Kuru Taonga – The Heretaunga Purchase

The Kuru Taonga: Voices of Kahungunu exhibition at MTG Hawke’s Bay Tai Ahuriri says a lot about the transformation of Te Matau a Māui into Hawke’s Bay.

Pākehā were called by Ngāti Kahungunu to come and settle in Te Matau a Māui. Pākehā were given land and were sold land to do this. Kahungunu went to Auckland to see George Grey and Donald Mclean to facilitate this.

Ngāti Kahungunu were in a time of rebuilding from the Musket Wars. Kahungunu chiefs were looking for rejuvenation, innovation, and renewal. They saw an opportunity for modernisation with Pākehā bringing many new things. Everything to revitalise Ngāti Kahungunu. Steel and peace under one God rather than many Gods with different agendas. Pākehā represented a new normal. This is what Ngāti Kahungunu chiefs saw for their people.

However, unbeknown to Kahungunu chiefs, when they travelled to Auckland to see Grey, he saw this as an opportunity to send Mclean to Hawke’s Bay to implement the policies that gave birth to the Native Land Act, along with many other policies created to alienate natives from their own lands.

The Native Land Acts 1862 and 1865 established the Native Land Court. Minister of Justice, Henry Sewell, stated the purpose of the Court was “to bring the great bulk of the lands in the Northern Island within the reach of colonisation and the de-tribalisation of the Māori – to destroy, if it were possible, the principle of communism upon which their social system is based”.

On 5 March to 12 April 1873 there was a Report of Inquiry into the purchase of Heretaunga. Complaints were published in the Hawke’s Bay Provincial Government Gazette regarding the alienation of Native lands known as Heretaunga – The Heretaunga Purchase.

The complainants tabled against the purchasers were Manaena Tini ki Runga, Karaitiana Takamoana, Hēnare Tomoana, Rēnata Kawepō, Te Waka Kawatini, and Hōhepa Te Ringanohu.

The purchasers were H. Parker, T.Tanner, J.N. Williams, G.E. Lee, J.Cuff, J.D Ormond, J.D. Gordon, Capt. William Russell and Capt. Hamilton  Russell.

The report states that Karaitiana Takamoana complains ‘that alienation was made under circumstances of unfair pressure by and at the instigation of the parties complained against, or persons acting for and on their behalf that complainant and several of the grantees were most unwilling to part with this the most valuable block of land in the province; that the price was greatly inadequate, and the consideration was not paid to the grantees in money, but was in a large proportion handed over to publicans and storekeepers, whose bills and demands arose to a great extent out of the supply of spirits and other liquors, which the grantees had in few instances an opportunity of examining; and for payment of which they were threatened with extreme measures, both against person and land, to avoid which they were induced to sign deeds of sale”. The complaint also says “that certain arrangements made with him as part of the conditions of sale have not been carried out, and he asks from the Commissioners a full and searching enquiry into the whole transactions, and calls for production of all accounts and papers in any way connected with the transactions, and for the examination of all parties concerned”.

The same report states from Rēnata Kawepō that, ‘the land was leased, mortgaged, and sold without consultation” and from Hōhepa Te Ringanohu “that the land was sold without consultation and beg that it be returned’.

The report goes on to say that “Up to the passing of the Native Lands Act very little native land here had been alienated, and there appeared to be strong objection to its sale by the original owners.” It carrys on to note that “During the year 1870, the year in which the greater part of the conveyances were taken, the whole of the native population capable of consuming liquor – with one or two solitary exceptions, – was given up to one continual debauch – to a drunkenness, which so far as that year was concerned, seemed to have neither beginning nor end. In nearly all of these transactions spirituous liquors formed a considerable part of the consideration, and he believed a statistical statement of the amount of liquor supplied to the natives during that period would show a sufficient quantity to keep every man of them drunk during the whole time. While these large purchases were in progress, the natives, being continually drunk, could not be supposed to understand the nature of the documents to which their signatures were attached”.

Member of Parliament Robert Bruce declared “we could not devise a more ingenious method of destroying the whole Māori race than by these land courts”.

Published in the Hawke’s Bay Today newspaper 8th January 2022 and written by Te Hira Henderson, Curator Māori at MTG Hawke’s Bay.

the sword and the pen

As I have lived on the West Coast of the North Island for the past 10 years, I was unfamiliar with the history of Hawke’s Bay when moving here in late-2011 to take up the position of Assistant Curator. Having always been interested in modern military history and the stories of regular citizens turned soldiers, I was keen to dive into the collection of the Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust in search of any and all archives which would satisfy my curiosity. I had worked with the weapons collection at the Whanganui Regional Museum in the past and I was soon talking to a colleague with a similar interest, Cymon Wallace, who pointed me to a collection of letters written to and by Captain George Preece, a man who immediately piqued my interest.

Captain Preece wearing his New Zealand Cross and New Zealand Medal. Collection of Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust/Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, 2534.

George Preece was born in Coromandel in 1845, the son of James Preece of the Church Missionary Society, and Marie Anne Williams, a school teacher. In 1847 the Preece family was sent to set up a mission station at Ahikereru, deep in Te Urewera. In this remote location the Preece children grew up speaking Māori. For George, this knowledge was to secure him an important role in the Colonial Forces as a military interpreter, while his knowledge of the area was to prove invaluable during the numerous campaigns against Te Kooti from 1869-72.

George joined the military in 1868 as an Ensign under Colonel George Whitmore. He was to prove critically important in the first assaults with Major Ropata against Mokeretu and Ngatapa Pā in Poverty Bay. As a result of his actions at Ngatapa, Preece was promoted to Captain in 1870 and received the New Zealand Cross in 1876.

Preece’s New Zealand Cross, one of only 23 originals ever awarded. Collection of Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust/Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, 56/57

This medal, one of only 23 ever awarded, held in the collections of the Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust along with his Colonial Auxiliary Medal, New Zealand Medal, accompanying original award documents and correspondence, forms one of the most complete collections of a New Zealand soldiers effects.

While George Preece appears at first glance to be an obedient and dutiful soldier, his personal and occupational letters reveal a personality that did not shy away from controversy. One letter, written during the pursuit of Te Kooti to Donald McLean, then Defence Minister and dated 27 March 1869, shows George’s almost virulent hatred of his superior, Colonel Whitmore, for writing against Mclean in the editorial section of Hawke’s Bay newspapers. McLean was a long-time friend of the Preece family, James having recommended him for the government position of ‘Protector of Aborigines’ in 1842. Preece writes of Whitmore’s “highly coloured reports” of the rout of Te Kooti’s forces, even going as far as saying that “you can have no idea how many false reports Colonel Whitmore sets about you and the underhanded dirty way he does it.” However, this attack in the Press corroborates James Hawthorne’s published account of Whitmore in 1869, A Dark Chapter in New Zealand History, calling him names which are too provocative to print even 140 years later!

George’s outspoken voice carries on into his career as Resident Magistrate in Hawke’s Bay. In a letter from T W Lewis, Under-Secretary of the Native Department in Wellington and Preece’s superior, George is reprimanded for speaking out of turn to the press on a civil matter which had come under his jurisdiction.

Letter to Preece regarding government regulations on communications with the press, dated 17 May 1883. Collection of Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust/Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, 25452

Just three months before this incident he had been accused by Lewis of indiscretion in the handling of the will of Chief Karaitiana Takamoana, allowing an improperly skilled person to handle the case. He was informed that his action to send this ordinary citizen, a Mr Sheehan, to execute the will was ill-advised “in view of the notoriety which the Omaranui and Waipawa cases have acquired in the Napier district.” George appears to have read the attached government regulation, ‘Communications not to be made to the Public Press’, as Lewis’ later letters do not mention any further controversies, referring only to the mundane business of issuing firearms licenses to Hawke’s Bay Māori. There was, however, a spark left in the old soldier. After entering retirement, George moved to Palmerston North and, still full of courage and tenacity at the age of 70, attempted to re-enlist in the army upon the outbreak of the Great War.

The interpretation of personal documents almost 150 years old is an immense mental challenge. George’s letters jump from military matters, to politics, to family, and back again all within the space of as many paragraphs. Identifying the obscure historical figures he mentions and interpreting events without the help of other information sources creates a veritable minefield for misunderstanding and confusion. However, as an historian, methodically piecing a puzzle together through a thorough investigation of these primary resources and coming to new conclusions of a historically important figure is immensely satisfying. As I work amongst these personalities of the past, the objects they owned and the letters they wrote, I hope to cross paths with many more that prove to be just as colourful as George Preece.

Evan Greensides
August 2012