Whaling at Ipipiri

Opunga Bay at Moturua Island was, for a brief time,

1. Pearl diver Himi Te Nāna.
the site of shore-based whale processing by the New
Zealand Whaling Company – a largely Norwegian
whaling operation.
In mid-1912 it was announced that the company’s
whaling steamers Whangarei and Whangaroa would
be sent to Ipipiri to search for Humpback whales in
northern waters between Rākaumangamanga and
the North Cape.
The ships arrived in Ipipiri in July 1912, and the
company based itself in Russell. A photograph taken
by Henry Winkelmann in 1912, however, shows
buildings associated with a shore-based whaling
facility at Opunga Bay on Moturua Island.
2. Kiritapu Te Tai, who married Himi 3. A Thursday Island pearl diver in full ‘dress’
Te Nāna. – including helmet and suit connected to It was reported at the time that the company
an air-pump. invested heavily in boats for the Bay of Islands
venture, and employed about 50 hands – a number

The Thursday Island Pearl Divers from of them Māori from the area according to whānau
history. The venture was not a success, however,
and by the end of the year the company’s factory
Rāwhiti and Moturua Island ship, Rakiura, sailed to Ipipiri where it dismantled
the “shore factory” – likely to be the one depicted
In the late 1870s, a number of gruelling – it was said that at Opunga Bay – with a view to re-constructing it in
young Māori from Hauai Bay most pearl divers had to stop Australia.
near Rāwhiti and Moturua after 10 years because of
Island left for Thursday Island the heavy toll diving took on
in the Torres Strait – between their physical well being.
Australia and Papua New Names of some of the
Guinea – to take advantage Māori pearl divers recorded
of an emerging business by authorities at Thursday
opportunity. Island included Toki Rangi,
The enterprising young men George Mongia, Henry Allen,
were part of a ‘pearl rush’ James Joyce, Thomas Samuel 5.
sparked by growing demand Joyce, William Wiapo,
5. The New Zealand Whaling Company on-shore
for pearl shell. Together Wiremu Paaka; Himi Te Nāna,
operation at Opunga Bay, photographed in 1912.
with other young men from Matutaera Rewha, Peter
around the Pacific, these Rewha and Honi Taurau.
The New Zealand Whaling Company wasn’t the
rangatahi set out to make Wiremu Paaka settled in only whaling business in the area however. Whaling
their fortunes working as Torres Strait with his wife at Whangamumu had been carried out from about
pearl divers in the dangerous Ria, the sister of Matutaera 1844. This grew in 1893 when George, William and
waters of Torres Strait, and in 4. Rewha. The two lived on Herbert Cook started operating from Whangamumu
Western Australia. Thursday Island for about Harbour, establishing a factory there in 1910. Many
4. Wiremu Paaka (seated left) with Tommy Lafoo a
Until the mid-1870s shell Thursday Islander also seated. When the whanau
15 years, and had a number Maori from Rāwhiti worked as harpooners or
was plentiful and could were leaving Thursday Island he swam after of children there. Although boatmen including Himi Te Nāna.
be harvested by people in them to go with them. Wiremu turned the boat their business prospered, a
Whaling declined in the 1930s, however, and the
shallow waters. As that around and picked him up and brought him back downturn in the industry in
to Hauai. He is buried at Te Araka urupa amongst the 1890s and the primitive
Whangamumu station finally closed down after the
resource disappeared,
however, it became necessary the Paarka/Rewha/Clendon whanau. conditions they were living Niagara was sunk in 1940 by a German mine. The
oil slick that was left after the sinking caused the
for people to dive in deeper waters using the ‘dress’ in – combined with homesickness – resulted in their
Humpbacks to avoid their old migratory route. As a
– a helmet, suit and air-pump. Dress diving was return to New Zealand sometime in 1900-1902.
result, whaling in the area ended, once and for all.
dangerous and required specialist skills – skills that Many divers like Wiremu Paaka prospered during
the young men from Rāwhiti and Moturua Island their time working in the Strait, however, and
had in abundance. brought back enough money to build fine houses
Some of the rangatahi made their way to Thursday in Rāwhiti. Memories of the families’ time in Torres
Island by commercial passenger ships; others sailed Strait are also represented in taonga like pearls set
over themselves in boats that they owned, and in rings which have been passed down to family
which had been built in New Zealand as pearling members.
luggers. One of these was the Rawhiti named after In time the pearl bonanza came to an end, with
the Bay of Islands settlement, and which was owned divers from the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia
by three Māori divers. willing to work for lower wages than their Māori
Almost all Māori working on Thursday Island were counterparts. By the early 1900s virtually all of the
recorded as coming from Rawhiti and Moturua Māori pearl divers had returned home to Hauai Bay
Island. The divers soon earned a reputation for their and Moturua Island in Ipipiri.
skills and exceptional work ethic in a job that was

Kaitiakitanga – Guardianship
When Polynesian explorers and settlers arrived at imagine today.
Ipipiri about 800 years ago, Moturua Island would They would have marveled at the paradise they had 7. 8.
have been very different from what it is today. discovered.
6. Regenerating bush on Moturua Island
Untouched by humans, the island would have been The impact of deforestation and other human
covered in native forest reaching right to the water’s 7. Tīeke/North Island Saddleback
activity and the introduction of plant and animal
edge. The forests and coastlines would have been 8. Kākāriki/Red-crowned parakeet
pests over the centuries has badly affected the
teeming with birdlife, and the first arrivals greeted ecology of Moturua Island and the wider Ipipiri 9. Bay of Islands - Common Dolphins
by a chorus of birdsong we probably find difficult to coastal area – though work is underway by Project
their original state.
Island Song and others to
6. As the first arrivals to Moturua Island must have
restore its biodiversity.
felt a sense of awe at what they had found, that
Populations of forest birds
same legacy of a lush and nurturing ngahere is
and seabirds, who spread tree
being recreated for our tamariki and mokopuna to
seeds and fertilise plants with
experience, learn and cherish.
their droppings, are being
nurtured. This combined 9.
with widespread replanting
of native plants and trees
– and the realisation of the
close, symbiotic relationship
between birds, plants and
vertebrates – is helping to
restore the islands of and the
coastal environs of Ipipiri to
1. Te Kemara and Puatea – parents of Takurua Ahenata who 2. (Sitting Left to right): Miringa Te Nāna, Henry Te Nāna, Ida Maioha (nee Te Nāna). Standing (left to right)
married Ihaka Te Tai Hamiora Maioha, Tautoru Pomare and Fred Rameka.

Fishing, farming and whānau – Moturua Island means home

In the years after Marion du Fresne and Cook’s arrival at Ipipiri, Moturua Island
continued to be central in the lives of many Māori.
Ihaka Hakuene Te Tai lived at Moturua Island for a while in the second half of
the 19th century before moving to Kororāreka. He was the second son of Whai
Hakuene, who was likely to have signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi as Te Tai, Ngāi
Tawake of Ngāpuhi.
Ihaka Te Tai married Ahenata Takurua, the daughter of Te Kemara Tareha of
Waitangi. They had two children, Mita and Kiritapu Te Tai. Kiritapu married
Himi Te Nāna.
In subsequent years, Hamiora Maioha developed an interest in Moturua
Island through Te Kemara descendant, Te Aira (Rewa) Clendon Te Nāna, who
consequently organised a lease for her and her kin to live on the island and farm
it.
From 1923, Hamiora moved with his family to Moturua Island hoping to
improve his income and reduce debt by farming, while also undertaking his
interpreting and other businesses from Rāwhiti which he visited regularly. At
the time, the household consisted of Rewa, Kiritapu, Miringa (Girdie) and Haki
as well as other kin.
The whānau planted and harvested crops, farmed livestock and fished.

4.

Life on Moturua Island

Matuaera Te Nāna Clendon remembers what
life was like growing up on Moturua Island…
“I was number nine out of fourteen children
born to the Te Nāna Clendon whanau at
Otupoho Bay on Moturua Island. Our whānau
farmed and fished there, but my father was
also a historian for Ngāpuhi.
“There was no power on the island. We listened
to weather reports (for fishing purposes) on a
battery-powered radio that was recharged by
a windmill up on the hill. We fished for crays,
snapper and groper to sell, but also to supply
to local marae when there were tangi. We ran
sheep on Moturua, Motukiekie and Okahu.
“Our 30 cows were milked by hand. The cream
was collected by Fullers boat on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays; this became known
as the cream trip that tourists paid to go on.
Fullers also did what was called the pension
3.
boat once a month, that called to collect people
to do their shopping in Kororāreka Russell, for
such staples as flour, sugar and tea.
“We used the horse that we had to pull back the
mānuka that was cut down by axe for firewood
for the kitchen stove. That horse also ploughed
our vegetable garden that was about two acres
in size. I used to hate weeding it – you just got
to the end and the weeds were growing again
back at the beginning. But we all had to help,
on the farm and out fishing. 3.
“We had an orchard too. In summer my mother
bottled about 40 dozen jars of fruit, some of
which was sent to Rāwhiti Marae when there
was a tangi.
“We used a tilly lamp, which burned kerosene
to generate light. All our clothes were washed
once a week by heating water in the copper by
the creek. That was also where we had a bath
tub. The washing dried on the fence and on
bushes.
“When we went to primary school, we were 5.
rowed on a Monday from Otupoho Bay to
Rāwhiti by our eldest brother Jerry, and
collected on a Friday. During the week we
stayed with our grandfather and, after he
died, with another nanny. My parents worked
very hard because they were committed to
educating all of us, eventually at boarding
schools on the mainland.”

3. ‘Darkie’ the horse on Moturua Island with

Charlie Wynyard, Jack August and Rui Sly
4. Henry Clendon and Parani on Moturua Island
5. Matu Clendon droving cattle on horseback on
Moturua Island