty of Waitangi, is an agreement in both Te Reo
F,G Māori and the English language. It was signed by representatives of the
Greywacke - a dark coarse-grained sandstone containing more than British Crown and by representatives of Māori tribal groups in 1840.
15 per cent clay. It has been called the most important document in New Zealand’s history
H and New Zealand’s founding document.
He whakaputanga - the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes U
of New Zealand. New Zealand’s first ‘constitutional document’, it was how Urupā- Burial ground, cemetery.
rangatira (Māori leaders) told the world, back in 1835, that New Zealand was V
an independent Māori nation. Vestigial - forming a very small remnant of something that was once greater
K or more noticeable.
Kupe - According to tribal narratives, Kupe was the first Polynesian to Wh
discover the islands of Aotearoa New Zealand. Whenua - land, country, nation, state, ground, territory, domain, placenta,
Kaupapa - topic, policy, plan, purpose, scheme, proposal, agenda, subject, afterbirth.
programme, theme, issue, initiative, philosophy. Whakapapa - genealogy, lineage, descent - reciting whakapapa was, and is,
J,K,L an important skill and reflected the importance of genealogies in Māori
Lignite - a soft brownish coal showing traces of plant structure. society in terms of leadership, land and fishing rights, kinship and status.

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