On Sunday 22 May, members of both Ōraka Aparima Rūnaka and Waihōpai Rūnaka assembled at Takutai o te Tītī Marae, Ōraka to ceremoniously welcome back ‘He taoka Pou Whenua’ to Murihiku.
The ‘Pou Whenua’ originally belonged to a tipuna who at the time (around 1840s) was chief at Oue. His name was Huruhuru, not to be confused with the tipuna known as Te Huruhuru (originally from Kaiapoi and lived in South Canterbury). Huruhuru had given the ‘Pou Whenua’ to George Valentine Printz as a sign of gratitude for helping to save his life. In dangerous weather Printz had swum out in the ‘boiling surf’ and brought to shore many of the local Māori including Huruhuru, who were struggling in the sea after their canoe had been swamped as it was trying to enter the New River Estuary. At the time Printz was living nearby at Sandy Point.
Huruhuru also gave his daughter’s (Pōkurukuru also known as Margaret Pōkurukuru) hand in marriage to Printz, who over his lifetime had two other partners – Catherine Risetto, the mother of his large family and Matilda Jane Gordon, formerly Howell, a daughter of Capt. John Howell and Catherine Brown, who he did marry. Printz refused to marry Pōkurukuru in a conventional European ceremony and instead married Pōkurukuru at Oue in a native ceremony around the mid to late 1840s.
George Valentine Printz and Margaret Pōkurukuru eventually moved from Oue/Sandy Point out to Aparima and Pahia/Orepuki where they continued to live until they died. Printz had shares in the Longwood Mine and owned land out at Pahia, among other things. Both Printz and Pōkurukuru are buried at the Riverton Cemetery. With the passing of Printz and Pōkurukuru the ‘Pou Whenua’ was passed down from generation to generation. This resulted in it eventually moving away from Aparima, Pahia/Orepuki and to Australia, where it has resided ever since. Up until recently the ‘Pou Whenua’ resided in the hands of Merran Ainslie (a great-grand-daughter of George Valentine Printz).
It was Merran’s wish that the ‘Pou Whenua’ return back to Murihiku once again and after several unsuccessful approaches to have it brought back, finally through the guidance of the Te Kāhui Kaumātua o Ōraka Aparima Rūnaka along with the support of Ōraka Aparima Rūnaka, the ‘Pou Whenua’ was able to be returned and reunited once again with Murihiku.
This was largely due to the efforts of Jodi Cameron. We are hugely indebted to Jodi not only going and meeting with Merran and collecting the ‘Pou Whenua’ but also for accompanying it on its journey home, and delivering it safely back to us at Takutai o Te Tītī Marae.
The name given to this ‘Pou Whenua’ is ‘Te Pou Whenua o Huruhuru‘ – ‘Huruhuru the protector of the land’.
Nō reira, nei rā te mihi maioha ki a Jodi Cameron rāua ko Merran Ainslie, tēnā kōrua, koutou mā anō hoki ki kā whānau nō Waihōpai me Ōraka Aparima. Mauri ora ki a koutou katoa.
Nā Joe Wakefield.
Aunty Jane Davis and Jodi Cameron.
Merran Ainslie.