Back Issues: Connecting with the past via historical objects – Stuff

Saturday is the 158th anniversary of an event that seems to be a little bit lost to the history books.

The focus of the event was a singular piece of paper, one that had gathered more than 150 people together.

They met on the edge of the Manawat Awa at Raukawakawa Pa under the shining sun as it was stated on the paper of focus.

They met to agree to a momentous sale - a 250,000 acre block of land which Rangitne, led by paramount chief Te Hirawanui Kaimokopuna agreed to sell to the Crown on July 23, 1864.

READ MORE:* Wet weather delays Nelson Wasp Wipeout * Manawat iwi dispossessed after land confiscation* Manawat tamariki embrace Rangitne's past and present

Over the next few months you will increasingly see the name Te Hirawanui in relation to the local government elections.

The new Mori ward is called Te Pao Ward, which will have two councillors, and the general ward is called Te Hirawanui Ward, which will have 13 councillors.

When we had the idea to write a Back Issues instalment for July 23, we expected to spend the length of this feature on the July 23 sale of the Te Ahu a Turanga block. As part of our research, we visited Archives New Zealand to view the original deed of sale.

While we had already viewed a digitised version of the deed online, numerous times, we wanted to see the real thing for ourselves, in person, with our own eyes, and not mediated through a screen.

What happened at the archive changed our minds on what to write next.

Warren

After requesting to view the deed, I was told there would be a 20-minute wait.

During that time I started to really anticipate the arrival of this pivotal document. I started to imagine how big it might be, what the paper might be like and whether it was intact. Would I need to wear gloves? Would it be fragile?

I could see that the folder was quite small when we were called to the retrievals' desk, and once we were in the reading room area, I could see that the deed was folded in four.

Supplied

Warren Warbrick views the Te Ahu a Turanga deed of sale (1864) for the first time at Archives New Zealand.

I was initially mesmerised by the ink work, the artistry of the map of Te Ahu a Turanga and the colours seemed unfaded after all this time. But as I unfolded the document, I found myself immediately scanning and searching for familiar names.

The first two names topping the long list of signatures were Hoani Meihana Te Rangiotu and Te Hirawanui Kaimokopuna.

About 25 years earlier Hoani Meihana had converted to Anglicanism, later becoming a lay reader. As a consequence, he was able to read and write in both te reo Mori and English. On the deed, his was a delicate and careful signature.

Supplied

Gottfried Laudauer's portrait of Hoani Meihana Te Rangiotu, 1884.

Te Hirawanui on the other hand had chosen to mark the deed with an X between his first and last names, as did most on the list.

Hoani Meihana Te Rangiotu is my Great-Great-Great-Grandfather. There is a magnificent painting of Hoani Meihana within iwi ownership, I have seen many photocopies of his handwritten letters, and I know a good deal about him, but even so, to see his own signature on this document it was mind-bending.

I felt compelled to hongi the deed.

Supplied

Hare Rakena Te Awe Awe circa 1900.

Hare Rakena Te Awe Awe also marked the deed with an X. My great-great-grandfather became a Rangitne chief, after the death of his brother of Te Peeti Te Awe Awe.

Hare Rakena had stood at Raukawakawa Pa in 1864, just like I was in that moment in the reading room of the Government archives in Wellington, looking at the deed, as he would have.

I would like to think that other descendants of the signatories who get to meet this deed will have the same experience in connecting so closely with our ancestors.

Virginia

I grew up in Wellington. My first serious job out of Victoria University of Wellington was at The Science Centre & Manawat Museum Te Whare Pupuri Taonga o Manawat, in the exhibitions team.

Some of the first exhibitions I worked on included the Clarice Cliff show, Liquid Jade The Story of Tea, With This Ring a weddings/marriage exhibition (no one seemed to be able to decide or agree) and a series of community exhibitions.

I remember NiHao (Chinese community), Afio Mai (Samoan community), Swagatam (Indian community), Harambee (peoples of the African continent) and Great Scot (Scottish community).

Most of these exhibitions included a mix of objects from community members and from the museums own collection, along with photos and family stories of participants from each community.

Supplied

Winifred plays women's hockey circa 1920.

During the first few weeks of my starting work in Palmerston North, my dad came to visit from Wellington.

He told me that his mother, Winifred Mardon, had grown up in Palmerston North. Over the next few years, I came to learn more about the Mardon family.

They were flaxmillers who had relocated from Christchurch to Manawat on The Queen of the South in 1895.

They set up as the Mardon Bros Flaxmill, near Rangiotu, and my Nana was born there in 1905. She was later a foundation student at Palmerston North Girls High School, when the family lived in Joseph St.

Supplied

The February 1 1917 Manawat Times reports: "Wilkie Mardon took a keen interest in sport, particularly in hockey and football, where his sportsmanlike conduct was much appreciated." Wilkie stands in the back row, fifth from the left as a member of the three-time Manawat junior championship-winning hockey team.

One of Nanas older brothers was Charles Wilkie Mardon. In 1917, the Manawat Times reported, Upon the outbreak of war, Trooper Mardon was one of the first to enlist, and went to Samoa, with the Palmerston section of the 1st Expeditionary Force.

Wilkie had been employed by the Hopwood Hardware Company at the time. He later joined the Seventh Reinforcements, based in Egypt. But, Wilkie never returned home as he died of illness in Alexandria, in 1917.

It then occurred to me that Wilkie might be named on the War Memorial in the centre of Te Marae o Hine / The Square.

As I stood in front of that monument, seeing his name for the first time, I realised his grieving parents, my great-grandparents, Charles and Lucy, would have stood in the same spot, from its unveiling in 1926, and for years and decades to come, reflecting on his name and his short life.

Dad had told me of a glass-fronted oak cabinet in the Joseph St family home. For decades, the cabinet held wooden and tapa tourist items that Wilkie had brought home from Samoa in 1914, now bound up in grief. Dad wondered if they had since been donated to a museum.

Supplied

The Mardon Bros. Flaxmill, a one-stripper mill located on the bank of the Manawat River near Rangiotu.

The next day I asked Te Manawa collection manager Cindy Lilburn if they had Mardon items in the database. What took my breath away was the realisation I had already handled some of Wilkies gifts, for the Afio Mai, Samoan community exhibition.

On this anniversary day, we encourage you to consider how to connect to your recent (or distant) ancestors in Palmerston North. Whether that is through place a spot, a gaze; or through images visit the Manawat Heritage website for inspiration; or through objects such as those held at Te Manawa Museum.

Or consider uploading photos or donating objects for your descendants to connect with you in the future. Our local storehouses of memory play such a vital role in our community and we welcome Susanna Shadbolt back to the city as she becomes the leader of Te Manawa Museum on Monday.

Mauri ora!

Warren and Virginia Warbrick work with local histories and experiences as THEN Histories of Pmutana. Together they are the current Local Historian of the Year.

See original here:

Back Issues: Connecting with the past via historical objects - Stuff