Kerikeri Mission and Kororipo Pā - an entwined history - book launched on location

A crucial chapter in the occupation of the Bay of Islands is brought to life in Angela Middleton’s new book Kerikeri Mission and Kororipo Pā: An entwined history. The book tells the story of the mission and the Māori who were involved with the mission, including people such as Hongi Hika, Rewa and Moka.

Kerikeri is often called the Cradle of the Nation, being the site of the first permanent mission station in the country. It is home to New Zealand’s oldest European buildings: the mission house known as ‘Kemp House’ (built 1822) and the Stone Store (built 1836). Alongside these buildings stands Kororipo Pā and the remains of its kāinga, the territory of the paramount chief, Hongi Hika.

‘This unique and pivotal location provides tangible evidence of the entwined history of Māori and Pakeha, the relationship that founded modern New Zealand. The site could be seen as a microcosm for the kind of developments that took place between iwi and missions in other parts of the country,’ says author Dr Angela Middleton.

Kerikeri Mission and Kororipo Pā (launched at Kerikeri this past weekend, see photo below) is beautifully illustrated with photographs of artefacts and objects from the Kemp House and Stone Store collections, once in daily use. An attractive and most appealing publication.

‘I undertook research at Kemp House and the Stone Store and was quickly struck by the rich material in the collections and the lack of attention this material had received to date,’ says Middleton.

Early maps and archaeological details develop a picture of the first structures built on the site in 1819­­­–20, of which little physical evidence remains. Through primary sources such as the store accounts, a fascinating and detailed picture of daily life at the mission is unearthed – what food, clothing, tools and other goods were available, where they came from and who used them.

This is the first cohesive history of the Kerikeri mission and the mission’s evolving relationship with Kororipo Pā.  2014 is the bicentennial of missions arriving in New Zealand: with the focus of celebrations centred on the Bay of Islands, this detailed and visually rich guide will have wide appeal.

 Kerikeri Mission and Kororipo Pā

An entwined history

By Angela Middleton - Otago University Press

ISBN 978 1 877578 34 2, $29.95

www.otago.ac.nz/press

About the author:

Angela Middleton is a consultant archaeologist, and honorary research fellow in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Otago. Her work explores the early engagement between Māori and Pākehā in a wider examination of

the archaeology of New Zealand’s missions. She lives in Dunedin and maintains

links to both Auckland and the Bay of Islands, where her PhD research focused on

the Te Puna mission station. More recently, she has researched the site of the Hohi 

(Oihi) mission as part of a wider project for its bicentenary.

'Angela Middleton (author) with Nellie Holtz, of Ngati Rehia. Ngati Rehia are the hapu that has mana whenua at Kerkeri today, descendants of the rangatira of Kororipo pa and discussed in the book. The hapu gave a powhiri (formal welcome) to start the launch and kaumatua (elder) Hirini Kingi blessed the book.’