{"id":63,"date":"2018-09-11T07:22:28","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T07:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/49.50.249.40\/~seriousc\/eke\/?page_id=63"},"modified":"2022-09-23T22:21:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T10:21:42","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/?page_id=63","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With memories, documents and landmarks in the region dating back before European settlement, there are plenty of sites of interest for the History Buff to enjoy. While our passionate volunteers help collect the stories and images to share here, why not check out our Local Maori & Local Settler information below or talk to one of the helpful Information Centre <\/a>Volunteers who can point you in the direction of the sites that are meaningful to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Old Railway Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Local Maori History<\/a> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eke = to embark upon, run aground<\/em>. T\u0101huna = gravel bank, boulders or stones<\/em>. Eket\u0101huna is part of the district known as Te Taperenui a Whatonga (the great playground of Whatonga).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last known village (or camping ground, as some people say) was Te\n Waiwaka at the southern end of Eket\u0101huna. It was from there that the \npeople travelled on to southern Wairarapa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And from there to Ihuraua to join with the, then, main highway from Wairarapa to Heretaunga, Mahia and Nukutaurua, the landing place of Kurahaupo and Takitimu canoes. From Ihuraua the people could get to Te Oreore and then to the lakes and Cape Palliser (Matakitaki-a Kupe) and the eastern and southern coastal areas by the river Ruamahanga.<\/p>\n\n\n

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From Ihuraura they could go to Patitapu Nga Puka, Waitawhiti then \neast to Heretaunga or down to the Alfredton area (Maroa) and to the \nthree or four pa, one of these being Te Hoi Tangihia, the name of the \nMaroa stream, now in it\u2019s new version, Te Hoe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Te Hoi Tangiha they could travel to Tiraumea and Rongomai, to the Kainga of Tu-tae-kara and Te Hawera, now called Hamua. If they went upstream from there along the Makakahi River they would come to O-tu-kirihau at the northern end of Eket\u0101huna. The area between the old bridge and the Newman Reserve was the best place to gather kakahi (fresh water mussels) right up until the 1970\u2019s and 80\u2019s \u2013 if you could beat the pukeko!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the Makakahi further south from here you would end up again at Te Waiwaka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However the sweetest eels were in the Nga-taka-he River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eket\u0101huna Information Centre <\/a>has more Maori History on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Local Settler History

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In the early 1870\u2019s Sir Julius Vogel initiated a new colonisation scheme to essentially open up the hinterland of the country by clearing the bush and buildings new roads, bridges and rail. And with that would come people and homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1873 European settlers arrived in New Zealand, the majority being \nScandinavian, and they  began working on Sir Vogel\u2019s colonisation \nscheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Community Centre Carving Depicting Settlement History<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the 4th<\/sup> March 1873 the \u201cForfarshire\u201d arrived in the Port of Wellington. After a brief rest at the immigration barracks a group of mostly Swedish made their way over the Rimutakas to Kopuaranga north of Masterton where a camp had been established earlier by the Scandinavians. These people were mostly Danish, Norwegian and some Germans. The living conditions in the temporary camp were extremely crowded, primitive and very unhygienic. But they stayed for the promise of new homes in the Eket\u0101huna Block 35 km\u2019s north. They just had to wait it out until the land had been surveyed.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Forfarshire<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 Photo courtesy of  The White Star & Shaw Savill & Albion Lines<\/em> website<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Once settled they re-named their new home Mellemskov which means “Heart of the Forest”. However by the late 1870s the name had reverted back to the Maori name of Eket\u0101huna which means \u2018to run aground on a sandbank\u2019, so named by the tangata whenua to describe the location where their waka could not travel any further up the Makakahi River, which runs through the township.<\/p>\n\n\n

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16 Bengston Street Eket\u0101huna<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


Visit the Eket\u0101huna Mellemskov Museum<\/a> to find out more about the history of Eket\u0101huna.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Main Street Looking South Before the Earthquake of 1942 – Exact Date Unknown
Bridge and Church Streets also visible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With memories, documents and landmarks in the region dating back before European settlement, there are plenty of sites of interest for the History Buff to enjoy. While our passionate volunteers help collect the stories and images to share here, why not check out our Local Maori & Local Settler information below or talk to one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":254,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-63","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3900,"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions\/3900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eketahuna.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}