Behind bars

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WORDS: VENETIA SHERSON • IMAGERY: MIKE HEYDON

The stories – both gripping and macabre – contained within the walls of the former Napier Prison continue to be preserved and told by its kaitiaki

Within the formidable 5.5-metre sandstone wall fronting Napier Prison are carved pieces of art – tiny and intricate. One is a winged cross; others include a small boat, half a horse’s head, a dolphin, and miniature stonemasonry tools.

Some artworks incorporate tiny fragments of bone and fossilised shells, adding a mosaic texture. There are initials too, recording for posterity the craftsmanship of the prisoners who built the wall. More than 115 years later, the wall remains a testament to their skills as stonemasons, but the artistry within it also stands in deep contrast to the grim scenes that took place inside.

The contrast hints at the breadth and depth of history held within the bounds of the former prison, which has recently been recognised as a Category 1 historic place. And for almost two decades, sharing its stories has been the passion of a couple dedicated to its kaitiaki.

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“Its special aesthetic qualities and completeness, authenticity and integrity make it one of our key heritage sites”

The former prison is sited on Bluff Hill/Hukarere, at the northeastern end of Napier Hill/Mataruahou high above the bay overlooking Napier/Ahuriri and the wider expanse of Hawke’s Bay/Te Matau-a-Māui. It is a site of cultural, historical and spiritual significance to Māori; the place where tohunga once observed the stars and established times for fishing, and for planting and harvesting, especially kūmara.

It was also the site of Tūhinapō, the most sacred spot in the district where the first fruits of the seasons were offered to the gods. Archaeological records indicate pā sites, Māori terracing and midden deposits on the steep surrounding slopes.

The area appealed to early European settlers for very different reasons, however. A new prison was needed to replace the existing primitive lock-up in the township, from which prisoners reportedly came and went at will.

Hukarere, which had been part of the Crown purchase of the Ahuriri block in 1851, was deemed ideal, being atop a precipitous hill on the outskirts of the town.

From 1853 the newly formed provinces became responsible for prison administration, and in 1861 Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council set aside £800 for the new prison. The building – designed initially to accommodate 14 prisoners, a jailer and police – was gazetted in June 1862. A further wing was built the following year, and in 1869 a lunatic asylum was added to separate the prisoners and the mentally ill who had previously cohabited.

The prison remained functional until late 1993. The last 56 inmates and 19 staff transferred to Mangaroa Prison (now Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison), south of Hastings. That could have been the end of its chapter in modern history except for the interest of two people.

When Toro and Marion Waaka first set eyes on the prison in 2001, ivy was growing through the roof and tumbleweed was clogging up the courtyards.

“It was like The Day of the Triffids,” Marion says.

“Opposing gangs met there on alternate nights, homeless people slept in the cells, and there was drug paraphernalia strewn about.”

The couple wasn’t daunted. Marion, an adventurous Scot who moved to New Zealand as a 19-year-old with just £35 in her pocket, has a fascination with stories

1 The Royal Coat of

Arms above the main prison entrance.

2 Part of the 5.5-metre sandstone wall built by prisoners, of whom some were stonemasons.

3 A corridor flanked by cells.

hapū: sub-tribes kaitiaki: guardians/ guardianship kaumātua: elder tohunga: priests

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1 Marion Waaka saw the derelict prison as an opportunity to preserve the stories of the past.

2 One of the prison courtyards.

3 Prison tours are popular with visitors.

4 A typical cell on the prison’s north wing. The barred windows let in very little light.

from the past. Toro Waaka of Ngāti Pāhauwera, a confederation of hapū with interests in northern Hawke’s Bay, is a past director of NZ Māori Tourism and has been awarded an MNZM (Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit) for services to Māori across a range of initiatives, including tourism.

The couple saw the prison as a potential tourism site, and also a way to preserve the stories of those who were incarcerated and those who worked there. In 2002 they leased the property, first as backpackers’ accommodation and now as a prison tour operation in which visitors can learn about what was widely described in 1909 as “New Zealand’s worst prison”. The stories are both gripping and macabre.

The listing of the Category 1 heritage site was recently reviewed by Joanna Barnes-Wylie, Senior Heritage Advisor for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, who notes the prison has outstanding significance for its reflection of New Zealand’s 19thcentury penal system and treatment of mental illness.

“Its special aesthetic qualities and completeness, authenticity and integrity make it one of our key heritage sites,” she says.

The grimness of that penal system is apparent as soon as visitors walk through the imposing kauri prison door, now stained black. Above it is painted the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, reportedly completed in anticipation of a royal visit in 1906 that did not eventuate.

Immediately inside the gate is ‘The Pound’, in which a prisoner could stay in solitary confinement for up to two weeks with only a Bible for company. The tiny window with a decorative grille admits minimal light. Names have been etched into the walls.

“It gets worse,” says Marion, pointing to a small cave carved from rock and now filled with rubble from a recent earthquake. “Prisoners could be kept here for three days on a diet of bread and water.”

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The cells, measuring 2.7 metres by 1.9 metres, in which prisoners double-bunked, bear witness to prisoners’ fury and frustration. On one wall are marks from toothpaste having being spat on the walls; on another a prisoner has notched up his sentence in years; on others are racist graffiti and ‘intel’ on other prisoners.

There were many suicides, unsurprisingly, since the cells for those at risk contain protruding nails, accessible light fittings, external wiring and wire-wove beds. The accommodation for female prisoners in an adjoining wing was no better.

Four people were hanged at the prison. One was Pai Mārire leader Kereopa Te Rau, who was convicted of the murder of German missionary Carl Völkner in 1872 and pardoned posthumously in 2014 as part of the settlement of the Ngāti Rangiwehiwehi Treaty of Waitangi claim.

Another was Rowland Herbert Edwards, a railway employee convicted of murdering his wife and four children. He is buried in the prison yard, along with two others.

The last two executions took place in 1889. They were 28-year-old Haira Te Piri for the murders of storekeeper Frank Pook, and his wife and child, and Makoare Wata for the murder of shepherd Robert Gollan. One of the hangmen was Irishman Tom Long, himself a repeat offender.

In more recent history, some of New Zealand’s most infamous convicted criminals spent time in the prison, among them Jules Mikus, convicted of the murder of Teresa Cormack; ‘Mr Big’ Terry Clark, head of the Mr Asia drug syndicate; and recidivist prison escapee George Wilder.

Marion says former prisoners and their relatives still visit. One, who spent 15 years inside, tried to souvenir the bed he had slept in.

She and her staff are respectful of the events, and deaths, that took place there. Napier kaumātua, the late John Hohepa, blessed the building when the couple leased it 20 years ago.

“We think of ourselves as kaitiaki,” says Marion, “preserving the building as it was, rather than coming along and turning it into a winery.”

To see more of the former Napier Prison, view our video story here: www.youtube.com /HeritageNewZealand PouhereTaonga