TARANAKI FARMING LIFESTYLES
September 2019
S P O T L I G H T O N N E W P LY M O U T H During the intervening time, Dicky Barrett had cemented his favour with the Maori people of Ngamotu, now a known trading post for European ships. He and some former crewmates, both Maori and European (he later recalled the names Akerau, Akers, Tamiriri, Wright, Kopiri, Phillips, and Olive) fought a fierce defence of the Otaka Pa alongside the local tribe against Waikato invaders. During the battle, they were forced to improvise by loading cannon with cutlery, nails and stones, but eventually, the warriors from the north retreated. Unfortunately, Barrett’s fame for his exploits saw him named as a negotiator and translator during the purchase of vast swathes of land in Taranaki. That was hardly ideal, as his contemporaries recognised that he had a very poor grasp of te reo, instead, speaking a ‘pidgin’ creole of whaler slang, English and mispronounced Maori. Thus, as the first of the Plymouth Company’s settlers set sail on the William Bryan in late 1840, and as Frederick Carrington, the company’s chief surveyor arrived in Wellington aboard the London, the scene was set for disputes. In 1841, the pair travelled together to New Plymouth, two men unalike in appearance (Carrington was tall and lean, Barrett described as ‘all over round’) and background, and even in their approach to the new settlement. However, definitely of one mind. Carrington saw something beyond the surface of the land, however. His scientific eye was drawn by the rich
ironsands of Taranaki, and the potential of these deposits to help fuel the Victorian age’s desire for iron and steel. He even travelled to the Great Exhibition in London, in 1851 to showcase the qualities of the Taranaki sands. At a technical festival where Colt displayed the first modern pistols, Matthew Brady took some of the first-ever photographs, and Frederick Blakewell presented a primitive form of the fax machine, Carrington’s idea to smelt good iron from the sands in a far off colony was somewhat overshadowed. However, his skills at mapping and in solving mining issues won him a medal of commendation, and he enjoyed royal favour by gifting a selection of Maori artefacts to the Crown. By 1857 he was back in New Zealand, now the official government engineering surveyor for Taranaki. In the interim, Barrett, despite being recorded by many sources as an abysmal translator (the 1843 Land Commission hearing testified that, on being tested, he “turned a 1,600word document, written in English, into 115 meaningless Maori ones”) enjoyed the favour of the Wakefields — up to a point. He even became for a time, unofficial harbour master of New Plymouth. However, the ‘point’ came when his bungled translations led to outright hostilities between the settlers and local Maori people, who had not understood Barrett’s attempted purchase of a large tract of Taranaki. He was blamed by Governor FitzRoy and
15
One of the earliest images of the New Plymouth settlement, as the New Zealand Company sent colonists to fulfil Carrington’s vision
the settlers too, dying in political exile, though with a flourish of showmanship and mystery, as he had lived. Perhaps he succumbed to a heart attack, as one story has it. Another has him dying from wounds suffered in a battle with an angry whale off the Taranaki coast. His name lives on in two reefs, a lagoon, and many parks and streets in New Plymouth. Alternately, Carrington did become master of the town’s harbour, laying the first stone of the breakwater with tools made from the ironsand he had such hopes for. Forty years had passed since
Any Shape Any Size Anywhere!
he first surveyed the town, and now it was coming of age. As superintendent of the region, it was his pleasure to open Pukekura Park botanical gardens and to watch the settlement he had planned in his mind become a place of Victorian-era architecture and values. Carrington lived through until 1901, passing on as the Victorian age came to a close. He is remembered in the name of one of the most important roads in New Plymouth, and a recently erected statue of him, staring through the eyepiece of his theodolite, celebrates him as the ‘father’ of the town.
• Crash repairs • Rust repairs • WOF repairs • Rust proofing • Painting • Restoration work • Chassis straightening We work for all insurance companies. All makes and models. All work fully guaranteed.
41 Port View Crescent, Spotswood, New Plymouth 06 751 1456 • riombw@xtra.co.nz www.riomotorbodyworks.co.nz
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNING DESIGN TEAM
...each MAYFAIR POOL is uniquely yours...Your dream come true. FREE ON SITE ADVICE & QUOTATION
Over 30 years experience, producing over 10,000 individually designed pools. SPECIALISTS IN FREE FORM FIBREGLASS POOL;
Design, construction, installation and repair of fibreglass & concrete pools. Home Pools • Commercial Pools • Motel Pools • School Pools • Indoor Pools • Lap Pools • Or any type of Pool!
TARANAKI POOL CENTRE
RENOVATING & NEED STORAGE? Hiring a Wolf Lock container is the ideal storage solution.
0800 629 324
CALL DON & AARON HINTON Ph/Fax 06 752 7312 | A/HRS AARON HINTON Ph 027 652 7312 PO Box 5024 New Plymouth | adhinton61@gmail.com | www.mayfairpools.co.nz
YOU CAN DO ANYTHING IN A ROYAL WOLF
06 920 3901 | ROYALWOLF.CO.NZ
Services provided to the Farming Industry • Septic Tank Cleaning • Drain Cleaning • CCTV (Drain and Pipe Inspection) • Hydro Excavation / Hydro Demolition • High pressure water blasting • Sand blasting and painting
South Taranaki Branch 25 Wallscourt Place, Normanby Ph 06 272 8725 | Fax 06 272 8724 New Plymouth Branch 28 Hudson Road, Bell Block, New Plymouth Ph 06 755 9150 | Fax 06 755 1611