Te Papa Waka-rererangi Toropuku o Wharekauri

E waru rau kiromita ki te taha whakaterāwhiti a Wharekauri;[1] e 600 ngā tāngata o aua moutere.  Neke atu i te haurua he Māori (nō Ngāti Mutunga te nuinga); nui atu i te 6% ngā tchakat henu, arā, Moriori.  Nā reira, ka taea te kī pea, ka hāngai ngā mahi ā-pakanga katoa o aua moutere ki te ngā mahi a te iwi Māori o reira. I te tīmatanga, kīhai ngā tāngata i tino aro atu ki te Pakanga Tuarua; he tawhiti rawa nōna, ahakoa ka hīkaka ngā taitamariki tāne ki te uru ki roto i te tauā hōia, ā, ka whakapiki ngā kaipāmu i te whakatipu hipi, wūru hoki. Heoi, i whakarongo tonu ngā tāngata katoa ki te waerehe kia rangona ngā rongo o te pakanga.[2] Engari, kīhai i roa, ka ahu tata mai te pakanga ki ō rātou moutere.

I te 25 Noema 1940, ka motukia tō rātou hononga ā-tīma ki Aotearoa.  I te hoki mai te Holmwood i te Whakaraupō (Lyttelton), ā, e hāora ruarua te tawhiti mai i Wharekauri, hātepetia ana taua tīma e te manuao Tiamana, whakatotohutia ana, e rua tekau mā iwa ngā tāngata, arā, ngā heremana me ngā pāhihi, i riro herehere ki runga i te Komet.  I te marama e whai ana, e rima kaipuke anō i whakatotohutia; tekau mā ono ngā tāngata i mate. Neke atu i te 500 ngā herehere, ā, i te 21 Tīhema, ka tukuna rātou ki Emirau, ki tētahi o ngā moutere Bismarck (nō te porowini Niu Aerani ēnei ināianei, nō Niu Kīni.) Tae rawa atu ngā pāhihi o te Holmwood ki Aotearoa i te marama o Hānuere.[3]

Nā ngā āwangawanga whakamaru, ka whakatau te kāwanatanga kia hangaia he papa ki Whakakauri mō ngā waka-rererangi ā-poti, hei rato penehini ki ngā waka-rererangi i ngā wā ohotata.

He mea hira kia toropuku te kaupapa nei; nā reira kīhai ngā tāngata o Wharekauri i mōhio kia tae mai he tīma e kawe ana i ngā rauemi.  I karangatia ngā tāngata e ngā āpiha kāwanatanga kia mene mai ki tētahi hui i whakamāramatia ai te kaupapa, me te tono a te kāwanatanga kia waiho te mahi mā ngā tāngata o te moutere, arā, ka utua ngā mahi hanga me ngā mahi kāta rauemi ki te moni.  Heoi, ki te iwi nei, hāunga te whakatotohutanga o te Holmwood, kāore rātou e tino pāngia ana e te pakanga.  Nā reira, mehemea ka hanga rātou i te papa nei, he tino āwhina tēnei mahi ā rātou mō ngā mahi pakanga, nā reira, ka whakaae rātou ki te mahi utu-kore.[4]

Ka whakatūria he komiti kia whakaritea mā wai tēnā mahi tēnā mahi.  E whā ngā komiti ki raro e aro ana ki ā rātou ake kaupapa.  He tino uaua te mahi a te komiti kawe utanga; tērā he ara, engari, kāore he rori pai.  Ka tukuna te mahi nei ki ngā rangatira mōhio o ngā tīma puruki, tīma hōiho hoki, kia kawea ngā rauemi mai i Waikato Point ki te roto, ki Te Whanga, nui atu i te tekau māero te tawhiti.  E rua rau pou waea i whakanohoia putaputatia i te huarahi nei.  I tahuri te komiti waea ki te hanga i ngā waea mai i te teihana waerehe ki te papa, tekau mā tahi māero te tawhiti.  Nā te komiti wāpu ngā momo hanganga o te papa, arā, ngā whare me ngā taiepa.  I rūritia e te komiti roto i ngā wāhi e rua e tau ai ngā waka-rerenga ā-poti, ā, ka whakawāteatia ngā rāpihi i te papa o te roto.  I whakatakotoria he kārewa tohutohu, he rama karahīni ki te roto, he ramaroa hoki ki te whenua.[5]

Nā te iwi katoa te hanga papa, Māori mai, Pākehā mai.  I hoatu kai ngā tāngata kāore e mahi ana i te mahi hanga; ā, tunu kai ai he rōpū kuki kia reri ngā kai i ngā wā katoa.  Nā te pukumahi o ngā tāngata o ngā moutere nei i tutuki ai ngā mahi nei i roto i ngā wiki e rua.

I whakahaeretia hoki te papa waka-rererangi e ngā tāngata o te moutere.  Mehemea ka whakaarohia e tata ana tētahi waka-rererangi, ka tukuna e ngā āpiha kāwanatanga he tangata (ahakoa ko wai) kia āwhinatia te whakakī penehīni.[6]  I toropuku ngā mahi nei, engari, ka maharatia e ngā tāngata te taunga mai o tētahi waka-rererangi i te marama o Āperira, 1941, kia whakamātauria te pai o te papa nei.  He wā pai tēnei mō te iwi kia kitea ngā hua o ā rātou mahi.  E ai ki a Tim Te Aika, i kātia ngā kura i taua rā, ā, tokomaha ngā tāngata i mene mai ki te papa.  Ko Ray Murphy tētahi o ngā tamariki i hoe atu ki waenganui o te roto kia pai ake te kite i te waka-rererangi nei.  Harikoa rawa atu ngā tāngata i te wehenga atu o te waka-rererangi, e rere ana ki runga, me te tāheke mai o te wai, ānō nei he ua pūkohukohu tēnei.[7]

Kāore he take ō te kāwanatanga mō te papa nei i muri i te pakanga, engari, he painga nui tonu mō ngā tāngata o Wharekauri.  I tīmata he rerenga pākihi i te tau 1950, engari, ko te tino painga, ka taea ngā tūrōrō te mau ki Aotearoa. He tino hari mō ngā tamariki te rerenga mai a Hana Kōkō mā runga waka-rererangi ā-poti i te Kirihimete o te tau 1951, engari, ka kitea mai i te whakaahua, he āhua āwangawanga ētahi.

Tērā ētahi wāhi i ara mai ai te hapori ki te āwhina i ngā mahi pakanga.  He kōrero ō tōu whānau?

Whakaahua: Campbell, Duncan, active 1951. Father Christmas goes to the Chatham Islands. Evening post (Newspaper. 1865-2002): Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: 114/408/38-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22747734

[1] Ko Wharekauri te ingoa Māori; ko Rēkohu te ingoa Moriori; ko Chathams tō te Pākehā.

[2] Tim Te Aika, ‘Wairua’: Spirit of the Land, (Invercargill: Self-published, 2005), me te Press, 27 Āperira 1940. 

[3] Sydney D. Waters, German Raiders in the Pacific (Wellington: War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1949), 21.

[4] David Holmes, My 70 Years on the Chatham Islands (Christchurch N.Z.: Shoal Bay Press, 1993), 104.

[5] Holmes, 106-107, me J.W. Best, Chatham island- First Flights, Aviation Historical Society of New Zealand, Tīhema 2007, 46.

[6] Holmes, 106.

[7] Kōrerorero ki a Ray Murphy, 26 & 29 Noema 2019.