..) ,... ~.. -.: 'I ' ~,'1'. " L • . • r~\ ~ .--. Wai 898, # A28 The Crown and Maori in Mokau 1840-1911 A report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for Te Rohe Potae Inquiry (Wai 898) Paul Thomas February 2011 THOMAS, THE CROWN AND MAORI IN MOKAU 1840-1911 The Author My name is Paul Thomas. I graduated with a first class honours degree in history from Otago University in 1990. I worked as a researcher and writer for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography until 1993. From 1995, I was employed by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust as a historian. Since 1999, I have worked as a contract historian on Treaty of Waitangi issues, writing and advising on many different areas. My report on the ‘Crown and Maori in the Northern Wairoa, 1840-1865’ was submitted to the Waitangi Tribunal’s inquiry into the Kaipara district. Acknowledgments I would like to thank the staff at the Waitangi Tribunal for overseeing this report and for their much-appreciated collegial assistance. In particular, Cathy Marr provided expert insight into Te Rohe Potae, as did Dr James Mitchell, Leanne Boulton and Dr Paul Husbands. This report has also benefitted from claimant knowledge shared at research hui, during my trips to the area, and at the oral traditions hui at Maniaroa Marae in Mokau in May 2010. Steven Oliver and Rose Swindells carried out some valuable research, while the translations of te reo Maori material are from Ariaan Gage-Dingle and Aaron Randall. Thanks also to Noel Harris and Craig Innes for providing some of the maps. Lauren Zamalis, Keir Wotherspoon and Ruth Thomas helped with copy-editing. Kesaia Waigth was a marvel of technological competence and general helpfulness while Dr Vincent O’Malley provided a valuable review of the draft report. I would particularly like to thank Katy Thomas for enduring exile and abandonment as I worked on this report. Cover: Stephenson Percy Smith watercolour of the Mokau River, January 1859 (Alexander Turnbull Library [ATL], Wellington, A-137-005) 2 THOMAS, THE CROWN AND MAORI IN MOKAU 1840-1911 Table of Contents The Author ................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures and Maps .......................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 6 Chapter One: The People and the Land ........................................................................11 Chapter Two: Early Contact with Europeans ...............................................................21 2.1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................21 2.2 Early Visitors .............................................................................................................22 2.3 Competing Land Deeds ...........................................................................................24 2.4 Relations with Taranaki Maori ................................................................................26 2.5 The Missionaries and Early Settlers .......................................................................28 2.6 ‘The tapu of Mokau’, 1845 to 1846 .......................................................................37 2.7 Growing Optimism, 1847 to 1851 .........................................................................39 Chapter Three: Negotiation and Dispute 1840-1850s .................................................44 3.1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................44 3.2 The Promise of Partnership, 1840 to 1850 ...........................................................49 3.3 McLean’s 1850 Negotiations ..................................................................................57 3.4 Rogan’s 1852 Negotiations .....................................................................................71 3.5 Cooper’s 1852 Visit ..................................................................................................77 3.6 The Awakino Transaction .......................................................................................87 3.7 The Mokau Transaction ..........................................................................................99 3.8 Takerei’s New Policy and the Taumatamaire Transaction .............................. 117 3.9 Rauroa Transaction and the Crown Abandons Mokau ................................... 122 3.10 Aftermath of the Transactions .......................................................................... 130 Chapter Four: War and Confiscation, Mokau in the 1860s .................................... 134 4.1 Mokau on the Brink of the New Zealand Wars ............................................... 134 4.2 Mokau and the Taranaki War .............................................................................. 138 4.3 The Waikato War and the Threat of Confiscation, 1863 to 1864 .................. 145 4.4 The Conquest of Pukearuhe and Confiscation up to Parininihi .................... 149 4.5 Mokau and the Aukati .......................................................................................... 155 4.6 The Pukearuhe Attack .......................................................................................... 161 3 THOMAS, THE CROWN AND MAORI IN MOKAU 1840-1911 4.6 The Aftermath ....................................................................................................... 169 Chapter Five: Attempts at Reconciliation 1870-1875 ................................................ 171 5.1 Peace Without Reconciliation - Relations with the Crown ............................. 171 5.2 Negotiations with Taranaki Maori ...................................................................... 176 5.3 Trade and Control ................................................................................................. 179 Chapter Six: The Aukati Under Pressure 1876-1881 ................................................. 189 6.1 Intensifying Efforts to Encourage Trade, 1876 ................................................ 190 6.2 Establishment of a Settlement and Claims of a Lease, 1877 ........................... 194 6.3 Grey and Sheehan Turn Towards the Mokau ................................................... 202 6.5 The Hall Ministry ................................................................................................... 216 Chapter Seven: The Native Land Court Moves into Mokau ................................. 222 7.1 The Lead up to the Native Land Court ............................................................. 222 7.2 The Native Land Court Hearings, June 1882 .................................................... 257 Chapter Eight: Transition and Trouble 1882-1888 .................................................... 287 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 287 8.1 The Jones Lease ..................................................................................................... 287 8.2 Negotiations and the Forming of the Compact, 1882 to 1885 ....................... 303 8.3 Collapse of a Coal Deal, 1882 to 1885 ............................................................... 325 8.4 Ignoring the Compact, 1885 to 1888 .................................................................. 337 Chapter Nine: Disempowerment and Land Loss 1888-1911 .................................. 367 9.1 Mokau Mohakatino Lost to Joshua Jones ......................................................... 367 9.2 The Return of the ‘Mokau-Awakino Purchases’ ............................................... 387 9.3 The Crown Acquisition of Most of Mohakatino Parininihi ............................ 394 9.4 The Purchase of Mokau Mohakatino No 1 ....................................................... 408 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 427 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 431 4 THOMAS, THE CROWN AND MAORI IN MOKAU 1840-1911 List of Figures and Maps Figure 1: The focus area for this report and the Rohe Potae inquiry district ..................................10 Figure 2: The Mokau River and its tributaries ...........................................................................13 Figure 3: Places referred to in the text .........................................................................................40 Figure 4: The Mokau-Awakino Crown purchases .......................................................................86 Figure 5: Sketch plan of the Awakino block, 1854 ....................................................................94 Figure 6: Sketch plan of the Mokau block, 1854 .......................................................................99 Figure 7: Sketch plan of the Taumatamaire block, 1855 ......................................................... 118 Figure 8: Sketch plan of