TONGARIRO Skulduggery
TONGARIRO Skulduggery is still selling – over 3 years later…
The last print run of the Tongariro Skulduggery is now selling out at TRM reception. This is you last opportunity for the perfecct gift for the old man on Father’s Day.
Make yourself comfortable – this will need a full pot of tea.
It is remarkable that after three years since its first publication, this “mockumentary” is still in demand. i.e. Last week a resident bought four copies for his Christmas presents…
It is all to do with the entertaining evil plot… It is all true, except where I lied… We still get asked to sort the fiction from the facts.
We can now reveal TRM’s sneaky sales strategy – many guests start reading it during their stay and then have to buy a copy to solve the DNA plot, or they can’t sleep.
Following TRM’s facebook post on decoding DNA, commenting on where the plot originated from and the remarkable coincidence of how the Cheddar Man was traced back 200 generations later to find a living match living within one mile of the cave, SWMBO promised inquisitive readers that we would try to explain it further. To partly answer their questions and entertain them for the Christmas holiday, below are the first three (of thirty-six) chapters from the original draft to help explain the intriguing basis of TRM’s DNA plot.
Warning – once you have read this you might not be able to resist buying a copy…
Chapter 1
Discovering the skull
Belt yourself in for an extraordinary fishy story of how the discovery of a skeleton shook the foundations of New Zealand compensation laws to force the Government to negotiate a compromise deal for the redevelopment of Turangi township and Tongariro River to secure their economic future forever…. Amazing!
The main characters, an old man & his son, Sonny Jim, were fishing the Tongariro River when they discovered the remains of a very dead corpse. Not just any old corpse. The deceased had been killed more than 800 years ago when Maori first arrived and conquered the moa hunters to occupy this region. The discovery became the catalyst for revenge with a claim by the pre-Maori civilization deserving belated compensation. But this is getting too far ahead of the full fascinating story.
From their retirement lifestyle base, aka Tongariro River Motel (TRM), in January 2020 the owner and his son, Sonny Jim, went off biking and fishing and hiking, to explore the upper Tongariro River. Their route was above and beyond the formed anglers’ access tracks heading for a more challenging unexplored remote location. The anticipation was heightened by some sneaky trespassing onto the nearby prison farm, which extends for about 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) on both sides of the river. As the main prison nearby at Rangipo had been closed for several years they were confident they would not get disturbed or caught. The only other means of access were by canoe or raft down the river.
The old man was the owner/operator of the Tongariro River Motel where he had retired some fifteen years before, optimistically planning to spend his retirement trout fishing. He was usually known as the “warden” after he had referred to motel guests as “inmates” for many years. Sonny Jim was a 40 years old English lecturer from Auckland. This was on his extended Christmas-New Year holiday catch-up in Turangi. Another father-son bonding trip – any bonding depended on who caught the most trout… Over previous years they had fished together many times all over the region and were as much in exploring mood tramping up river beyond any formed angler access tracks. As long as the warden could keep up with him, they enjoyed the hiking and biking and exploring process as much as the fishing, always hopefully trying to discover new undisturbed ‘virgin’ water that may have been hidden away for one hundred years as part of the prison farm.
With over fifty famous named pools in the lower river, this upper region was relatively unknown and unexplored. This involved a bike trip from the motel across the Koura Street swing bridge and up the Tongariro River Trail for about 5 km to an overgrown hidden side-track above the Duchess Pool. Then, after hiding their bikes in the bush, they followed the prison farm boundary into the mature forest. Much of this land had been converted to forestry plantations so access was relatively easy along the firebreaks elevated high above the Tongariro River TRB (angler jargon for True Right Bank looking down river). After dropping back down to the river level and crossing the Whitikau Stream, a major tributary on the TRB, they easily ‘bush bashed’ through mature native bush, Totaras and Rimus and Birches to the river bank to cast into dark swirly runs and mysterious deep slow pools which promised huge undisturbed wild trout. The scenery was quite simply stunning. They were in a fishy wilderness heaven.
In anticipation of complaints by any concerned ‘greenies’, all trout caught were landed and carefully released from barbless hooks without harm. In other words, it was too far to lug them back the long distance to where the bikes were hidden.
Although these trout were feeding in the river, they were Lake Taupo trout that had entered the river on their spawning migration. They usually take over a month to proceed this far up the river so may have entered the river at the Delta over a month previously in November. Most had already spawned and recovered. Redds – clean gravel spawning beds – could be identified from the elevated track so they made their way down and then waded upriver along the bank, where the contour permitted. Both were nymphing ‘dry & dropper’ rigs with a cicada pattern used as an indicator supporting a small, size 14, bead head pheasant tail below. Fly fishermen are very finicky and need to know these little details.
Then without warning, the river surface texture changed when it thickened from crystal clear to a cloudy colour as a murky pumice loose raft of floating gravel drifted down. Erosion from soft pumice slips is not uncommon along the Tongariro River banks. That signalled the end of sight fishing to spot trout, so the two explorers pushed though the secondary scrubby bush to try to tramp up above the slip. After wading and climbing up the bank for about half an hour they could clearly see eroded steep contour upriver where the bank had caved in to reveal something curious poking out of the hole formed in the slip just above the river flow. Further up river above the slip, the river was clear. The slip occurred in a bypass on the TRB of the main flow where it would never be noticed by rafts of tourists floating down. But it was in the hollow at the base of the slip that revealed something more interesting. There was definitely something unusual exposed.
Sonny Jim arrived first to discover, to his astonishment, an old parched human skeleton had been revealed under an ancient dugout canoe that appeared to have been used to protect the skeleton like a primitive sarcophagus or vault – but without any coffin to secure the body remains. (Sonny Jim immediately remembered reading about similar upturned canoes discovered in nearby Tokaanu being used to protect dead bodies of chiefs or priests, exposed during the excavations of the tailrace for the Tokaanu Power station.) His old man eventually arrived slowly cautiously relying on his wading pole to prevent any chance of slipping down the soft wet pumice gravel into the river.
Only the skull cranium – a grey-brown paper-thin shell – remained fully revealed, balanced finely on the edge about ten feet (confirms the old man was another obsolete fossil who had still not adjusted to metrics) – three metres – above the river level. Other skeletal bones had been buried in a crouched foetal manner. The immediate danger was the skull could easily slide into the river if disturbed. Even at first glance, it was evident the delicate skull was very old and had met a violent death. The back of the skull – the parietal, as he discovered later – had been partly crushed by a blunt weapon or club. It was precariously positioned close to the river edge in the crypt-like exposed space.
The initial reaction was a futile attempt to phone the police but there was no cell phone reception deep in the river gorge. So action man took over. Sonny Jim was instantly morbidly fascinated by their discovery. A surge of unfamiliar adrenaline surged through his body. He felt his pulse quickening. His face became hot with feverish excitement. Without hesitation, even before waiting for his old man to catch up, to save what was left of the cranium from slipping into the river, he carefully lifted it off the skeleton. It easily lifted from what may have once been other facial bones. Then it was gently sensitively wrapped in his wading jacket parka and placed in his creel – his fishing bag. At the same time, he felt he was crossing an imaginary threshold from his world into the ancient spirit world. The old man was more concerned just keeping his balance while worrying whether they should cross themselves to keep any spooky spirits at bay.
Afterward, even before wading out, both reported they experienced strange feelings, which could only have come from unfamiliar spiritual vibes caused by their meddling. Scary stuff. Sonny Jim recounted from somewhere deep down in his memory bank some Maori protocol to gently brush any human bones with a fresh green leaf before touching them, but it was too late. There was no green vegetation within reach as it was all buried under the slip. Both experienced an uneasy feeling that any remaining spirits would be upset, but they could not leave the exposed skull in such a precarious position. If only they had wiped it with a green branch. It may have prevented the chain of events to follow, but nobody could ever have anticipated what they had just initiated.
On their return they confessed their most memorable sensation was from the moment Sonny Jim touched the skull, the surrounding gorge darkened and the monotonous hum and buzzing of cicadas in the bush went deathly quiet. It was spooky. Quite remarkable. Or did their memories just imagine that to add more drama to their experience which was to be subject to intense questioning and re-examined many times? Any fishing or exploring for the rest of the day was forgotten. Playing at archaeologists became more interesting. Little did they realise, that decision to retrieve the skull would be like winning lotto powerball several times over to change Sonny Jim’s life, to become his ‘Indiana Jones’ moment.
They could just discern a hollowed pointed end of what appeared to be the remains of a dug-out canoe with cobwebs suspended like stalactites, as the rest was buried in the loose pumice. Regretfully, they were so nervous and hyped simultaneously, they completely overlooked the opportunity to take any cell phone photo images of the shallow exposed hollow crypt.
In the circumstances, they decided to return immediately to Turangi taking the remains of the skull as evidence of their unexpected find. They returned on much the same winding route marking their new track by breaking branches in case they had to find it again. Eventually, after climbing the bank and hill beyond to recross the Whitikau Stream again they reached the forestry track and firebreak about two hours from the location of the slip. About one hour later they biked back along the Tongariro River Trail to TRM, anxious to examine and report their unusual “catch” of the day.
A call to the local police immediately followed and an inquisitive young duty constable called at the motel soon after to proceed with the first of many questions. Her first concern was asking why the police were not informed earlier. She was naturally concerned that picking up human bones would violate every tenet of legal evidence – her police training suggested the procedure needed for a possible murder victim. The lack of any cell phone coverage in the river gorge was accepted. She hesitated to take the remains of the skull shell back to their police station as Sonny Jim advised of his intention to investigate the age through radiocarbon dating with independent experts.
The truth was he had no idea if that even worked but he had instantly become an enthusiastic amateur archaeologist and forensic anthropologist. He confidently suggested it predated early Maori occupation as indicated by the crouched positioning of the skeleton. Typical university know-all? There was a difficult question and answer session as the anglers were aware they were trespassing on DOC (Department of Corrections) prison farm, all in the name of fishing. They were relieved that was not an issue, at least not with the police anyway. The real difficulty was trying to accurately identify on maps for them to know exactly where on the remote river they discovered the exposed grave. Due to the late hour she left the skull remains at the motel overnight, to return with more uniforms the next day.
After a brief conference the next day Indiana Jones guided the extended party of seven curious officials to investigate the grave site – comprising one local policeman, one Ranger from the Department of Conservation (Taupo Fishery Managers), one Corrections Department (land owners), one from Taupo coroners office representing Heritage New Zealand Archaeologist Department (spooks), plus two from the local Maori tribe, hopefully representing tangata whenua, the tribal rununga iwi authority or local marae (tribal interest). They were loaded up with everything that might be needed such as latex gloves and camera equipment and tools including spades, trowels and scrapers, all prepared for a more thorough archaeological dig to investigate the burial site. For the return trip the police had quicker direct access driving through the prison farm road directly off SH1 to the location.
The warden was excused – still exhausted by all the emotional excitement and recovering from the physical ordeal. Instead, he spent the day more fruitfully googling to explore the procedure to assess the DNA plus carbon dating and trying to check any legislation or precedents on how discovered human remains are dealt with by the authorities. He was surprised how easy it was and paid online for a full independent examination to determine the age of the skull and any likely DNA provenance. Before anyone could object and prevent him, it was posted off for analysis to the Massey University Institute of Molecular BioScience based on the North Shore in Auckland, one of a small handful of ancient DNA specialists in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, the investigation team’s descent down to the river flat near the slip was much easier from the road. But to Sonny Jim’s astonishment, all evidence or signs of the hollow grave site had disappeared, been buried overnight by a further larger slip. Loose pumice was still falling into the river. He estimated the grave was now about another two to three metres buried somewhere in the pumice land slide and the contour was now too difficult to access.
This pattern of constant change was typical of the steep loose different coloured layered banks in the upper river. The river often changed course within the ravines with various bypasses forming and reforming small tributaries following each small flood. River anglers and rafting companies are particularly aware of how the shape and contours of the river flow into pools regularly change. Each season anglers try to read the fast water to peer through the surface sheen to determine the flow and feed line where they hope giant trout wait to feed. The flow regularly swops from side to side within a season for apparently no reason – it is quite characteristic of all big strong flowing backcountry rivers but enhanced in this region with the erosion of the more porous pumice sub-strata. Many photos were taken from all angles but revealed nothing of interest. Six hours later the exhausted disappointed team returned to Turangi police station.
Subsequently, procedural uncertainty and Mr. Bean-like bumbling and confusion prevailed. The police Maori Liaison Officers lost interest when they realised Sonny Jim’s discovery was formally allocated into the category of an accidental discovery of an ancient archaeological site. So they no longer had any jurisdiction, once it was established that it was not a crime scene. A Police pathologist team was not needed as they could not remove any remains, which were hidden and buried under tonnes of slip material. They were all off the hook.
The Maoris advised it may be still necessary to place a ban (a “rahui” is a temporary “tapu” to render sacred as a ceremonial restriction placed on locations or activities as a means of spiritual conservation) on access or fishing or rafting the river in the peak of the tourist season. They did not know which iwi or tribe might have occupied this remote region during pre-European Maori occupation. They needed time to consult with the whanau, hapu or iwi kaumatuas (chiefs) about the discovery. From their brief overnight study TRM’s research department convinced them the skull predated Maori occupation, predominantly due to the apparent crouched or foetal position of the skeleton facing west. In the tribal confusion, the need for a rahui was deemed unnecessary.
The Departments of Corrections and Conservation were typically more concerned about other anglers learning of an alternative new walking track providing access to the remote reaches of the upper river that could encourage more trespassing. They accepted it was too strenuous for most anglers to tramp past all the other pools just to fish a new pool. There were over fifty named pools on the TRM Bucket List map, “Fifty Pools to Fish Before You Die”.
The Department of Conservation ranger was overly cautious about having never read the Department protocols or internal procedures regarding finds of koiwi (human bones, corpse) resulting from natural processes such as slips or erosion. There was only a brief mention in the office manual on the process to prepare suitable reports with appropriate notification for distribution to the Area Manager to send on to New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) or Heritage New Zealand, police and the public health department, and who else he might have missed. He was unsure of who was the DOC historic staff member with any experience to qualify to deal with koiwi (human bone, corpse). He was more excited about how many Whio (Blue Ducks) had been seen in the upper river.
To follow protocol, Sonny Jim requested approval for the age of the skull to be checked by archaeology experts and offered to send it off for DNA examination and carbon testing to determine the age. They initially resisted but all relaxed when he volunteered TRM would cover all costs involved. Just as well, as it had already been posted off by the old man. No one had any objection after further official red tape procedure requirements as outlined by the Regional Archaeologist from Heritage New Zealand in Wellington and signatures were witnessed for Coroner and Police for Head Office approval. The Maoris had lost interest as they were not aware of any other Maori burial caves or mounds in that remote part of the upper river and they swallowed Sonny Jim’s theory that the skull most likely predated Maori settlement, likely from the moa hunter era.
The next day a further search was arranged by Rafting New Zealand with Heritage New Zealand archaeologists, drifting down the river from above the burial site. TRM’s archaeologist, Sonny Jim, accompanied them again with a lecturer from Waikato University who described her professional interest as a forensic anthropologist. The landslide was easily recognised on the bypass from the main river, but there was no sign of any cave or grave, which was buried under tonnes of pumice.
Providing TRM was to organise and pay for the research, they agreed to have the remains of the skull carbon dated and DNA tested. They advised of several organisations that promoted DNA testing for family tracing on the internet, not realising that it had already been sent off before the authorities could decline.
They also suggested Sonny Jim would need to provide his DNA sample for analysis as he had handled the skull without any latex gloves, and his fingerprints would inevitably contaminate the skull. There the matter should have ended once the age was determined, but the eventual result shocked the entire nation. But before we get to that we need to understand and describe the backgrounds of those involved, as their lives would be changed forever.
Most unexpectedly, the skull DNA analysis results were potentially better than winning the greatest lotto powerball ever and would change the entire Turangi landscape. But they had yet to discover that…
Taupahi Road 1959 – the village shop is now Unit 1.
Chapter 2
Moa Hunters
The story grew. The skull discovery news soon leaked out, from person to person to person until everyone in town knew. Any news as quirky as this usually takes about a day to circulate and penetrate everywhere in any small village in New Zealand. But the discovery of an ancient grave takes less time amongst the Maori tangata whenua community. Their social networking was always faster somehow but with the introduction of cell phones and iPads, their communication is faster than the police network. Sometimes it needed to be much quicker – just saying…
Most of the residents on the eastern side, in the ‘original old’ village near the motel, are retired anglers who have chosen the location due to the proximity of the Tongariro River trout fishing. Although the main spawning runs from Lake Taupo are in the later winter months the fish will run after any “fresh”. The rainfall acts as a trigger to start them on their annual spawning runs up river where anglers wait to ambush them. The river is world famous for being a wild fishery open all year round, attracting tourist anglers from all over the world.
TRM is particularly popular with them having the longest sixty-year occupancy record of steady regular visits from “inmates” often staying several weeks at the same time each season, depending on their preferred fishing style. The TRM website had posted fishing reports for the last fifteen years and moved over to facebook in recent years with usually several posts every day. As such it is read by a wider audience than just anglers and often comments on anything else that may be of interest in local affairs or tourist attractions or anything else that anglers send in that takes the author’s fancy. So from TRM’s facebook the news of the skull discovery spread like wildfire.
New Zealand daily newspapers missed the story or it may not have been considered relevant enough as they were preoccupied and distracted by their own problems of survival. The only mention of the skull discovery in the local newspaper was as a minor sideline and did not generate much interest at first. The Turangi Weekender is a weekly periodical of local news, eagerly devoured by everyone in Turangi.
Their journalist had checked their historical files and the article reported how, about fifty years ago, the Ministry of Works development for the Tongariro Hydro Scheme had explored various ancient sites and excavated 16 villages with 246 dwellings, 20 burial sites and 71 bodies which were moved to an existing cemetery on the hill above Tokaanu. The archaeologists found the largest collection of pre-Maori artifacts in New Zealand in the Tokaanu Power Station tailrace excavations.
Then the skull story went viral – from TRM’s blog to the world on the waves of every latest telecommunication device and gadgets and hi-tech hardware that the warden hardly knew existed. That was followed by intensified pressure from the news media.
TRM’s manager SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed aka Mrs. SWMBO) referred all other requests for information to the most recent accurate historical record from a local book “A Museum Underfoot” – being a biography of a highly respected archaeologist for MOW (Ministry of Works). Trevor Hosking was contracted as official archaeologist for the Tongariro Hydro Scheme on the development of the largest hydro-power scheme in NZ during the 1960’s – 1970’s. This book provided the only background (available from Turangi or Taupo libraries) with a comprehensive description of pre-maori villages and artifacts excavated during the Tongariro Hydro Power Scheme.
Turangi has several social media websites. Some, such as viber, are purpose designed for neighbourhood watch. i.e. If suspicious kids – hoodies – with hats on sideways carrying backpacks – were to walk down Taupahi Road, the “viber” network warnings and messages follow the progress all the way down any side streets. The surrounding housing on the eastern side of SH 1 is the older original fishing village comprising a mix of holiday homes – prime targets for delinquent kids – plus a higher-than-usual number of bored retired folk who operate a neighbourhood crime watch surveillance. The moment a wandering yob disappears, they panic and phone the cops. They result in the level of crime on the eastern Tongariro River side of SH1 being far less than on the western side where most of the housing is located. A weekly bulletin is posted reporting all crimes, most of which are domestic disturbances on the western side. Being retired anglers, the ancient fossils on the eastern side all get on much better with each other.
Other bloggers keep the village up to date – “You know you’re from Turangi” on facebook spreads the latest gossip on what is for sale or the latest excuse for any gathering or marae meetings or promotions or new appointments and any horses or dogs or even pigs found loose on the streets. Generally it is a relatively safe town with the usual problems of graffiti and youth bullying on a similar scale to other small towns throughout the North Island. It is such a shame that every day several buses ferry school kids to Taupo schools due to the bullying problem in Turangi. Most youth anti-social problems are confined to the western side of SH1 in the ‘new’ town.
Trevor Hosking received a Government award for his archaeological discoveries. They were considered so significant at the time that the Turangi Museum was ‘custom built’ by them as part of the Tourist Information Office to display the artifacts. After the power scheme development was completed the Taupo Council closed the Museum. This was most probably because it was competing and attracting tourist traffic away from Taupo Museum. The original building structure still remains on SH41 and is now used as a rural training classroom. The other exhibits including an old horse-drawn plough and a section of the tailrace pipe from the Tokaanu tail race still remains in place as though waiting for the museum to open again.
After the closure, all the pre-Maori artifacts and exhibits mysteriously disappeared. Some are suspected to be still stored (or hidden?) at Te Papa. The Taupo Museum is reported to have kept some. A shipping container located immediately behind the building for many years was supposed to retain some of the exhibits. An attempt was made in 2018 to find them but the container was reported to be empty. But there is so much other evidence available – i.e. One local lady recounts her last job for the Ministry of Works, before they left town, was to prepare a complete inventory of all pre-Maori artifacts and museum exhibits. That schedule is now missing as well.
In 1970 the book – A Museum Underfoot – reported huge interest. Over 250,000 visitors inspected their display of pre-Maori artifacts in NZ. These were discovered during the excavation of the tailrace immediately below the Tokaanu Power Station. Carbon dating assessed them at around 400 AD. Many human remains were removed to the cemetery on the hill close by, above the mineral baths at Tokaanu. This would make it the oldest cemetery in New Zealand. Several pre-Maori village sites were unearthed to discover extinct Moa bones and tools and cooking utensils at a ground level substantially below any other “digs”.
In the 1960’s excavations deep in the tailrace, two bodies were found protected by upturned dugout canoes, cut in two halves, protecting the corpses, in a similar manner to that discovered by Sonny Jim. Fifty years ago Trevor Hosking believed the graves must have been for high-ranking priests. Coincidence? He also wrote about other archaeological digs in the Taupo region where they discovered artifacts from earlier pre-Maori settlements, in particular in the caves under Whakamoenga Point and at Orakei Korako. Wherever there was a supply of hot artesian water he reported they could excavate signs of earlier pre-maori settlements. He called these settlers the Korako people.
The MOW (Ministry of Works) excavations analysis determined that the tailrace location was originally at the mouth of the Tongariro River which used to extend along where SH41 is now located. Over the subsequent sixteen centuries, the developing river mouth delta had moved through an aggradation process about one km north of the power station site.
Perhaps the most significant find for the Turangi museum was on the Tongariro River at the confluence of the Poutu Stream (draining nearby Lake Rotoaira), was a 35 cm club (mere) discovered by a schoolboy. It was considered so valuable the National Museum in Wellington had a copy made for public display. The original had since disappeared… (What a surprise! It would have been worth many $ thousands and sought after by other museums or collectors.)
The ceremonial stone mere had been carbon-dated by the Dominion Museum around 400 AD. More significantly, it was made of a type of stone that is only found near Takaka at the top of the South Island. This would indicate that early settlers – Moa hunters – were trading, greenstone for kumara. This would have been over 800 years before the first Maori migrations arrived in NZ from the Pacific regions.
To prepare for the inevitable questioning the Archaeological Guidelines Series “Koiwi Tangata/Human Remains” were checked. They advised if there is a likelihood that the remains are archaeological, then ensure that no further disturbance occurs to the site and contact the regional Heritage New Zealand archaeologist if they haven’t already been notified. Police no longer had jurisdiction over the site once it was established that it was not a crime scene. Police pathologists, therefore, should not remove the remains from the site. Recommended steps to be followed by New Zealand Police were to coordinate with Police Maori Liaison Officers, contact and collaborate with Heritage New Zealand, and contact and collaborate with tangata whenua (iwi authority/tribal Runanga/Iwi Resource Management Unit/local marae).
After all that study, there did not appear to be anywhere that the two anglers had transgressed or broken any laws. This was important considering what was to come… Nobody could have anticipated the storm gathering.
Chapter 3
DNA
Before the ‘authorities’ had time to review their processing action on the skull, TRM had posted it off for DNA analysis and carbon dating, as invited on several websites. A few years ago this may have been a laborious scientific process but with modern communication technology it was the equivalent of buying on Trade-Me and only a credit card transaction away.
According to an article the warden researched on a science site, forensic technicians could test a suspect’s DNA in two hours, fast enough for police to ram it through their crime databases and determine whatever they were searching for. As recently as ten years earlier, the testing took between twenty-four and seventy-two hours, enough time for a suspect to post bail and walk out of custody. Within two weeks Sonny Jim’s father had all their answers, which is where this plot really starts….
With about the same odds as winning Powerball, Sonny Jim had hit the jackpot. The warden advised they were shocked, bewildered, delighted and mystified to discover Sonny Jim and the skull shared the same DNA reading. This suggested he and his family – Sonny Jim in particular – were the only surviving ancestors of an extinct race. The pre-Maori Korakos? Moa Hunters? The Patupairehe? Speculation spread faster than wildfire.
The warden heard from a friend who mentioned how he had played rugby for the Rangatau Railways team between Ohakune & Waiouru in the late 50’s and had many Maori friends in the district. Some of the older ones used to talk about a fair-skinned Maori tribe with red hair and accepted it as the stuff of legend. He advised these people called “patupairehe” were fair skinned with red hair, very shy, and lived in the deep bush and on the mountains (e.g. Mt Ruapehu which a lot of his Maori friends wouldn’t go near because of “spirits”). He had seen red-haired Maori around the King Country and further north and they tended to be light-skinned so wondered if there is any connection. The seeds of a plot were planted.
Unlike the other Ngati-Hotu or other pre-Maori ancestory claims, the warden decided he now had material proof. Undeniable proof. It amounted to absolutely irrefutable evidence. Others had claimed links in the past based on verbal histories passed down many generations, but these had failed to impress the Waitangi Tribunal and other Government appointed ‘experts’. But matching DNA could not lie. Sonny Jim’s family was quietly jubilant when they considered the various possibilities arising from the DNA. It was beyond coincidence.
Again this remarkable coincidence soon leaked (by TRM guests?) on social media Facebook blogs etc. Fuel was added by every new rumor and eventually picked up and reported in the local newspapers. After previous newspaper reports of similar claims from the Ngati-Hotu tribe in the upper Wanganui River region around Kakahi, the report was initially downplayed locally as old recycled news. It failed to gain any traction beyond the immediate Taupo-Turangi region.
But they overlooked the immense power of modern communication over the web. Social Media! TRM reported much of the story of the skull discovery and the analysis in several segments via the motel website blog on Facebook over the next week. At first, there was the usual response with a few thousand ‘likes’ and ‘wows’. Then, when the freakish DNA coincidence was confirmed, it exploded.
When the other fishing blogs got hold of the story it quickly expanded to tens of thousands. Then, within the next week, it took off into the stratosphere with millions of followers wanting more info. It was more than just the ‘finding a skull’ storyline as the potential that had been completely overlooked. Sonny Jim was meanwhile more focused on rechecking his DNA for a peer review with another ‘independent’ laboratory. His DNA result came back to TRM with the same match. It took the bloggers on the world-wide-web to spell it out in potential dollar terms before he fully realized the mammoth wider implications.
For decades academics have argued over where modern Maori descended from and what route they traveled to finally arrive on New Zealand shores. An example is close to Turangi in Taumaranui, where Monica Matumua believed she held a major key to New Zealand’s history. The story of her family had been handed down for generations. Monica believed that her tribe (Ngati Hotu) arrived before the great explorer Kupe; her family history had been handed down to her from her mother and grandmother before her, she believed that Ngati Hotu went back 74 generations in New Zealand, that they descended from the Patupaiarehe or Urekehu people who were referred to as ‘fair skinned’, ‘fairy people’ of the hills and mountains. Her grandson, Tamati, says that a kaumatua in Taumarunui stated that the name Ngati Hotu was only given to his tribe when Kupe and his fellow explorers landed on the shores of what became New Zealand…..
Monica told the story of the Ngati Hotu people (her brother also learned the stories but had since passed away). She was determined to get proof that the Ngati Hotu people had special links to the land, especially land that had been taken from her family during fights between Tuwharetoa and Ngati Hotu. Monica’s battle was for land, which had been treated with such respect prior to being taken into possession by the Treaty of Waitangi land claims department. She claimed, “There are only two people in our tribe that can speak our language now and it is nothing like Maori, in fact, it is nothing like a language I have ever heard before.”
In the traditions of Ngati Tuwharetoa of Taupo, Ngati Hotu were an aboriginal people living in that area at a time when the people of Tuwhare-toa-i-te-aupoori came to live in the lands claimed by their ancestor Tia. It was thought the original people took the name Ngati Hotu to be spared from being destroyed by the Tainui and Te Arawa people. One story among the Tainui people says that Kupe found these islands inhabited by short, light-skinned people whose tribes were named Tuurehu-tuurangi, Pokepoke-wai, Haa-moamoa, Patu-paiarehe and Tuurehe. Monica’s mother was born in 1857 and died in 1938, aged 81, at her home in Te Rena on the banks of the Whanganui River. Since then the land which Monica’s family called home has since been taken under the Treaty of Waitangi. According to Monica, there are approximately 2,000 Ngati Hotu left, although there has been speculation that they were an extinct race – which Monica laughs at. “There are 800 in our whanau. When the seven warrior waka arrived in New Zealand, my people were here. Our history says that our people first came to Aotearoa a long time back from what is now called Iran. If you go there today, the women still have moko, the black lips. Our people came here through Borneo.”
For Monica to prove her theory that Ngati Hotu had a different lineage to other Maori, she decided to get involved with a National Geographic Genographic Survey. The project uses advanced DNA analysis to help answer questions relating to where humans originated and how we populated the earth. Throughout their childhood, Monica and her family have been teased mercilessly about their curved ‘Mediterranean’ noses and their fair skin, which she always believed branched from not-so-distant ancestry. In order to participate in the project, Monica ordered a DNA kit and took a cheek swab then sent it back to be tested. The swab returned some very interesting results, which differed greatly from what National Geographic states a person of Polynesian descendant’s DNA should look like.
This reference population is based on samples collected from people native to the highlands and lowlands of Papua New Guinea. In addition to the 91% Oceanian that defines this population and others in the Melanesian region, the 4% Southeast Asian and 5% Northeast Asian components were introduced over the past several thousand years by the seafaring Austronesians, who hailed from southeast Asia. These were the ancestors of the Polynesians, who settled on the northern coast of New Guinea before heading out into the open waters of the Pacific.
Information about paternal lineage is determined from a series of markers on the Y-chromosome, something that only men genetically carry. Therefore, her paternal line could not be mapped. According to National Geographic, the part of Monica’s DNA that most Polynesians descended from (southeast Asia) only took up 20% of her DNA structure, with northeast Asia taking up a sizeable lump of the structure also. People with northeast Asian DNA patterns were most likely to end up in Japan, China and Mongolia. What was considerably surprising was the large percentage of the DNA, which was taken up by northern European, Mediterranean, sub-Saharan and southwest Asian DNA which all linked to Europe and/or the Middle East.
There are three migratory paths that Maori supposedly took to New Zealand. These include South America, Cambodia and the Middle East. Based on the DNA project, it seems that Monica’s family has come through the Middle East. The DNA test unearthed some very interesting information about her ancestry, including the fact that a large percentage of her DNA code (28%) shared similarities with the Vietnamese people.
Ngāti Hotu (the redheads) were believed to have been part of the Tini o Toi Tribes of the Bay of Plenty. Tradition describes Ngāti Hotu as a very fierce and warlike people. It took many generations of warfare to destroy before the final battle around 1450. Why did it begin around this date? Because they were here long before the Maori arrived it would have taken about 70 years for what we know as Maori to grow in strength and move inland from the coast. Other Maori traditions describe them as spirit people, typical in Māori tradition, with reddish hair, green eyes, and whitish skin, symbolizing their tapu nature. With the final remnant of Ngati Hotu escaping into the forests, that would begin the legend. All legends begin with an element of truth.
Ngāti Hotu were reported to be living around the shores of Lake Taupo when Tia, the explorer arrived and he was disappointed to find a large tribe already living there. Tia is supposed to have been here with the arrival of the Te Arawa canoe but that would mean an arrival only 700 years ago. If they were exploring NZ from Polynesia since 800AD (1200 years ago) then discovering Ngati Hotu would not have been a surprise. Ngāti Hotu suffered a major defeat at the battle of Pukekaikiore (‘hill of the meal of rats’) to the southwest of Lake Taupo where Ngāti Tūwharetoa devastated them, causing the few survivors to flee. Apparently, some of the survivors settled around the village of Kakahi, about 30 kilometres west of Turangi and Lake Taupo.
They were discovered by a party of Whanganui Māori exploring the river. They soon called for reinforcements to attack the settlement. There were many battles but the final, brutal episode of the battle occurred between Kakahi and the Whanganui River when the now effectively victorious Whanganui Māori hung the legs of fallen Ngāti Hotu warriors from poles mounted in the forks of trees – a gesture at which their remaining enemies broke and fled off into the depths of the King Country to vanish from history. This occurred around 1450, only 70 years after the Maori first arrived.
Tūwharetoa therefore, only claim the right to Taupo through conquest and war. This is no different to other Maori land in the Waikato taken by British troops acting for the government or most other tribal land taken by conquest between warring tribes throughout New Zealand.
Therefore Sonny Jim would be following recorded historic precedents to reclaim Ngati Hotu land that had been taken by conquest. But did Ngati Hotu still exist? Many historical examples assert that they were still alive and well when Maori arrived.
In an excerpt from information written by Sir John Te Herekiekie Grace in his ‘History of the Tuwharetoa’ who occupied the Taupo district, he writes:
“Tuwharetoa was a tribe that originally settled on the Bay of Plenty coast and during the 16th century found its way into Taupo. It found these tribes in occupation of the district, but by gradual absorption, diplomatic alliances, and aggressive warfare, finally took complete possession of the land. The original occupants of the land were a tribe of fair-skinned and flaxen-haired people called Ngati Hotu. They lived by the lake in the company of another fair-skinned tribe, Ngati Ruakopiri. (The third tribe was Ngati Kurapoto.)”.
Elsewhere the history of colonisation, mainly around the coastal settlements of New Zealand, left an unfortunate “blame game” legacy. Where the Maoris remained peaceful and gratefully accepted the advantages of being civilised by colonisation, the “noble savages” suffered strange new diseases – smallpox, measles, influenza, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, – for which they had no natural defences. If they did not cooperate after the Government acquired their land, or when some other tribal chief sold their land and they resisted the “savages” were attacked and slaughtered by more sophisticated weaponry. Many tribal groups were driven away from their ancestral land by force – by others who had superior power.
Similar to many other countries being colonised in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, faults and misunderstandings led to many battles on both sides. Typical British colonial government was established and laws were adapted and passed to suit the colony’s requirements. Tribal lands were returned in many places with lines drawn on government maps declaring their tribal ownership. But over that period there was little interest in settlements on the vast central plateau region as it was too remote. It was only the demand for timber that first opened it up to development with roads and rail from the ports.
But unlike the rest of New Zealand, the land acquisition by the Government for Turangi town development occurred about one hundred years later, in the 1960s. Even then, after so much experience elsewhere, the Government still made mistakes and failed to manage their acquisition to the satisfaction of local Maori tribes. Full compensation has since been recognised.
Throughout New Zealand, this process has continued to expand with many contentious and disputed hearings fired by promises of huge settlements largely generated by consultants advising the tribes. Up until the end of 2019, over $4.3 Billion dollars in compensation had been paid out by the Waitangi Tribunal. The argument continues, how much will ever be enough, and how much is political (i.e. Government buying votes?). Controversy over the Treaty of Waitangi continues.
That pattern of land acquisition by force is no different from that which happened to Sonny Jim’s ancestors throughout New Zealand when Maori raiders expanded inland some 800 years earlier.
But the skull discovery was about to completely change the method of negotiation and compensation forever. Finally, the DNA coincidence provided incontrovertible proof that other tribes were settled there first and, if they were identified, they deserved to be compensated!
……..
If that has tickled your interest and you wish to know the outcome of the DNA coincidence, you can buy a copy from Tongariro River Motel…
You will never regret it.
Another warning. It is intentionally very controversial, so many readers cannot separate facts from fiction.
Book profits have been used to improve the Tongariro River environment for anglers and tourists – see seat below.
