HERITAGE

The story of the Gilbert family is closely bound with the history of Te Pātakaa-Rākaihautū (Banks Peninsula).

Runaway apprentice William Gilbert first came to New Zealand aboard an American whaler in 1835. On a return visit in 1838, William had a fierce dispute with the captain after he sent a miscreant apprentice foretop in freezing conditions. He and a fellow crewman seized three ancient pistols from the captain’s cabin and took charge of the vessel, taking it to Kōputai (Port Chalmers), where they deserted the vessel. The pair took refuge at Puketeraki, near Karitāne, where William met and fell in love with Heni Te Marino (Ngāti Irakehu, Ngāi Tahu) of Banks Peninsula. The daughter of Te Heu and Te Kiore Marino, according to whānau whakapapa she was also a close relation of Tangatahara, the defender of Ōnawe pā against Te Rauparaha. Heni had fled south during the Ngāti Toa raids, sent by her parents into the care of her uncle, the great Southern Chief Tūhawaiki.

Late in 1839, without consulting Tūhawaiki, who seemingly disapproved, William took Heni north to the Rakaia in his commandeered whaleboat. The couple then walked for several days to Peraki whaling station on Banks Peninsula, where William obtained work as a carpenter. When Tūhawaiki visited Peraki in November, the station log noted how ‘carpenter stow’d away in the bush’ and stayed hidden until the southern chief departed two days later.

The growing Gilbert family moved around the Peninsula before settling in Okains Bay in 1853 and establishing themselves as boatbuilders. The couple were married according to Pākehā tradition at Pigeon Bay in 1854. Heni was reportedly “a kind and loving soul”. One of her thirteen children, Robert, recalled being carried as a baby in a shawl tied to his mother’s back over the rough, unformed tracks of the Peninsula. According to local legend, Heni also carried her husband William over the hill to Wairewa (Little River) to seek medical aid when he was gravely ill. She also worked as a housekeeper and minder to the younger children of J.E. Thacker, the great-grandfather of the late Murray Thacker who founded the Okains Bay Museum.

Heni passed away in 1888, aged 68, and William in 1895, believed to be 95. They are buried in the Okains Bay Cemetery and today have an estimated 5,000 descendants.

An exquisite hand-coloured photograph of Heni was gifted into the care of the Okains Bay Museum by her great-great-grandson, the late Orlan Te Rua Gilbert (1904–1974) of Little Akaloa, who also carved the frame.

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