Captain Charles Heaphy, VC. Major John Carstairs McNeill, VC.

included Heaphy, the Māori retreated Ōhaupo en route from to FOR back to Waiari where they made a stand. Pukerimu. Just outside Ōhaupo, about where the Ōhaupo School is today, they In the ensuing engagement two British observed a Māori lying prone on the VALOUR IN soldiers were killed trying to rescue a track in front. THE WAIPA wounded corporal. Heaphy then went forward to dress the corporal’s wounds, Sensing a trap, McNeill sent Gibson when Māori fired a volley at him from Two men were awarded the Victoria back to Ōhaupo to bring up infantry. a distance of just a few feet. Five balls Cross for “conspicuous gallantry in the McNeill and Vosper then slowly went pierced his clothing and cap, wounding presence of the enemy” while serving in forward to observe the Māori from the him in three places. the Waipā during the War. top of the rise, but were immediately After dragging the corporal to safety fired on by about 50 Māori concealed in Captain Charles Heaphy of the with the help of another, Heaphy then bracken fern. Rifle Volunteers, a staff surveyor, was directed soldiers to where the Māori were awarded the for bravery When they attempted to gallop from the and, despite his wounds, continued to during the engagement at Waiari, a scrub- scene, Vosper’s horse bolted, throwing attend to the injured for the remainder covered old pā site situated above the him to the ground. McNeill at once of the day. Mangapiko River, on 11 February 1864. galloped after the horse, caught it and Heaphy’s Victoria Cross was the only brought it back under heavy fire. After e engagement started when a bathing one awarded to a colonial soldier during helping Vosper into the saddle they both party of the 40th Regiment visited a the Wars. galloped to safety. swimming hole on the Mangapiko River on a hot summer’s day. When they e following month on 30 March 1864, Vosper later stated, “I owe my life entered the water they were fired on by while the battle at Orakau raged near entirely to McNeill’s assistance. I could a force of Māori hidden in the scrub on , Troopers Vosper and Gibson not have caught my horse alone, and in the opposite bank. After the bathers were of the Colonial Defence Force were a few minutes would have been killed.” reinforced by a detachment of soldiers escorting Major John Carstairs McNeill, For his gallantry McNeill was awarded running from a nearby camp, which Aide-de-Camp to Cameron, through the Victoria Cross.

Waipā – 150 years Page 17 ere is a lament of the Ngāti Maniapoto Cameron, as General commanding the for their dead in battles of Imperial Army, represented the British 1860, that they also applied to the battle attitude to New Zealand’s wars and to the at Orakau: rights of the Māori. Governor Grey on the other hand, as head of the Colonial “e land is swept and desolate; Government represented, through the Mournfully rolls the tide of Puniu; e pressure of his Ministers, the interests of waters sob as they flow.” the settlers and their impatience to get James Edward Fitzgerald, one of the possession of Māori land. founders of the Canterbury settlement, rough witnessing Māori chivalry, wrote an editorial article in the Cameron learned to admire the Māori, Christchurch Press on 16 April 1864: “No and incidents during the campaign only human situation can be conceived more served to strengthened his distaste for the desperate or more hopeless – their lands war in which he believed the Colonial gone, their race melting away like snow Government was using the Imperial before the sun, and their own turn come Army merely to obtain land for settlers. at last, with the enemy surrounding them on all sides, and nothing but He strongly believed that the settler certain death staring them in the face… soldiers, the Waikato for example, ey will say it was not a war for safety were seldom willing to fight. He once During the Waikato War, General Cameron or for law, or for truth or liberty, but wrote to Grey that the settler soldiers developed a distaste for fighting the Māori. it was a war dictated by avarice and were “expecting to have nothing to do prosecuted by spoliation. It was war but enrich themselves by the presence to remove a neighbour’s landmark, to of the [Imperial] troops without any THE destroy a race that we might dwell in trouble or inconvenience to themselves”. their tents… But if there be anything in AFTERMATH the whole miserable story to excite the Later, after the first battle at Kākāramea admiration of a generous mind, it is this in the Wanganui district in 1865, OF WAR sad spectacle of those grim and tawny Cameron asked a wounded Māori, figures, gaunt with the watching and “Why did you resist our advance? Could From the Māori perspective, Orakau weariness, the wounds and nakedness you not see we were an overwhelming was a terrible defeat. Historians, when of a long campaign in the bush, staring force?” looking back, behold the Māori’s over their ragged palisades on the hosts bravery and stubbornness against the of the conquerors from whom escape e Māori’s reply was, “What would you might and far superior numbers of the was impossible and wailing out their last have us do? is is our village; these are Imperial and colonial soldiers present. our plantations. Men are not fit to live e Māori’s scornful defiance was chant of death and defiance ‘Ake! Ake! Ake! – for ever! for ever! for ever!’” if they are not brave enough to defend further accentuated by the devotion of their own homes.” the women who remained to share the e Waikato campaign came to an end ordeal with their husbands and brothers. with the taking of the two Māori pā at the Cameron later wrote, “I shall be required to carry on this miserable war for the Generally speaking, the Imperial foot of the Pukekura hills, the lower and profit and gratification of the Colony.” soldiers regretted having to fight stronger being Te Tiki o te Ihingārangi such a courageous and dedicated foe pā. On the morning of 5 April 1864, a A total of 1,217,437 acres was desperately defending their homelands, British force marched from the Pukerimu confiscated from Māori in the Waikato. camp, south along the east bank of the holding much respect for them. It was Of this, 224,080 acres was designated . As they approached the pā the colonial soldier who wanted the native reserves (obviously non-arable in skirmishing order, they soon observed enemy vanquished so they could get at land), and 50,000 acres was returned to both positions become abandoned and the “booty” – the fertile land round Te tribes. e rest stayed in the Colonial immediately occupied them without Awamutu and promised to Government’s control. About 150,000 casualties. It is believed the Māori only them in the terms of their enlistment. acres were used for military settlements. had about 400 men to defend the two e largest block of 446,978 acres was General Cameron developed a distaste positions so they decided to fall back to put up for sale. e Government’s for fighting the Māori, seeing the only Porewa pā, near Horahora, at the foot of intention was to sell the land to cover benefit was to provide land for the mountain. colonial “settler” soldiers. He displayed the cost of the campaign but revenue his distaste at Rangiaowhia, where he With the Waikato campaign at an fell well short of their target. Later, a ordered the immediate release of Māori end, General Cameron pondered on further 214,000 acres were confiscated captives held in the Catholic church. its success. roughout the campaign at Tauranga.

Page 18 Waipā – 150 years Rewi led a Ngāti Maniapoto war party the defenders of Orakau into a fighting to Taranaki in 1860 in support of Te team, which denied the British the quick Rangitake. victory they sought. When the sun went down on Orakau, about 160 Māori lay Rewi returned from Taranaki convinced dead on the battlefield and on their line that the Government intended to of flight to the . undermine Māori authority (te tino rangatiratanga) over their nationality ere is a lament of Ngāti Maniapoto and their land, and mobilised support for their dead in Taranaki that also for his point of view amongst Ngāti applies to Orakau: “e land is swept Maniapoto and Waikato Māori. and desolate, Mournfully rolls the tide of Puniu, e waters sob as they flow.” In March 1863 he organised a party which sacked John Gorst’s office at After the Waikato War, Rewi realised Ōtāwhao, and ousted the Government that Māori mana was not to be gained magistrate from the Waikato. Gorst’s or restored solely through military expulsion marked Rewi’s control over means. Being a political realist, he King movement politics and showed began to seek the next best alternative, he was determined to act while others a negotiated peace settlement which procrastinated. would ensure the inalienable retention of Māori lands in Māori hands. In When General Cameron’s forces invaded November 1869 he met Donald the Waikato, Rewi and Ngāti Maniapoto McLean, the Native Minister, at responded. Although he advised against Pahiko, near Te Kuiti, to discuss the making a stand at Orakau, he was still issues. It was at this meeting that Rewi THE GREAT determined to lead his people. When declared that he would cease fighting. Cameron called on the defenders to WARRIOR surrender, Rewi is said to have replied: Over the following decades Rewi was “Ka whawhai tonu matou, Ake! Ake! involved in Māori politics, the issue of CHIEF – Ake!” – “We will fight on for ever and land sales and the King’s movement. He ever!” Although he may not have spoken and Te Wahanui permitted the main REWI these exact words at Orakau, his attitude trunk railway to enter the . to the British invasion was well known. In later life his influence declined – Te MANIAPOTO Wahanui became increasingly recognised Before the war came to the heart of the as the spokesman for Ngāti Maniapoto. Manga, later known as Rewi Maniapoto, Waikato, Rewi was recorded as saying e Government built Rewi a house on was born in the Waipā about 1810. to a gathering at Ngāruawahia, “Kaore a one-acre section at Kihikihi in 1881, His father was Te Ngohi, also known ahau e whakaae kia mutu te whawhai, in return for his giving up claims to a as Kāwhia, of Ngāti Maniapoto, and ko taku tohe ano tenei ake! ake! tonu Crown grant, and waiving his pension. his mother was Te Kore, also of Ngāti atu!” – “I will not agree that the fighting Maniapoto. shall cease, I will maintain this for ever James Cowan, who had met Rewi, and ever.” wrote, “Rewi Maniapoto, as I remember Rewi belonged to Ngāti Paretekawa, him, was a man of rather small, compact a hapū of Ngāti Maniapoto. He was During the Waikato campaign, build, quick-moving, keen-eyed, an educated at Wesleyan mission station, Te supporting Māori had enormous active man even in his old age.” Kopua. In 1831 Te Ngohi was a member respect for Rewi’s military prowess. of Potatau Te Wherowhero’s war party He advocated defensive preparations, A monument honouring Rewi (donated which captured Pukerangiora in Taranaki and showed a deeper understanding by his former adversary, Sir George from Te Ati Awa. Rewi accompanied his of British military strategy than any Grey) was constructed on the corner of father on this expedition. other Māori leader. In combat he was Lyon and Whitmore Streets, Kihikihi, in undisputed command and welded under the watchful eye of Rewi who Rewi became well known by both Māori lived nearby, and was unveiled in 24 and Pākehā for his oratory, political April 1894. Rewi died two months later debate and leadership, knowledge of on 21 June. A great tangi was held, and traditional customs and practices, and on 29 June he was buried at the foot of military skills. His moko was that of a his memorial. rangatira. Rewi Manga Maniapoto was inducted In the 1850s Rewi began to emerge into the Te Awamutu Walk of Fame in as a prominent supporter of the King 2005. movement. He raised the King’s flag at Ngāruawahia in 1858 when Te Left: e unveiling of the monument to Wherowhero was installed as king. Rewi Maniapoto, 24 April 1894. With permission from the Māori king,

Waipā – 150 years Page 19 Armed Constabulary constables outside the had at his disposal about 3,000 regular Confiscated lands in the Star Redoubt in Cambridge. Sergeant troops and 2,000 Waikato Militiamen. were allocated to the soldier-settlers Charles Chitty is at left. Later, further redoubts and stockades – the 2nd Waikato Militia around were build at Orakau, and Te Awamutu, including Alexandra other strategic positions along the new (Pirongia) and Kihikihi, and the 3rd FRONTIER confiscation line (aukati). Waikato Militia around Cambridge – with privates receiving a 50-acre farm TOWNS e present Cambridge site was chosen lot as well as a town acre, with officers because rapids began to appear in the receiving more. river further to the south making it On 3 March 1864, the riverboat unnavigable by larger craft, and the e soldier-settlers were provided timber Koheroa undertook an exploratory trip junction of the Waikato River and for construction. Once in possession of up the Horotiu (Waikato) River, passing Karāpiro Stream provided a wide their land, they received rations for a Kirikiriroa (Hamilton) and an advanced expanse of water suitable for turning further 12 months, but their pay ceased. military camp on the west bank at riverboats around. Other reasons for ey were also promised a public works Pukerimu, about opposite where St selection were sufficient nearby land programme for continued income, but Peter’s School is today, finally halting suitable for farming, and being the the Government reneged on the deal. near the present site of Cambridge. closest point to the confiscation line Life for the pioneers was tough. Home From an advantage point on the river that was accessible by river transport. often was a small raupō or wooden bank, soldiers sighted the Ngāti Haua Camp Cambridge, under the command hut with an earth floor, or sometimes positions on the Pukekura hills. of Colonel William Lyon of the 3rd just a tent. Much of the farm land Waikato Militia, was established on Some weeks later, after the final stages was undesirable with swamp and peat, the terraces above the river, and with of the Waikato campaign, General some of it inaccessible. Further, the the Star Redoubt built on land today Cameron decided to establish a frontier small 50-acre farms were proving to be enclosed by Fort, Duke and Victoria town in the area. Pukekura was originally not economically viable. reatened Streets, overlooking the river and facing considered as the site before the with a meagre existence and starvation, the Pukekura hills and Maungatautari. present site of Cambridge was selected. the soldier-settlers petitioned the Cameron had already established his e name Cambridge came from the Government for help, which failed to field headquarters at Te Awamutu but Duke of Cambridge, Commander in respond satisfactorily. needed to protect his eastern flank Chief of the in 1864. At Most of the Imperial troops stationed against Māori invasion from the Bay of the time there were three flour mills in Te Awamutu left in 1865, and by Plenty, Rotorua, and ames. Redoubts operating in the area – two near the in the Cambridge area gave him that the end of the following year only a Waikato River at Maungatautari and few remained. eir departure brought protection. Initially, an outpost redoubt one at Maungakawa, situated on the was built on the Te Tiki o te Ihingārangi about the collapse of the Te Awamutu side of the Te Miro hills, on market for meat, vegetables and different pā site on the eastern end of the the upper reaches of the Piako River. Pukekura hills, known as the “Crow’s grain so, like Cambridge, local farmers Flour from the Maungatautari mills was looked to distant Auckland to sell their Nest,” overlooking the present-day transported downstream on the Waikato produce. But even then, the river freight Karāpiro dam. At the time, Cameron River by canoe. charges proved prohibitive.

Page 20 Waipā – 150 years Feeling insecure against possible Kingite bankers and politicians with an eye to following decade, the frontier redoubts attack, lacking in produce markets, profit. A couple of names to come to the were manned by the blue-uniformed more often than not in debt, bereft of fore were omas Russell, the founding constables. e Government was quick government help and sometimes unable father of the Bank of New Zealand, and to utilise this conveniently cheap force, even to reach their allotted land, the the Hon. James Williamson, who owned by adding to their normal peace-keeping soldier-settlers gave up their struggle over 15,000 acres of Waipā land. Major role: police and patrol duties, road and departed in droves, selling their William Jackson, former commander of building, bridge-building and repairing, land cheaply. Some simply abandoned the Forest Rangers and member of the carting timber and erecting telegraph their land. By 1867 Waipā’s population House of Representatives, acted as an lines. First, a road between Cambridge fell drastically. agent for Russell in the Waipā. and Hamilton was completed, then a party of Cambridge constables helped Of the 2,056 military settlers granted Another venture capitalist was the construct the Cambridge-Taupo road. land in the Waipā, 71.8 per cent had Auckland land agent, William Aitken, As the road neared the confiscation sold their farm lots by 1870, increasing who acquired nearly 15,000 acres of line a warning was issued by a group to 89.6 per cent by 1880. Town section Waipā land before the mid-1880s. His of Kingites that work was to cease. In sales had reached 36 per cent by 1870, largest estate was in Tuhikaramea where response the work party armed itself increasing to 71.8 per cent by 1880. he purchased 14,152 acres, mainly and the road proceeded without further e reason for the lower percentage of swamp land. He owned an additional interruption. sales in the towns is simple: few people 660 rural acres in the Mangapiko district, wished to buy town lots in abandoned 29 town sections in Alexandra East, 15 Also, a road was built across the Te Awamutu, Cambridge, Kihikihi in Alexandra West, 12 in Ngāroto, 10 in Moanatuatua swamp, connecting and Alexandra! Cambridge and 8 elsewhere in Waipā. Te Awamutu with Cambridge. eir efforts didn’t go unnoticed. e Waikato e 50-acre farm lots were grouped Times reported, “ese men are worth The ‘carpetbaggers’ together to make them economically double their number of infantry. ey viable. In the 1878 county returns, of are the bone and sinew and pluck of Not all who bought the cheap and often the 367 holdings within the district, the district.” abandoned Waipā land in the late 1860s nine were between 1,000 to 5,000 intended to become farmers. It is hardly acres, four between 5,000 and 10,000 surprising that Auckland speculators, acres, and two between 10,000 and some of them the same businessmen 20,000 acres. A rail connection who had promoted the land wars to Williamson and Aitken took the lion’s their own advantage, began to buy with Cambridge share of the cheap Waipā land. e Waipā land in ever-increasing acreages. defeated soldier-settlers sold it for a In October 1884 a railway link finally ese speculators were the so-called song on their way to the goldfields, or reached Cambridge. ere was great “carpetbaggers” – lawyers, land agents, returning to or Britain. excitement for the locals. To celebrate, a special train was run from Cambridge But the era of the carpetbaggers is but to Hamilton leaving at 9.30am on an interlude in the story of Waipā. ey 6 October. About 100 people made were merely the buyers and sellers of the one-hour, ten-minute journey to titles and mortgages, who came and Hamilton where a holiday was observed. went with a quick profit. e train then continued through to Huntly, coming back in the early For those few hundred pioneering afternoon. At Hamilton a large crowd farmers who stuck it out around Te joined the train for a holiday afternoon Awamutu and Cambridge, they came at Cambridge, and other people joined to be known as the founding names of at stations along the line. the communities, the true creators of the Waipa district. Cambridge’s Lake Street railway crossing was decorated with an arch inscribed, “Success to the Cambridge Railway.” The Armed e passengers were greeted with cheers Constabulary arrive from a number of people assembled at the entrance to the station and local In October 1867, the Armed schoolchildren were waiting on the Constabulary was formed, effectively platform. ey were then treated to a Major William Jackson, former commander replacing the Waikato Militia and the train ride to Matangi, where they ate of the Forest Rangers and MP, acted as an smaller Forest Rangers unit in the Waipā. and drank their fill of milk and buns agent for omas Russell in the Waipā. During the troubled times over the before returning home.

Waipā – 150 years Page 21 On the morning of that venerated day, the sergeants of the regiment who are now on pay gave a dinner in the Star Redoubt, to which were invited a great number of friends, principally brother sergeants who have been struck off pay and located on their land, and a most harmonious evening was spent.” e tables were laden with delicious dishes, and after the meal there were the usual long-winded toasts and speeches, following by drinking and hearty all- male singing.

“Catching a greasy Above: Cambridge railway workers, 1907. pig”

Lines of bunting stretched across Duke To round off Christmas festivities at Street, and the National Hotel was Alexandra Cambridge, the townsfolk held a sports day and picnic at Pukerimu Camp on decorated with Chinese lanterns which e Southern Cross reported that in were lit in the evening. Entertainment New Year’s Day. Both Europeans and Alexandra (Pirongia) the “festivities Māori attended and competed. ere included boating on Te Koutu Lake, a passed off with great success. e cricket match, a fireworks display and a was rifle shooting, foot racing, “vaulting spirited landlord of the Alexandra Hotel the pole,” a quoit match, hop, step and grand ball that carried on into the early provided a public dinner, which was hours of the morning. jump, “hunting the bell,” “riding the served in first-class style to all comers. pole,” sack race, trousers race, horse race, After decades of heavy rail patronage, Our respected storekeepers Scheiff and a women’s race. motor vehicles eventually took over and Co. giving a cask of beer for the the route between Cambridge and occasion.” e two stand-out events were “climbing Hamilton. e last time-tabled passenger a greasy pole”, won by Measor of Christmas was followed by a sports day the 1st Waikatos, and “catching a greasy train left Cambridge for Hamilton, on Boxing Day, organised by the hotel. without ceremony, in September 1946. pig,” won by Private Broadbent of the “e weather on Christmas Day was 3rd Waikatos, who, it is assumed, was In 1999 the Hautapu dairy factory anything but inviting; heavy clouds and allowed to keep the pig! became the major user of the rail link, frequent showers continuing up until resulting in the Hautapu-Cambridge the afternoon. ere was a muster of e Southern Cross reported that, section being ripped up. about 80 to partake of the good cheer although it was mostly men of the provided. On Boxing Day the weather militia that attended, “ere was was more propitious, and the sports also a sprinkling of the fair sex from came off well.” Cambridge, together with the leading gentry from that settlement.” e CHRISTMAS On New Year’s Day the militia held their women’s race, which was only competed first parade day under the new Militia for by Māori, proved a hit. “Great fun OF 1865 Act. e attendance was very good, prevailed during the Māori female numbering about 600. race, who displayed great speed and After the Waikato Militia soldier-settlers rare action, to the amusement of the had been in the Waipā for just one assemblage.” year, one can imagine that Christmas Cambridge celebrations would be rudimentary and “e horse race was also very good, attended mostly by men. Many of the ere was an element of apathy in eight competing for the prizes… the militia were struck off pay a few months Cambridge, with some of the militia horse which came in third was ridden before Christmas and given possession maintaining Government employment by a youthful Scion [descendant] of the of their land allotments, but with no while their mates were struck off pay. noble and distinguished family of the further employment as earlier promised According to the Southern Cross, “Merry O’Tooles, of County Clare, Ireland.” by the Government. So the struck-off old Christmas, with his dear time- ere was also a trotting race which was men were in a lethargic mood over the honoured observances and associations, won by Captain Hamlin’s horse, of the festive season. was observed here with all due respect. 3rd Waikato Regiment.

Page 22 Waipā – 150 years Non-commissioned officers of the 40th and 65th Regiments celebrate in line). But while white settlers on friendly Te Awamutu. Te Awamutu terms with the Māori frequently crossed e situation seemed worse in Te the Puniu in search of strayed stock, and Awamutu. According to the Southern to trade with the Māori for pigs and other Kihikihi Cross, “Majors Hill and Jackson have produce, Government officials and land- had a great number of the militia seekers were adamantly discouraged. e same apathetic mood existed in employed [making hay], and have been Kihikihi. e Southern Cross recounted, On 28 November 1870, Richard Todd, very fortunate in having remarkably fine “Quite a furore has been occasioned a Government surveyor, was shot dead weather whilst so engaged. It is to be amongst the men who were struck off on the slopes of Mount Pirongia. At the regretted that work has not been more pay several months ago… meetings are time Todd and his surveying partner, plentiful; the men of the Waikato Militia taking place in every one of the Waikato Edward Frissell, were contracted to are willing to work, and would be only settlements for the purpose of taking steps survey and cut boundary lines around too glad to have a chance of honestly to obtain the money which has hitherto 350 acres awarded to Hone Te One earning money to supply their families been withheld from them through the and Ngāti Hikairo by the Native Land with some degree of comfort, for since crafty and underhand workings of the Court. e land was inside but adjacent they have been struck off pay very many notorious Weld Government.” to the confiscation line. have found it hard to make ends meet.” Fortunately, some men gained temporary e paper gave no mention of how the According to other members of his employment “gathering in the hay, and settler-soldiers in Te Awamutu fared survey party, Todd was warned to the animated appearance of the different through Christmas. discontinue the survey by Kingites, but fields reminds one of the harvest homes laughed off the threat stating that it was in the mother country. e weather has all nonsense. It was later suggested that proved delightful, and there is every the Kingitanga objection to the survey appearance of its continuance… e FRONTIER stemmed from the fact that the land was Christmas holidays were passed in a to be given to Hone Te One who had very quiet and harmonious manner; no MURDERS been ejected by the Kingitanga from sports of any description having taken the Aotea area of the King Country in 1867. Another contemporary place.” Alarms and war-rumours were frequent explanation was that whilst surveying, in the Waipā during the early 1870s. Todd had crossed the confiscation line e Kingites strictly enforced the aukati into Kingite territory. – forbidding Pākehā intrusion on the Māori side of the frontier (confiscation

Waipā – 150 years Page 23 However, on the fateful day, Todd and A second frontier murder took place and set out immediately to the scene his workers were having breakfast near on 25 April 1873 near Roto-o- of the murder, recovering Sullivan’s their tent when three armed Māori rangi, midway between Orakau and remains. Mounted orderlies were sent appeared from the bush firing several Cambridge. A farm labourer named in all directions to rally other members shots. Todd was killed instantly and Timothy Sullivan, employed by E.B. and, within three hours of the alarm a half-caste chainman named Nopera Walker of Cambridge, was clearing being given, Captain James Runciman (Noble) was seriously wounded in an scrub near the confiscation line with had another two detachments of arm and thigh. e other members two others, David Jones and Charles cavalry ready. of the survey party scattered. Todd’s Rogers, when he was run down by a theodolite and a leather bag containing party of four Māori: Mohi Purukutu, e Government made immediate papers were taken. Frissell’s survey party, Hori Te Tumu, Whina, and Herewini arrangements for the better defence of four miles away, remained unharmed. Ngamuku, and shot dead by Purukutu. the south Waikato frontier by reinforcing Sullivan’s final words to his comrades, the Armed Constabulary, strengthening e murder caused some alarm in when he became too exhausted to the chain of border posts between Alexandra and elsewhere in the Waipā, as continue, were “Goodbye. Take care of Cambridge and the Puniu River, having settlers feared an uprising by the Kingites, yourselves.” Jones and Rogers managed blockhouses erected at Roto-o-rangi and referred to at the time as Hauhau. Todd’s to escape. e attackers then decapitated Paekuku, and building a redoubt at the body was recovered and brought into Sullivan, cut out his heart and slashed Kihikihi ford on the Puniu River. Alexandra. Dr Waddington, the district open his torso. coroner, conducted an inquest which e Cambridge and Te Awamutu Cavalry returned a verdict of “Wilful murder Apparently, some of Walker’s land was Volunteers became valuable deterrents against [by] some natives unknown.” on the Māori side of the frontier, having to would-be warring Māori. Divided been leased from Māori of the Ngāti- into small detachments, the cavalry Todd was buried at Hamilton with Raukawa tribe. Mohi Purukutu, one of patrolled the country immediately north military honours, having been an ensign the Māori owners, who had been absent of the confiscation line by night and day. in the Waikato Militia. Nopera recovered when the leasing arrangement was A special track had recently been formed from his wounds in the Alexandra made, objected to Walker’s occupation close to the section of confiscation line hospital. of the land. connecting Orakau to Te Tiki o Te Ihingārangi, on the Pukekura hills close Some decades later, James Cowan, who e attackers carried Sullivan’s head to to the Waikato River. It circled most of had interviewed people living in the Wharepapā, a village three miles south the great Moanatuatua swamp keeping Kāwhia region at the time of the murder, of the Puniu, where it was left. e to low hills. Patrols in each direction named Nukuwhenua as Todd’s murderer. brutal murder shocked and alarmed kept surveillance while the threat of Apparently, the shooting party withdrew Waikato settlers, and indeed, the whole attack was imminent. to the safety of densely-forested Hauturu colony. Immediately it was regarded as south of Kāwhia where, protected by the inevitable prelude to another war. e cavalry also kept a watch on river the refusal of the Kingitanga to co- fords and tracks that crossed the operate with the Government until their On the day of the murder, Major confiscation line. e continual presence confiscated lands were returned, he went William Clare gathered a few members of troopers moving about the country free for the rest of his life. of the Cambridge Cavalry Volunteers both night and day, and the numerous Armed Constabulary posts proved a deterrent to any Hauhau plotting a foray or raid. Sullivan was buried in the Hautapu Cemetery, although his grave cannot be located today. A short-bladed penknife attributed to the ownership of Sullivan is held in the Cambridge Museum collection. Purukutu was never brought before a European court. When he died in 1894 at Maungatautari it was said that he always had a great dread of the Pākehā and would never show himself when Europeans visited the settlement.

Left: A group of Cambridge Cavalry Volunteers. Back (l-r): Robert Fisher, Robert Kirkwood, George Hally, Jared Allwill. Front (l-r): James P Campbell, Sergeant-Major Fraser (sergeant-instructor, member of the Armed Constabulary), William Howie.

Page 24 Waipā – 150 years Waipā – 150 years Page 25 next target. It wasn’t until the Armed and “Defence and not Defiance” for Te Constabulary mounted an expedition Awamutu. e two units were required FARMERS’ resulting in an engagement against Te to drill twice yearly for a period of six C AVA L R Y Kooti at Tapapa in January 1870, that days on each occasion. fears of attack on Cambridge were allayed. After the murder of Timothy Sullivan After hostilities ceased in the Waikato in April 1873, the cavalry patrolled War, the New Zealand Government Realising the vulnerability of the outer the country immediately north of the quickly formed a confiscation line, or farms to attack and the need for an aukati by night and day. A special track aukati, which became recognised as the effective and mobile armed unit, the had recently been formed close to the frontier line. It ran around the Waikato Cambridge Cavalry Volunteers, made line between Orakau and Te Tiki o Te basin and to the south of Alexandra, Te up mostly of settler farmers, was formed Ihingārangi at Karāpiro, circling most of Awamutu, Kihikihi and Cambridge. in late 1870, commanded by Captain the great Moanatuatua swamp keeping For some distance, the line followed the James Runciman. Other officers were to low hills. e continual presence of Puniu River from just south of Kihikihi Lieutenants Richard Parker and John troopers moving about the country to its junction with the . Fisher. Non-commissioned officers were proved a deterrent to any Hauhau is portion was considered the most Troop Sergeant-Major Robert Kirkwood, raiding parties. threatening to settlers as it neighboured Sergeants George Hally and William the Māori-populated King Country. Clare, and Corporals James Campbell, One of the night-patrol routes passed Robert Fisher and Jared Allwill. Pukerimu, where Margaret Fisher, sister With the disbandment of the Waikato of Robert, John and James, would leave Militia, a colonial armed force was e Te Awamutu Cavalry Volunteers, a lighted lamp in the window of her needed to protect the new frontier which mustered in Kihikihi, was formed Pukerimu home signalling night patrols settlements. For this purpose the early in 1871. Major William Jackson, that there was a cup of tea and fresh Armed Constabulary was formed former Commanding Officer of the scones awaiting them. on 1 November 1867, the same day Forest Rangers, was in command. His the militia were disbanded. Armed lieutenants were Andrew Kay and e combined Cambridge and Te Constabulary posts were established William A Cowan. Awamutu cavalry was reviewed at at Cambridge, Pukekura, Roto-o- Cambridge in November 1875 on rangi, Paekuku, Orakau, Kihikihi, Te e cavalrymen were armed with breech- William Reynolds’ farm on the Hamilton Awamutu, Alexandra and Harapepe. loading Snider carbines, swords and side of Cambridge. e Waikato Times some revolvers. eir uniform was blue reported, “Up to 300 members of e first contingent of Armed tunic, cord breeches, leggings and forage the public attended, including a large Constabulary in Cambridge consisted cap. Each supplied his own horse, saddle proportion of ladies on horseback and of two officers, six non-commissioned and bridle, and fines were inflicted if in carriages.” officers, and 36 foot and mounted horses and equipment were not kept up constables. As there was no campaigning to standard. No horses under 14.3 hands After the combined force deployed past for them in the Waipā at the time, they were allowed in the ranks. Each unit had dignitaries, they were put through sword became actively involved in peacetime its own set of “colours” with mottos of exercises and a succession of charges duties including the construction of “Our hearths and homes” for Cambridge “performed with precision.” After roads, telegraph lines, bridges and fences. e road across Moanatuatua swamp linking Cambridge with Te Awamutu was constructed by constables. Local fears of Māori invasion escalated when Te Kooti campaigned throughout the central . e scattered farms along the frontier were vulnerable to attack, compelling women and children to be gathered in local settlements and redoubts for protection. en word came that Te Kooti was at Tapapa between Tirau and Rotorua, and that Cambridge could easily be his

Right: Members of the Te Awamutu Cavalry Volunteers, 1870s.

Page 26 Waipā – 150 years the review, many retired to the farm the ballroom were a supper room, card homestead and barn for refreshments room and dressing rooms. and to feed their horses. THE GREAT e guests started to arrive in the town en about mid-afternoon the event WAIPA late afternoon, and filed into the hall shifted to the race paddock for a full after 7pm. Seats were placed around programme of horse racing. e four BALL walls and the floor “had been well main races were a flat race, trotting race, waxed”. A Masonic ball was held in the new a race exclusive to cavalry horses and a Alexandra Public Hall on the evening hurdle race. ese races were won by Mr e first dance was a quadrille performed of 10 August 1876. It proved a grand Allwill’s Clipper, Mr Taylor’s Kate, Mr by “no less than 40 couples” in rectangular occasion, even with the predicted Taylor’s Warwick and Mr Kirkwood’s formations. A printed programme lack of women attending. A Waikato Middy Ashore. A dance was held in set out the evening’s 24 dances, with Times special correspondent, a guest Reynolds’ barn during the evening. a mixture of quadrille, polka, waltz, on the night, stated, “I feared that the lancer, cotillion, la varsovianna, galop, By 1878 the Cambridge, Te Awamutu attendance of the fair sex, upon whose Caledonian, mazurka, Schottische and and Hamilton cavalry troops collectively presence depends entirely the enjoyment Highland Schottische dances, ending became known as the Waikato Cavalry of the evening, would be extremely with a “Sir Roger de Coverley”. Volunteers. ey continued to patrol the limited. However, I am glad to say, I was frontier until the final assurance of peace agreeably disappointed.” e small orchestra consisted of a for Waikato settlers came on 11 July cornopean (type of cornet), ophicleide Forty invitations were distributed, with 1881 when Tawhiao, escorted by up to (predecessor of the tuba), piccolo, over 100 guests attending, 40 of them 600 men, peacefully entered Alexandra. clarinet, and piano. e men wore women. Masonic dignitaries hailed e Armed Constabulary was disbanded mostly dark suits while the ladies wore from “Ngāruawahia, Cambridge, Te in 1885, the same year that saw the end long full dresses in “pale pink, salmon, Awamutu, Kihikihi, Hamilton East and of the occupation of redoubts along the light blue, maize and apple green”. West, Harapepe, Ōhaupo, and all the Waikato frontier. settlements around Alexandra.” e ball Halfway through the dance programme was hosted by local committeemen and there was a rush for the supper room. stewards: Dr Waddington, Messrs Aubin, “For some time your voice was useless, Speirs-Dick, Roberts, Kirk and Bertram. as the clatter of knives and forks, the rushing to and fro of the attendants, e hall had been tastefully decorated the rapid disappearance of viands and with “festoons of evergreens, crossing one liquids of every description, and the another in every direction. Suspended confused murmurs of the orthodox from the centre, the flags of St Andrew’s supper flirtations were all that could be Cross, and the red, white and blue seen or heard.” drooped gracefully over the heads of the dancers.” e greenery was mostly giant e splendid supper was provided by ponga and nikau fronds. At one end was Mr Finch of the Alexandra Hotel, and a large Union Jack, and at the other the the wines and spirits were supplied British Ensign, reminding the reporter by Mr Wilson of the Exchange Hotel Above: Te Awamutu Cavalry Volunteers’ “that though amusing ourselves many which must have been of a high standard helmet plate. is example is held in the Te thousands of miles from home, we yet as “the universal satisfaction and hilarity Awamutu Museum collection. had a share and an interest in the dear that pervaded the banqueters spoke old country of Mother Britain.” Beside volumes for their quality”.

Above: Colours of the Cambridge Cavalry Volunteers, on display in the Cambridge Museum.

Right: e dancing continued into the small hours.

Waipā – 150 years Page 27 After a half-an-hour of refreshments, result of what Tawhiao said to you, that at Pouwewe under Major Tuke. is Dr Waddington proposed a toast to there would be no more trouble. is proved to be the last defensive post the Queen. en followed toasts to His means peace.” established against Māori. Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Sir Donald McLean, the Army and Navy, Mair replied, “It is clear. I call to mind While the tour party visited Cambridge, and the good health of Colonel Lyon, the words that Tawhiao uttered at they were treated to a banquet by followed by three cheers, to which Lyon Tomotomo-waka [Te Kopua], that there the townspeople. e exotic menu, replied. en came toasts to the good should be no more fighting. is is the which was an ambitious undertaking health of “the ladies”, to the members of day that we have all been waiting for. for 1881 on the Waipā frontier, was the Masonic lodge, and to “the Press”, We know now that there will not be any reported in the Waikato Times: “Oysters directed at the Times reporter present more trouble. It has all passed away, and au naturale. Soups: Julienne, oyster. on the night. e repleted guests then good days are in store for us.” Fish: boiled snapper, sauce hollandaise. returned to the ballroom where dancing Entrees: jugged hare, stewed oysters, ereafter, Māori and local settlers French cutlets and mashed potatoes, resumed and continued into the small fraternised. Tawhiao and his followers hours. stewed oysters, fillet of beef with sauce. then made a royal tour throughout Meats: roast sirloin beef, roast goose “Daylight was stealing in through the Waikato, attending a dinner in Te with apple sauce, roast saddle mutton the window when the last dance was Awamutu, and visiting Kihikihi, Roto-o- and jelly, boiled chicken with oyster concluded and the whole party broke rangi, Cambridge, Tamahere, Hamilton sauce, roast sucking pig, boiled York up thoroughly well-satisfied with the where the townspeople turned out en ham. Game: roast pheasant with bread entertainment afforded them by the masse and formed a procession into and port wine sauce, roast hare with Alexandra Masons.” the town, and Ngāruawahia where they game sauce. Desserts: cabinet pudding, gathered at the grave of Potatau, the tarts meringue, jelly a la champagne, first Māori King. Tawhiao’s retinue then macedoine of apricots, trifle, jelly au travelled to Auckland by train as guests cognac, plum pudding, tipsy cake, of the Government. During their return custard and glass, cream a la vanilla, A GESTURE to Ngāruawahia a young Māori, Te Oti, wine jelly, macaroni cheese, dessert in was killed at Taupiri when jumping from season [fruit].” OF the train before it became stationary, and was later buried at Ngāruawahia. To accompany the menu there was an EVERLASTING equally grand wine list. “Sherry: pale, On Tawhiao’s return to Alexandra, brown. Port: dark, pale. Champagne: PEACE Major Mair, with the Native Minister’s Louis Roederer carte blanche, Sillery approval, handed back to him all the Mousseaux carte blanche. Grenache: surrendered firearms except the one A final assurance of peace in the Waipā dark, light. Mataro: dark, light. Cognac: given personally by Tawhiao, and for came in a dramatic manner on 11 July Hennessy’s, Boiteau, Meukam and Co. this he gave his own gun in exchange. 1881. Tawhiao, escorted by up to 600 Beer: Griffin’s Pale, dark, Bull Dog.” But the Kingite chiefs, desiring to assure followers, including the chiefs Wahanui the Government of their sincerity to and Manuhiri, walked into Alexandra make peace, declined to take back their from his hill settlement of Hikurangi on guns. “No,” said Wahanui, “we have the southern shoulder of the Pirongia given them up. You must keep them. Range, in a gesture of everlasting peace. But we will accept your gun in token of ey were greeted by the townsfolk and the peace between us.” a brass band playing For he’s a jolly good fellow. Although peace was formally made between Tawhiao and the Government, Outside the Alexandra Hotel Tawhiao in 1883 there arose a dispute concerning laid his “tupara” double-barrelled gun on the opening-up of Kāwhia Harbour to the road in front of Major William Mair, colonial shipping and traders. Kāwhia the Government Native Officer in the had been closed to colonial enterprise Upper Waikato, accompanied by Major since 1863. Newly placed harbour William Jackson. is act was followed beacons and channel markers were by a further 76 guns and revolvers being destroyed by Māori, as well as the brought forward by Māori and laid side removal of surveyor pegs at Pouwewe, by side. the present township of Kāwhia. In At the time, Tawhiao was suffering from response, the Native Minister, John bronchitis, so Wahanui stepped forward Bryce, immediately had Kāwhia Above: Tawhiao, leader of the Waikato and spoke on his behalf. “Do you know garrisoned with Armed Constabulary. tribes, second Māori King and a religious what this means, Major Mair? is is the e Hinemoa landed 114 constables visionary.

Page 28 Waipā – 150 years rūnanga at Te Kohekohe, on the west which he came to regard as corrupt bank of the Waikato River, south of because he considered that it conferred . While there Te Wheoro land titles on those most likely to sell. requested that a wooden courthouse be He eventually resigned in 1873 and built and suggested that Māori youths be was promoted to major in the colonial drilled to keep order. However, he was forces. warned by Tawhiao (Māori King after Te Wherowhero’s death in June 1860) that Major Te Wheoro was based at there would be trouble if buildings were Alexandra between 1873 and 1879, erected, and when carpenters arrived and acting as a Native Commissioner, Above: A newspaper headline announcing mediated a harmonious and lasting Tawhiao’s visit to Alexandra. from Auckland in March 1863 to begin building a fortified constabulary station, relationship between the Kingitanga Kingitanga (Māori King movement) and the Government, which helped supporters threw the timber into the to bring about Tawhiao’s declaration Waikato River. of peace in 1881. Much of his work was in tandem with Major William At the commencement of the Waikato Gilbert Mair, the resident magistrate at War, Te Wheoro and many of his tribe Alexandra. Te Wheoro understood the aligned with the Government, resulting predicament of the Kingitanga only too in General Cameron appointing him a well, as his tribe lost most of its land to captain in the colonial militia. For a time confiscation despite it remaining loyal to he acted as a guide to British forces in the Government. north Waikato and, with the help of Ngāti Naho, collected supplies from steamers at Te Wheoro resigned as Native the Waikato River mouth and paddled Commissioner in 1879, feeling that them upstream to Camerontown. he was not listened to, and that his people were being treated unfairly. Following the battle at Rangiriri, He was elected to Parliament later Cameron used Te Wheoro as an that year as MP for Western Māori on intermediary between the Government the nomination of Rewi Maniapoto, and the Kingitanga. He went to and continued to campaign against Ngāruawahia, under Governor Grey’s the Government attitudes towards authorisation, to negotiate peace with Māori. He also campaigned tirelessly Above: Wiremu Te Wheoro. Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi and Ngāti but unsuccessfully for the return of Maniapoto, and in the post-war years confiscated land to his hapu. worked to reconcile the relationship between the King movement and the In 1884 he accompanied King Tawhiao Government. However, the latter’s to England where they unsuccessfully A confiscation of Waikato lands remained attempted to appeal directly to Queen an obstacle in discussions while the King Victoria for the redress of grievances, STALWART and his supporters were forced to live including the confiscation of land. He on Ngāti Maniapoto lands south of the lost his seat in Parliament in the 1884 OF PEACE aukati in the King Country. election while still overseas, returning home in poor health. Wiremu Te Wheoro was a chief of the An earthen redoubt was built at Te Wheoro continued to lobby the Ngāti Naho, a Waikato hapu located Rangiriri by Te Wheoro and his Ngāti Government until his death in 1895 at south of Mercer, and closely associated Naho. e site had been previously his home at Te Arai, near Churchill, west with Ngāti Mahuta. At a great hui fortified by Māori in the defence of of Rangiriri. He was buried at Taupiri. in 1857, which proposed Potatau Te Rangiriri against Cameron’s forces, and Wherowhero as Māori King, Te Wheoro can be visited today in Talbot Street, Over the decades before his death, argued against the proposal because, as Rangiriri. e redoubt was named after Te Wheoro became one of the described in one of his obituaries, “he Te Wheoro, who occupied it on behalf Government’s fiercest critics, accusing foresaw the disastrous consequences of of the Government during the Te Kooti it of land-grabbing and racial hypocrisy, an armed struggle with the Pākehā”. campaigns of 1868-69. becoming a thorn in its side until the end. Before he died, Te Wheoro told his In 1862 Te Wheoro became an “assessor” Te Wheoro acted as an assessor to the people to remain firm, as governments working with John Gorst, a European Native Land Court between 1865 must change, and the next one might be magistrate, in resolving disputes and 1872, but became increasingly more responsive to their pleas. amongst Māori. ey were based at a disaffected with the work of the court

Waipā – 150 years Page 29 An old map shows that Te Wheoro cheese. By 1951, after operating for 50 was allocated several town sections Around Cambridge years, butter production increased to in Alexandra, which were marked In 1885 the Fencourt Land Company, 2,044 tons per year, as well as 2,170 tons “Te Wheoro to occupy” in the block owners of a large estate, built a butter of cheese. bounded by McClure, Bellot, Collinson factory at Hautapu. However, this was and Baffin Streets. Newspaper reports In 1886, Henry Reynolds established not a success and was taken over by a butter factory at Pukekura. Using claim he built and extended a house Messrs Watt and Hally in 1889. e during his time in Alexandra. an improved method of production factory had a refrigeration plant and the factory started the Anchor brand two large-capacity Alfa Laval separators. a year later, and won a gold medal at Watt and Hally made butter and cheese the Melbourne exhibition in 1888. as well as operated a bacon factory. Apparently Reynolds chose an anchor Cambridge Co-operative Dairy symbol after noticing a tattoo on the Company was formed in 1901, arm of an ex-seaman who worked for purchasing the Hautapu factory back Mr Rogers, a local supplier. Reynolds from Watt and Hally for £2068. At built eight new creameries and exported THE the time there was only one milking to England, before he was bought out machine in the district, which was a by the New Zealand Dairy Association BEGINNINGS Laurence Kennedy machine installed on headed by Wesley Spragg. W.N. Sturges’ farm at Pukerimu. OF A DAIRY William Goodfellow set up the Waikato A good hand-milker did around eight Valley Co-operative Dairy Company GIANT cows an hour, and many did 28-30 which later merged with the ames cows each milking. It was not unusual Valley Co-operative Dairy Company Pioneering families in the Te Awamutu for a dairy farmer to spend five hours a and the New Zealand Dairy Association and Cambridge districts were mainly day in the cow shed. By 1907, milking in 1919 to form the New Zealand Co- engaged in growing beef for the machines were coming into general use. operative Dairy Company, the country’s expanding Auckland produce market. largest co-operative. In its first year of operation, the company Any dairying was purely the business manufactured 83 tons of butter and Pukekura changed to manufacturing of the farmer’s wife who would make made a payout to its suppliers of 8.895d casein, then in 1940 changed to cheese, surplus cream into butter and sell it to per pound of butterfat. e company followed by rindless cheese in 1959. the local storekeeper for 4d to 6d (pence) expanded, opening skimming plants a pound, which was usually taken out at Roto-o-rangi in 1903 and Tamahere Bruntwood Co-operative Dairy in goods. e storekeeper, faced with in 1904. Over the following years Company kicked off in 1914 with a new the task of disposing of dozens of small creameries were erected at Monavale, factory at Bruntwood. e company was amounts of butter, mixed or blended Pukeroro and Victoria Road. From renowned for its high-quality cheese, them together, added excessive amounts about 1900, when home separators winning numerous awards. e factory of salt and packed it into casks, much became available, farmers separated was gutted by fire in 1961 which stopped of it being exported to Sydney from cream from skim milk on the farm. is production for about 12 months. meant farmers had to transport only Auckland. During the 1870s, the advent e number of dairy factories about one-tenth the previous volume to of refrigeration meant that butter could throughout New Zealand fell from 564 the butter factory. be only lightly salted and exported to in 1918 to just 43 in 1990, but total England. In 1914 the company switched to output increased. Dairy factories began From about 1883, skimming stations cheese production. A central curing to pick up milk from farms, carting the milk in cream cans. From the early were established and small dairy factories room was established at Hautapu 1950s milk tankers were used, which commenced operations in rural districts. and creameries were converted to cheese factories in 1915 at Fencourt, collected whole milk, not just cream, But the effects of an economic slump at Victoria Road, Tamahere, Pukeroro, resulting in multi-plant and multi- the time resulted in the price of milk at Leamington, Monavale, Roto-o-rangi product dairy factories. Cambridge Skimming Station dropping and Hautapu. In 1918 the company to 2½d a gallon. Payments on a butterfat became interested in dried milk powder. basis was just 5.625d per pound. After a few disastrous attempts it finally Around Te Awamutu Skimming stations were operated by produced powder in 1921, only to stop production almost immediately as it In 1882 a co-operative cheese and horsepower – a harnessed horse attached proved unprofitable. bacon factory, reputed to be first in the to an overhead pole walked in a circle, North Island, opened in Te Awamutu which drove a system of reducing gears e Second World War brought at the junction of Arawata Street and which in turn drove the separator. considerable demand for butter and Rangiaowhia and Ōhaupo Roads. On the

Page 30 Waipā – 150 years first day of processing the factory received 184 gallons of milk, manufacturing seven cheeses from 180 pounds of curd. e factory also purchased 37 pigs, which were kept in sties 200 yards from the factory, and fed on whey conveyed along a wooden spout. e venture was considered too optimistic, as it relied on about 500 cows in close proximity of the factory to be viable, operators were inexperienced, operating costs too high, and expected returns too ambitious. e factory was forced to close by the end of 1883.

Above: e beginnings of a dairy giant – a small dairy factory outside Cambridge, possibly at Monavale. By 1983 there were over 30 co- operatives in existence throughout opened their butter factory in 1925. It New Zealand. Over the following years operated under the yellow flower Lotus the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy brand. e two companies competed for Company completed a series of mergers Above: Local dairy farmers gather outside the district’s milk supply until the 1930s and acquisitions, re-branded as the New the Harapepe dairy factory which opened with the Te Awamutu Co-operative Zealand Dairy Group, then merged in 1897. Dairy Company finally outpacing its with Kiwi Co-operative Dairies and the rival, extending its collection area to New Zealand Dairy Board in 2001 to Following Henry Reynold’s butter Pirongia and Otorohanga. form today’s dairy giant, Fonterra Co- factory opening in Frankton in 1886, operative Group. a skimming station and creamery In 1981 the Te Awamutu Co-operative were located at the failed factory’s site. Dairy Company and the Cambridge Farmers brought their whole milk to Co-operative Dairy Company merged the station, and the separated cream to form the Waikato Dairy Co- Below: Management and directors of the was sent to Frankton by train to make operative, which further enlarged when Cambridge Co-operative Dairy Company, into butter. By 1900, two companies the Sunny Park-Hinuera Co-operative 1908. Back (l-r): A. Benge (manager), J. operated skimming stations, both Dairy Company and the Bruntwood Hooker, R. Swayne, M. Butler (secretary). Front: E. Allen, J. Fisher, J. Taylor supplying Frankton with cream. Dairy Company joined over the following two years. (chairman), C. Day, J.M. Hall. In 1919, the newly formed New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company founded a factory on its present site in Alexandra Street. e new factory was at first operated by a subsidiary, Zealandia Milk Products, specialising in milk powder, anhydrous milk fat and butter.

Above: A new factory at Hautapu opened on 3 September 1908. Just across the road, the newly-formed Te Awamutu Co-operative Dairy Company

Waipā – 150 years Page 31 quite a pleasure trip. About midnight we entered the Narrows [at Rukuhia]. e thick darkness and the rapid current of the flooded river, made the navigation of the Narrows no easy matter. “Captain Spargo, whose coolness and skill I could not but admire, now lit his lamps, in the shape of two large iron braziers, one on each side of the deck, forward of the paddle-boxes. Just before entering the Narrows the fires in the braziers were in full blaze; two sailors constantly feeding them with wood and coal-tar. By this means, notwithstanding the thick darkness and surging current, Above: A typical Waipā dairy farm of 1908. route for supplies, soldiers’ families and the steamer was kept in mid-stream; settlers. Within a short period of time the and slowly forged ahead, like some grim In 2011, John and Margaret Fisher two rivers became scenes of heightened monster with fiery eyes, fighting against of Parrallel Road, Ōhaupo, became activity with as many as four boats a day the black rushing river. the first Waipā dairy farmers to have plying the rivers from Ngāruawahia to a robotic milking system installed on Cambridge and Alexandra. “… At length we reached the jaws of their farm. ey installed a DeLaval the Narrows under a full head of steam. Voluntary Milking System to milk their e main company operating river e boat ground on her way through 320-cow herd. traffic in the early days was the Waikato the seething waters; thud, thud, went Steam Navigation Company, which the engines; louder and louder roared built a large wharf and storage shed the steam, driving from the funnel, a in Cambridge at the junction of the fiery fountain of glowing sparks; whilst Waikato River and Karāpiro Stream. sheets of flame danced from the braziers, e company posted G.J. Neal as their threatening every moment to set fire to first resident agent in Cambridge. the paddle-boxes. e larger riverboats operating on the two rivers were the Bluenose, Waipā, “… At last we emerged from the Rangiriri, Waikato and Delta. e Narrows, and though the sensation Rangiriri was sold out of Government was new and the surroundings weird service in early 1868. and grand, we were not sorry to get into the less turbulent waters. At three But using river transport wasn’t cheap. o’clock next morning we arrived at the Above: A cream waggon arriving at a testing In 1876, Waikato Steam Navigation Cambridge wharf, and tumbling into and grading station at Te Awamutu, July advertised freight from Auckland to bed at our hotel.” 1922. Cambridge and Alexandra as: “Up river 45/- [45 shillings, or £2 5s] a ton; Down e deer were eventually released in the river 35/- a ton; Timber 3/- a 100 ft; vicinity of Maungakawa Hill, where Cabin passenger 5/-; Deck passenger small herds still roam today. 3/6 [3 shillings 6 pence]; Horse 5/-; In 1881 a new wharf was built below ARRIVING Buggy 5/-.” the west end of Duke Street, more or One boat, the Quick Step, travelled less below today’s Cambridge Primary BY RIVER at night, making a great sight as she School. e goods were hauled up the hurried along at high speed with steep bank by a two-way trolley system powered by a stationary engine. Most e Waikato and Waipā Rivers were braziers suspended from her sides to of the cargo that came ashore was coal, the original routes into the heart of the light up the banks for steering. Josiah timber and general building materials. Waipa district. General Cameron used Firth of the Matamata Estate, in his the routes in his bid to outflank and book Nation Making, described the river At this time a floating boom was placed bypass fortified pā, where Māori were voyage up river to Cambridge ferrying across the Waikato River, just upriver of expected to resist the European invasion. 18 fallow deer as deck cargo. e deer Karāpiro Stream, in place to intercept had travelled all the way from Burghley posts and logs floated down river from With the establishment of military Park, England. “e flooded state of the Waotu, near Putaruru. outposts at Cambridge and Alexandra, Waikato River made our progress slow, the river naturally became the chief and steady rain all day, did not render it e Waikato Times reported in February

Page 32 Waipā – 150 years 1881 that river traffic to Cambridge “was very brisk. Besides boatloads of general merchandise brought up daily by the Delta, she invariably brought up in- tow a loaded barge. e traffic in sawn timber with the mills at the mouth of the [Waikato] river was very considerable.” At the time there were three large timber barges based at Ngāruawahia. Picnickers and revellers were conveyed down both rivers on the Delta and Rangiriri, and later on the Freetrader and Pioneer, to Ngāruawahia on Boxing Days and New Year’s Days, to attend horse and foot races. Usually the local brass band was on board, and there was dancing on the deck. By the 1920s, river transport was still popular and economically viable. By Above: After a picnic at Ngāruawahia, With production of the gold mines then the Roose Shipping Company 1921. on the decline by the end of the First dominated trade on the Waikato and World War, the power station was Waipā Rivers. e Waikato Times sold to the Government for £212,500 reported, “e Manuwai had recently in 1919, when it began supplying arrived [at Cambridge] with a cargo of electricity to Cambridge, Hamilton benzine [petrol], coal, timber and ale, and the surrounding rural districts. By 40 tons in weight from Auckland. e DAM THE 1925 more than 1,000 farm dairies and old Freetrader, converted into a barge, WAIKATO six dairy factories were being supplied. arrived towed by the powerful little tug A year later, the power station was Te re, bringing 50 tons of coal for the upgraded, increasing its capacity to 10.3 local gasworks.” Horahora megawatts. is allowed the supply of However, the river trade could not electricity to be extended to the Bay of compete with the railway, and road Completed in 1913, Horahora was Plenty and Auckland. transport on sealed roads. e regular the first hydro-electric scheme to be built on the Waikato River, as well as In April 1947 Lake Karāpiro was finally service provided by river transport soon formed behind the Karāpiro power declined and eventually discontinued. being the largest generating plant in the country. It was privately constructed station dam, submerging Horahora. It to supply electricity to the stamping kept generating until the last possible batteries of the Waihi Gold Mining day due to power shortages, with the Company at Waikino and Waihi, over turbines and generator units being left in 80 kilometres away. place. To the amusement of onlookers, two generators continued to rotate and At the Horahora site, the river’s course thrash the rising waters, even after the flowed over beds of rock in two rapids water had almost covered them. Today, and through a narrow gorge. is was the top of the dam is still visible below Above: e Bluenose makes a stop along the known as the Āniwaniwa crossing and the surface of Lake Karāpiro. upper Waikato in 1873. used by pre-European Māori. e river was originally spanned by a single tree; subsequently a bridge was erected in Arapuni 1880. Commissioned in 1929, Arapuni was Mr H.P. Barry, a skilled English engineer, the first Government-built hydro- saw the potential of the Horahora electric scheme on the Waikato River. In rapids as a source of power generation 1923, worldwide tenders were called for, while trout fishing on the river. Taking with the contract being placed with the three years to construct, the new power British firm of Armstrong Whitworth in station had a capacity of 6.4 megawatts September 1924. Above: A small riverboat operating on the and paid the Government an annual Waipā River, circa 1910. rental of £1,200 for water rights. e diversion tunnel was completed in

Waipā – 150 years Page 33 July 1926, and the site de-watered soon complete a $50 million upgrade and and dam were under construction. e after. Good progress was made with refurbishment. Arapuni returned to workforce peaked at 1,136 in 1946 the head works, but at the powerhouse service in 1990, and is expected to when the dam and powerhouse were site there was disagreement between provide at least another 50 years of completed. the contractor and the Public Works reliable power generation. Department over the suitability of the In the neighbouring workers’ camp foundations. e impasse was broken there was a YMCA with billiards, a by the Public Works Department taking Camouflage canteen, table tennis and movies. ere over the works in December 1927. was also a post office, library, dances When Japan entered the Second World nearly every week and church services e construction progressed in the face War and threatened to invade New fortnightly. A primary school catered for of difficulties, not the least of which was Zealand, major developments, such over 200 pupils. Rugby and cricket clubs severe flooding. e first 15-megawatt as the Arapuni hydro-electric scheme, were formed, there was a Plunket group, turbine was put into service in June needed protection from possible and later an RSA branch with about 1929, and within 12 months three destruction. In 1942 the Public Works 500 members. Nurse Walker, a district turbines were in service, with work well Department undertook some urgent nurse, was responsible for the health of advanced on the fourth. measures to help camouflage the scheme the whole camp, including the school. from aerial detection, using nets, dummy Police Constable Pearce was responsible en a crack developed between the trees, sods, paint and screens. for law and order. A bus service to and end of the spillway and the adjoining from Cambridge was laid on which structure. ere was a small but definite However, the work wasn’t very alleviated much of the boredom. movement of the whole country above convincing, as reported by the Royal New the powerhouse – a movement which Zealand Air Force which photographed Once the dam was completed, the lake partly reverted when the spillway water the area from the air: “Trees and shrubs was slowly filled, eventually inundating level was drawn down to empty the head have been planted on roof of powerhouse the Horahora power station, a long race. e station was then shut down but outline is still clearly visible. It also section of highway which followed the and not reopened until April 1932. appears that broad stripes have been river’s eastern bank, a bridge across dazzle-painted on front of building to the river, and the large workers’ camp. Two Swedish experts, Professor Hornell coincide with similar markings on cliff e power station was eventually and Mr Werner, supported by New face above. ere is a similar effect commissioned early 1947. e Zealand geological experts, were visible on the face of the dam… As the powerhouse contains three turbines, each engaged, and various remedial measures area under review is presumably situated generating 32 megawatts of electricity. were recommended and carried out, in open country, the roads, waterways, Today, the output is controlled remotely including an impervious lining to the buildings, and generally the plentiful by Mighty River Power in Hamilton. head race. evidences of activity, plus the fact that Picturesque man-made Lake Karāpiro it is located at the end of a long lake, A powerhouse extension, doubling its is an internationally recognised venue would make recognition from the air original size, was built between 1934 and for rowing, water-skiing, powerboating easy. Streams of water being discharged 1937, and two more turbines installed and other aquatic sports. International into the river from the powerhouse are by February 1938. e final two turbines rowing events held at the venue were also clearly visible.” were delayed by wartime disruptions, the Empire Games in 1950, and the but were eventually commissioned in World Rowing Championships in 1978 1946. is brought the station to a total and 2010. capacity of 162 megawatts from eight Karapiro turbines, by far the largest at the . e proposal to build the Karāpiro hydro-electric scheme was approved e dam, which was built across the by the Government in 1940 and Arapuni Gorge to divert the river, is 64 construction began within months. metres high. It raises the water 43 metres While initial machinery included 295 above its old level. e water then flows tractors, 171 graders, 73 excavators, 147 about 1.2 kilometres in an open head compressors and 52 locomotives, the race, and then through penstocks to the project had less than half the manpower powerhouse at the base of the gorge. it needed, due to conscription during the Second World War. Above: Horahora hydro-electric scheme’s After about 50 years of service, the head generators, 1918. race lining showed signs of deterioration However, between 1943 and 1945 the and needed to be replaced. As this workforce was able to be increased from involved a complete station shutdown, 200 to 1,000. By early 1945 excavations it afforded an ideal opportunity to were complete and the powerhouse

Page 34 Waipā – 150 years