A drawing by a 10-year old girl completed 173 years ago has proven to be an invaluable aid in learning more about one of New Zealand’s earliest mission settlements.
The drawing by Emma Hobbs – daughter of Methodist missionary John Hobbs – shows the Mangungu Mission House and other surrounding buildings on a flat area of land below where the relocated mission house currently sits near Horeke in the Hokianga.
Recent archaeological monitoring of a cable trench dug at Mangungu Mission – now owned and operated by the NZ Historic Places Trust – has confirmed the accuracy of the drawing, as well as some assumptions about the missionary village that operated there in the 1830s.
“We undertook an archaeological geomagnetic survey – a non-intrusive method – to relate historical information we knew about the area to the current landscape,” says archaeologist Dr Hans-Dieter Bader of Archaeology Solutions. “As a result, we’ve been able to confirm the layout and location of a small missionary village that was operating on the flat area of land below where the relocated mission house currently sits.”
Originally built on-site in 1838-39, the mission house was relocated to Auckland, where it was used as a parsonage for over a century. The historic building was then returned to its current position at Mangungu in the 1970s – above its original site. Combining historical research – including sources like Emma’s drawing – with modern archaeological field technology enabled a comprehensive picture of the historic landscape to be developed without damaging archaeological features.
“Information we’ve picked up from the geomagnetic survey shows the remnants of building platforms in much the same area shown in the painting, and confirms what we’ve suspected for a long time – that this was the original site of the settlement, including the mission house,” says Dr Bader.
Besides identifying and confirming the location of this important site, the geomagnetic survey also enabled decisions to be made about where to site the cable trench without disturbing archaeological material.
“As a result, we were able to avoid 99 percent of archaeological features, while also allowing us to be ‘surgical’ with the small amount of archaeological material we did find,” he says. “Given that the Mangungu Mission area is a landscape where archaeological features could potentially be everywhere, it’s been particularly important to take this non-invasive approach in order to minimise the impact on any archaeological material present.”
A few objects unearthed as a result of the trench being dug reinforce both the historical evidence and the findings of the geomagnetic survey. The artefacts included a small piece of brick, a forged iron nail, some ceramic shards and some shells from what would have been a rubbish dump located below one of the small building platforms.
Although the objects have helped confirm the location of the original mission buildings, they have also raised some additional questions.
“We know from historical sources that the missionaries tried to import bricks, but we also know they were making bricks locally. We’re keen to know whether the piece of brick we found was made at the mission, or brought in – most likely from Sydney, possibly even as ship’s ballast,” says Hans. “We’ll be doing some follow-up analysis to ascertain the origin of the brick fragment.”
The presence of oyster and pipi shell in the same midden also raises some intriguing questions. “It makes us curious whether the missionaries followed aspects of the local Maori diet,” he says.
Although only a few objects were found, according to Dr Bader these can potentially provide some useful information and give a better understanding of how Maori and missionaries lived together. "Even small remains can help us to understand how people thought and acted in the past,” he says.
NZHPT Project Supervisor Tony Pickard is happy that the job has been completed with minimal impact on the archaeological landscape. “This is a challenging landscape to work in. That’s why it has been so important to use non-invasive archaeological techniques in planning the earthworks that we needed,” he says.
"The results have been really positive – both from the perspective of being able to complete our project, as well as the information we’ve been able to piece together about the original physical layout of Mangungu Mission.”
Over 500 locals and guests attended the 170th anniversary commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi which took place at Māngungu Mission in the Hokianga on February 12, 2010.
The day-long event marked the largest single Treaty signing anywhere in New Zealand – where at least 64 Rangatira signed the document in 1840 – and was the culmination of several events held over five days, including a hikoi from the Bay of Islands and a Wānanga Kōrero the evening before the events at Māngungu.
One of the many highlights of the day was the ceremonial waka salute from 12 waka taua – including the arrival of Ngatokimatawhaorua (pictured). Crewed by descendants of the men who originally served on the impressive waka when it was built 62 years ago, this was the first time ‘Ngatoki’ had seen the waters of the Hokianga since 1948.
Staff from NZHPT worked with kuia Whaea Makuini and Whaea Hine who welcomed visitors to the Māngungu Mission house, and showed them around the 171-year-old building, which has been operating as a NZHPT museum since 1977. Over 120 visitors viewed the house throughout the day, ranging from adult students at Trinity Methodist Theological College to children from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe, who performed a spontaneous waiata in front of the house.
read more
There's more than one way to commemorate the Treaty of Waitangi.
Although firmly and forever associated with Waitangi, the Treaty that bears its name was signed at many sites around the country, each of them special in its own way. The signing at Māngungu Mission House near Horeke is notable for being that at which more people added their names to our founding document than any other. Today, Māngungu is notable as the focus for a remarkable act of commemoration that was the brainchild of Ray Pomare, secretary of the Horeke Development Trust.
“In 2006 we had a hikoi and took a group of kids from Waimate Mission Station to Horeke over three days,” explains Pomare. “We camped for the night and talked to the children about the impact the Treaty has on them.” As well as the children, who ranged in age from primary school level to teenagers, the group was accompanied by MP Shane Jones and Hone Harawira, who talked to them about the Treaty’s significance for them.
The walk changed many of the students’ perceptions. “At the start, they thought it was about contention. We turned it around and said it was a good thing, because it meant one people one nation. After discussing the Treaty for three days on the way, we asked the children: given what you know now, would you have signed?
“There was a dialogue all the way along. ‘You know what, Uncle Ray, I wouldn’t have signed it.’ That was day one, but by day three they could see there was benefit in signing it.” Pomare got the idea for the hikoi after doing research into Treaty architect Governor William Hobson’s journey, when he decided “to travel the Treaty”. Pomare saw a fit with the kaupapa of the trust, which is to give young people experiences they otherwise wouldn’t have. In this case, “It was about making the Treaty available to young people.”
And not just Maori young people. “We had several races. There were about 60 per cent Maori and 40 per cent Pakeha or other ethnic cultures.”
By Paul Little
read more in Heritage New Zealand, Summer 2006