Views from the bay

HISTORIANS ON THE WATER: Anne McGuire of Uawa-Tolaga Bay and Gisborne man Joe Martin share a passion for history and together present the story of pre-European contact and 1769 encounters to visitors aboard the historic boat Takitimu. Picture by Paul Rickard

A tour around the bay on the vintage pilot boat MV Takitimu often includes a talk for guests by historians Anne McGuire of Uawa-Tolaga Bay and Gisborne man Joe Martin. The pair’s accounts weave together to build a story from two perspectives, reports Mark Peters.

The historians’ histories

Maori and European perspectives broadly make up Anne McGuire and Joe Martin’s stories of early arrivals and encounters on the East Coast. Although the pair entwine the stories together, each comes from a different background.

When Anne studied New Zealand history at university in the 1960s she was lucky enough to have two lecturers who respected the oral tradition and encouraged her to explore Maori history.

“They encouraged me to tell those oral histories passed on by my grandmother,” she says.

As an avid reader, she has broadened her scope even more.

“Cook and his crew kept detailed accounts in their journals. A lot in those journals validates our oral histories.

“But there’s so much information in the Maori Land Court records. If only people knew, they’d write volumes. All the old place names are in surveyors’ field books. It’s all archived now. You’d have to know what you’re looking for.”

Joe’s love of history began with a fascination with ancient Egypt. He excelled in history at school but he was so disgusted with a poor exam result, due to a costly error on his part, he resolved not to pursue the subject at university. Instead, he developed his passion through books and travel.

While his reading was largely Eurocentric, he became interested in the 5000 years of Pacific voyaging. And although he had “some idea” of disastrous first encounters in October, 1769, it was only when he was shown where Te Maro, then Te Rakau, were shot that a bigger story dawned on Joe. He resolved to understand it better.

Anne McGuire

“I tell the first discovery stories. I tell the Maori stories about the beginning in terms of Turanganui a Kiwa and how it came to get the name.”During the sailing around the bay Anne talks about the original, pre-European names of such locations as Tuaheni, Titirangi and Puhi Kaiti, and the story behind them and who lived there.

One significant site that flanks the bay is Te Kuri o Paoa (the dog of Paoa), the headland Lieutenant James Cook named Young Nick’s Head. The Maori name for the landform recalls the story of Paoa, chief of the Horouta voyaging canoe, whose dog went missing and now waits for him as the headland. Kiwa (who the bay was named after) was a navigator on the waka Horouta.

“He must have been great in terms of navigation because the Pacific Ocean is called Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (the big sea of Kiwa).

The Horouta canoe is believed to have reached New Zealand around 100 years before the main fleet of canoes, which arrived around 1350. Horouta landed at various places along the East Coast until it beached at Gisborne.

Anne’s home is Uawa-Tolaga Bay where the Endeavour arrived on October 22, 1769. Of more significance than Cook to Uawa locals was the Ra’iatean navigator/arioi Tupaia.

“We knew quite a lot about him,” says Anne.

She sometimes tells the story of when English navigator Tobias Furneaux anchored at Uawa-Tolaga Bay in 1773, four years after Cook visited the bay.

“People asked ‘where’s Tupaia?’ Furneaux told them he had died on the way to England. They held a tangi for him. Furneaux recorded in phonetic English the funeral lament. We can derive from that the words that were in the song. That was a revelation to me.”

Furneaux’s transcription is yet to be interpreted.

“Our young ones will write our histories,” says Anne.

“We’re telling the young ones ‘listen to the stories. You write the books.’

The excitement of learning our history appeals to her.

“This is about getting out the dual heritage stuff. We can work together and appreciate one another’s stories.”

Joe Martin

“I derive most of my story from the Endeavour journals,” says Joe.

“Up to 20 were written on the Endeavour. They both corroborate each other and at other times mention things the others don’t.”

The disastrous encounters that occurred in early October 1769 are detailed in the journals but study of those encounters, in fact with all of history, needs to made with a neutral view, says Joe.

Some say at least nine people were killed within two days of Cook’s landfall. Joe says up to six people were killed and three were wounded. The Endeavour journals tell who fired what weapon and the type of ammunition they used. Ball fired by a coxswain from a small boat killed Te Maro shortly after Cook’s crew made landfall. During the encounter on the eastern side of the Turanganui River the next day, Te Rakau snatched a short sword from a crew member’s belt. Banks fired his musket “which was loaded with small shot” at Te Rakau who “continued to wave (his prize) over his head”, as Banks later recorded.

Ship surgeon William Monkhouse fired a ball at him and killed him.

“Go back to the primary sources and see what was recorded,” says Joe.

“It is often corroborated by other accounts, from a European perspective, granted. I try to be accurate. You don’t gild the lily but don’t crank it up in the other direction either.”

Presentism — a tendency to interpret past events in terms of present day morals and norms — also muddies history.

“Cook wasn’t behind the standards of his time. He was a man of his time, but occasionally what he wrote and did, I think, were ahead of his time.”

When Cook heard 10 crew members of the Adventure — one of two ships to sail in 1773 on the Yorkshire mariner’s second voyage — had been killed and eaten at Charlotte Sound he later recorded: “I will reflect no more on this melancholy affair until I have heard more about it. I must however observe in favour of the

New Zealanders that I have always found them of a Brave, Noble, Open and benevolent disposition, but they are a people that will never put up with an insult if they have an opportunity to resent it.”

“These are the words of a wise and fair-minded man,” says Joe.

“He doesn’t come back to exact vengeance.”

An awakening among historians to look through both lenses means history books are becoming more enlightened, he says.

“I’ve often thought a good book could be called October 1769. You have the disastrous meeting here in Turanganui a Kiwa but you balance the story with meetings at Uawa and Anaura Bay.”

For Joe, the events of October 1769 are equal to the Waitangi story in terms of New Zealand’s foundation stories.

“Maybe people don’t like it because people were killed, but it is a foundation story of our nation. It concern me people don’t know it.”

Place-based stories bring that history to life, he says.

“Not only will people go to Waitangi to learn their story, they’ll come here.

“History is good for the soul.”

Anne McGuire

“I tell the first discovery stories. I tell the Maori stories from the beginning in terms of Turanganui a Kiwa and how it came to get the name.”

During the sailing around the bay Anne talks about the original, pre-European names of such locations as Tuaheni, Titirangi and Puhi Kaiti, and the stories behind them and who lived there.

One significant site that flanks the bay is Te Kuri o Paoa (the dog of Paoa), the headland Lieutenant James Cook named Young Nick’s Head. The Maori name for the landform recalls the story of Paoa, chief of the Horouta voyaging canoe, whose dog went missing and now waits for him as the headland. Kiwa (who the bay was named after) was a navigator on the waka Horouta.

“He must have been great in terms of navigation because the Pacific Ocean is called Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (the big sea of Kiwa).”

The Horouta canoe is believed to have reached New Zealand around 100 years before the main fleet of canoes, which arrived around 1350. Horouta landed at various places along the East Coast until it beached at Gisborne.

Anne’s home is Uawa-Tolaga Bay where the Endeavour arrived on October 22, 1769. Of more significance than Cook to Uawa locals was the Ra’iatean navigator/arioi Tupaia.

“We knew quite a lot about him,” says Anne.

She sometimes tells the story of when English navigator Tobias Furneaux anchored at Uawa-Tolaga Bay in 1773, four years after Cook visited the bay.

“People asked ‘where’s Tupaia?’ Furneaux told them he had died on the way to England. They held a tangi for him. Furneaux recorded the funeral lament phonetically. We can derive these facts from the words that were in the song. That was a revelation to me.”

Furneaux’s transcript is yet to be interpreted — which begs the question, will Anne ever write a book?

“Our young ones will write our histories,” says Anne.

“We’re telling the young ones ‘listen to the stories. You write the books’.”

The excitement of learning our history appeals to her.

“I share our history because it is at the heart of what it is to build a dual heritage. We can work together when we appreciate one another’s stories.”

Joe Martin

“I derive most of my story from the Endeavour journals,” says Joe.

“Up to 20 were written on the Endeavour. They both corroborate each other and at other times mention things the others don’t.”

The disastrous encounters that occurred in early October 1769 are detailed in the journals.

Some now say at least nine people were killed within two days of Cook’s landfall. Others say up to six people were killed and three were wounded.

Ball fired by a coxswain from a small boat killed Te Maro shortly after Cook’s crew made landfall.

During the encounter on the eastern side of the Turanganui River the next day, Te Rakau was fired upon by Banks using his musket “which was loaded with small shot”, and eventually killed by the ship surgeon William Monkhouse who fired a ball at him.

Musket shot, such that which Tupaia fired at “two men low down upon their legs” was intended only to wound. It was meant as a means of staying further aggression.

Only one of the muskets between the marines and scientists with Cook that morning was loaded with ball, records Banks.

“My approach is to go back to the primary sources and see what was recorded,” says Joe.

“It is often corroborated by other accounts — from a European perspective, granted. I try to be accurate. You don’t gild the lily, but don’t crank it up in the other direction either.”

What we are seeing is an awakening among historians to look through both lenses, which means history books, and therefore our understanding of history, is becoming more enlightened, he says.

Understandably, Cook’s enduring presence in Turanga is one some people continue to grapple with. But Joe says we should not interpret past events in terms of present-day morals and norms.

“A study of these encounters, in fact with all history, needs to be made with a neutral view,” he says.

You have the disastrous meeting here in Turanganui a Kiwa but then the peaceful meetings at Uawa and Anaura Bay.

“Cook wasn’t behind the standards of his time. He was a man of his time, but occasionally what he wrote and did, I think, were ahead of his time.”

When Cook heard 10 crew members of the Adventure — one of two ships to sail in 1773 on the Yorkshire mariner’s second voyage — had been killed and eaten at Charlotte Sound he later recorded: “I will reflect no more on this melancholy affair until I have heard more about it. I must however observe in favour of the

New Zealanders that I have always found them of a brave, noble, open and benevolent disposition, but they are a people that will never put up with an insult if they have an opportunity to resent it.”

“To me these are the words of a wise and fair-minded man,” says Joe.

“He doesn’t come back to exact vengeance.”

For Joe, the events of October 1769 are equal to the Waitangi story in terms of New Zealand’s foundation stories.

“It’s hard to hear that people were killed, but it is a foundation story of our nation. It concerns me people don’t know it.

“Every person in Gisborne should understand the nature of our first meetings, as should every New Zealander.”

Anne and Joe believe that place-based telling of all our stories brings our history to life.

“Not only will people go to Waitangi to learn their story, they’ll come here, back to where it all started 71 years earlier,” says Joe.

“History is good for the soul.”