Part one in a Paekakariki.nz series looking at the whenua in relationship to Ngāti Haumia ki Paekākāriki, Thane Maxwell, local historian, in partnership with the Farrell whānau, takes us on an historical journey of iwi hikoi and land loss in our region.
Ngāti Haumia are an iwi who whakapapa to Ngāti Toa Rangatira and are are the mana whenua of Paekākāriki. They trace descent from Haumia, brother of Mango, Toa Rangatira’s great, great, great grandfather. Ngāti Haumia originally lived in Kawhia and whakapapa to the Hoturoa, the captain of the Tainui waka.
Arrival in Paekākāriki
Ngāti Toa Rangatira arrived in the Kāpiti district in 1822, conquering the then mana whenua, Muaupoko over the next couple of years. They were accompanied by sections of Ngāti Haumia and Te Ati Awa. Paekākāriki was initially allocated to Te Pehi Kupe and Ngāti Te Maunu hapu of Ngāti Toa. In 1823 Ngāti Haumia were involved in defending Kāpiti Island from an attack by the combined iwi of central Aotearoa in the Battle of Waiorua. They held the beach at the north end of the island [with the help of Te Ati Awa warriors] until reinforced by the rest of Ngāti Toa led by Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeta. Ngāti Haumia initially held land on Kāpiti Island and later at Ngauranga Gorge.
In 1834, with the arrival of more iwi from Kawhia and Taranaki, Te Ati Awa were allocated the land south of the Kukutauaki Stream to Paripari (roughly where Fisherman’s Table is today), including modern Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Paekākāriki.
Ropata Hurumutu led Ngāti Haumia to Paekākāriki and founded Wainui Pa, which was given to them by Te Ati Awa. They became close allies and fought together at the Battle of Haowhenua (1834) and Kuititanga (1839) against Ngāti Raukawa and other sections of Ngāti Toa.
Wellington War 1846-47
Governor Grey decided Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeta represented a threat to continued land sales following the Wairau Incident in 1843 and disputes over land purchases in the Hutt Valley.
Grey arrested Te Rauparaha and held him prisoner (without charge or trial). The Crown then attacked Rangihaeta, in his pā at Pauatahanui. To draw the British away from the rest of the iwi, Rangihaeta retreated up Transmission Gully and fought a rear guard action at Battle Hill in 1846. The British were assisted by Te Ati Awa and Ngāti Haumia warriors who continued the pursuit and fought a second action at Pouawha ridge on Wainui Hill, above Paekākāriki the following day.
First Settlers and Land Loss
Emerald Glen was confiscated after the war and given to Captain Henry Lynch of the 65th Rifles, although it belonged to Te Ati Awa and Ngāti Haumia who had fought as kupapa, British allies. Ngāti Toa were forced to sell large amounts of land in the Porirua basin in return for the release of Te Rauparaha in 1848.
In 1849, army engineers supervising local Māori workers built the Paekākāriki Hill Road. This road not only opened up the Kāpiti coast to British military power, it opened the way to settlement. Scotch Jock Nicols and Kahe te Rau o-te-Rangi opened up the first inn at the end of Beach Road in Paekākāriki in 1832/33. Cobb & Co ran stage coaches down the Hill Road to the beach, and thence up the beach to Whanganui.
Wainui Land Purchase
As settlers started to pour into the colony, the demand for land went up and the government set about acquiring Māori land, as Governor Grey had said, “for a pittance”. By 1858, Pakeha outnumbered Māori in the new colony. Many local Te Ati Awa had returned north to Taranaki with Wiremu Kingi te Rangitāke to defend the land around Waitara which was being threatened by settlers at New Plymouth.
In the Wainui and Whareroa Purchases in 1858 the government brought all the land in what is now Queen Elizabeth Park from Ngāti Toa, paying a mere £850 for the Wainui block and £800 for Whareroa. This second amount was not paid. The occupying iwi were also not paid , but instead, Native reserves were created for Ngāti Haumia at the north end of Paekākāriki in a new Native Township and another at Whareroa for Ngāti Maru.
In the 1860s the British Colonial government passed laws so that land ownership was invested in individuals, rather than iwi, and the Native Land Court was created. This fitted Pākehā ideas of property ownership and enabled them to buy land more easily. The Native Land Ratings Act of 1882 charged Māori rates for land they still owned in British money, and as many were not part of the cash economy, non-payment of rates became an easy way to confiscate land from Māori.
The north end of what is now Paekākāriki was formerly the Native village of Wainui. This included Aperhama, Tangahoe, Pingau, Henare and Mira Street (now the north end of Wellington Road). This was connected to the Pakeha township of Paekākāriki by the route down the beach. Both communities went to the same school, which was situated on what is now Highway 59.
World War II: Confiscation
During World War II, New Zealand was under threat of invasion from the Japanese expansion in the Pacific. Most of the NZ army was in Egypt, fighting the Germans and Italians. The NZ government decided to call on the USA for support. However, the airport in Wellington was too short to land the long-distance planes coming from the USA via Hawai’i. Instead, the NZ Government confiscated land in 1942 from local Māori in Paraparaumu to build an airport. The troops of the Second Marine Corps were based in Paekākāriki, MacKay’s Crossing and Whareroa farm. All of this land was taken under the Public Works Act, with a promise to return it at the end of the War. They also took the last Māori owned land in Paekākāriki, the Miriona Block.
The influx of 1000s of young American troops transformed the township. Local Māori remember fondly the dances, vibrant social life, and money this brought into the village. A small community of 530 now had 5200 young men stationed among them. Many they farewelled never made it back from the Pacific War after fighting in Guadalcanal and Tarawa.
The Miriona Block
Miriona Utu Mutu Mira (Budge) was the great-granddaughter of Ropata Hurumutu and Aperhama Mutu Mira. She was the last Māori landholder in Paekākāriki. She owned 16 acres of land, whose northern boundary was the Wainui, starting at the sea and running inland to the railway tracks. Her land had been confiscated to house the Marines during the War. After the War, the Wellington Regional Council planned to create Queen Elizabeth Park between Paekākāriki and Raumati. They secured the purchase of other Māori owned land at the north end of the Native Village, but Miriona refused to sell. They pressured Miriona to sell her land, although she repeatedly refused, especially because the land contained the family urupa. She said:
“This small portion of land is worth more to me than 100 acres elsewhere, I value my people who are lying there and I have no desire to exchange at any price!”
When the crown blocked her daughter Muriel from building a home on their land, she became convinced that if she continued to refuse to sell, she would get nothing. Miriona reluctantly agreed to compensation for the land and their house (built in 1938). In exchange, she was given her urupa, a section of land in the new subdivision and a 1/4 acre section for her six daughters. This amounts to 2.25 acres compensation for 16 acres of land and a house.
The Miriona Block includes what is now the Holiday Park (allocated to Ngāti Toa Rangitira in treaty settlement) and the Community Garden (KCDC owned). Her descendants, the Farrells, still live in the new home she built on the section she had received. Karl Farrell’s two daughters, two nieces and their whānau also live in the village and they are preparing a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal.
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