Temperance meeting in Russell

 In Russell last week while the other half was investigating the tattoo shop there I walked around some of the shops trying to dodge the rain and spotted this wooden illustration next to one of the post boxes. A Victorian lady is holding a piece of paper with the words "Temperance Meeting" probably trying to recruit new members.

The above painting was completed by Captain Clayton in 1845 of the area which has since grown. According to history word had spread about the place also called "Kororareka" being called "a most noble anchorage" with it's good deep water harbour by Captain Cook. Foreign ships started arriving and whaling was a popular industry.  Life on this waterfront was rough and sometimes violent which earned it's nickname as "the hellhole of the Pacific".  

Russell became a place that was useful for the Maoris trading with the Europeans with things such as pork and potatoes.  Some of the Maori worked on the ships and made regular trips across the Tasman. No doubt many Christian missionaries touted for temperance/abstinence from alcohol but somehow with the land being covered in bush and with Russell being a tiny town at that point there wouldn't have been much else to do but drink alcohol and visit brothels. I wonder how many people she recruited for her meeting?

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Learning at Rewa's Village

One of our adventures recently have included visiting an attraction that is local to us called Rewa's Village. Now this place overlooks the Kerikeri Stone Store and Mission House and was designed to teach people about the Maori fishing village that used to be there before and when the first settlers arrived in NZ. Well known chiefs like Tareha of Ngati Rehia, Rewa of Ngai Tawake and Hongi Hika of Ngati Tautahi stayed here in the 1820s.

This is a storage area that the Maori use to store their food in such as vegetables, ferns, roots etc.

A Maori whare is what we call a house or sleeping area or a meeting house. You can see the small door and window at the front. There is a floor area inside that is basically the earth and they would've laid grass or mats down to sit and sleep on.

At the bottom of the hill is this wetland area. The tide was out so we were able to see the various plants that grew there such as Mangroves which are an important ecological food source for many fish and crustaceans such as Snapper, Crabs and Shrimps etc.

Along the many pathways were many medicinal plants that the Maori would've used to treat illnesses and eat for food such as Flax (Harakeke) was prepared and used as clothing or baskets, Kawakawa was used to treat cuts, wounds, bruises or for toothache, the bark of the Rata tree was soaked in water and then applied as a lotion. More information on the uses of these plants here.

This hut under the earth was another storage area - this one particular for Kumara or what you might call Sweet Potato which was a very important food staple. In fact it's still popular today, we like the orange variety as it is sweeter than the gold or purple.

Near the edge of the water was this fishing waka or canoe that would've fitted at least 2-3 people in. It's alot smaller than a traditional war canoe. To the Maori, Tangaroa is the God of the sea and of fish. It was important for them to be favoured by this God and because fishing was regarded as being Tapu (a sacred activity) they had rules about when to fish and how to make nets out of Flax.

This hut was for a Tohunga's enclosure. A Tohunga was sort of like a doctor who practiced alternative natural medicine and they were greatly respected.

More medicinal plants around this path including plaques explaining who the first botanists to our country were such as Joseph Banks and Dr Daniel Solander who came off Captain Cook's boat.

I'm particularly interested in natural medicine and I have grown various herbs for use in cooking and drinking so this appealed to me.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday and My Corner of the World.