Community divides over a mountain of trouble

Te Ihi Tito is saddened by the fuss over the mountain. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Te Ihi Tito takes a deep breath as he surveys the mountain that has divided his community for almost two years.

"You can feel its power," he says.

There is reverence in his voice and a quiet determination in the white-haired kaumatua that jars with the "Maori radical" tag he has gained from opponents.

It was his request on behalf of his Parawhau hapu to the Whangarei District Council in 2003 that the city's most prominent mountain be changed from Parahaki to Parihaka. This polarised the community and set pens scratching and tongues wagging.

Mr Tito, a retired engineer and part-time cultural adviser, said the name was incorrect, a spelling mistake made in the city's infancy and perpetuated for generations.

The word made no sense, he said, loosely translating to "slimy scab", an assessment supported by Maori Language Commissioner Pat Hohepa.

Mr Tito said the mountain was the site of numerous battles and Parihaka, or "cliff haka", referred to the many haka performed after the conflicts.

Standing at the peak of the 240m mountain, one can see why the location was cherished by Maori. Its sweeping views allowed early detection of invaders from the south or up the broad Whangarei Harbour, perhaps war parties dispatched from the Waikato and Taranaki, seeking utu for Ngapuhi raids in the early 19th century.

Those who controlled the mountain controlled the land.

Its new master, the Whangarei council, backed the name change and called for public submissions before referring the matter to the New Zealand Geographic Board.

But the council's decision sent shockwaves through some in the predominantly European community.

Whangarei-based Act MP Muriel Newman took a leading role. She hoisted billboards opposing the move. She held a poll in which 94 per cent, or 2200 residents, opposed change.

Dr Newman could find no evidence in early Lands and Survey maps, historical records or Maori Land Court documents to back the Parihaka claim and labelled it an attempt by a radical minority to dictate to the majority.

She pointed to research by local historian Nancy Pickmere, who said the original owners of the Whangarei District in 1700s were Ngai Tahuhu, who called the mountain Parahaki.

Ms Pickmere favoured a translation of Parahaki as "pa or fortress, and rahaki which means on one side ... I think this describes the pa, which has terraces mostly on one side."

For Dr Newman the issue had wider implications - Parawhau were trying to change the name "of our beloved Mt Parahaki to that of a Taranaki mountain better known for its long-standing role as the centre of radical Maori activism".

She was referring to Parihaka, the scene of passive resistance to colonial land seizures in the 1800s, led by Maori prophet Te Whiti. The movement was crushed by colonial troops led by John Bryce, who arrested its leaders and laid waste to the village.

The Geographic Board disagreed and recommended that Land Information Minister Pete Hodgson change the spelling. Mr Hodgson, who grew up in the area, accepted the recommendation.

The board received 330 submissions opposing the move, with 370 in favour, but it was the unanimous support of Northland iwi and hapu - at times bitterly divided on other issues - that swayed the board members.

In its report the board acknowledged that name corrections were not unusual, but it was generally misspelled European names that were brought to its attention.

It also commented on past examples of Maori words being incorrectly taken, Wellington's Petone misinterpreted from Pito One was an example, and the early use of "Wangarei" was another.

For Mr Tito, this week's verdict is not a time to gloat, but to quietly reflect on a decision that ends a battle begun almost 70 years earlier.

In 1936, a delegation of three senior Parawhau kaumatua, one a tohunga, met the then council to have the name corrected. The council refused.

In defiance, the old men bellowed their protest from the mountain's peak, replicating the haka performed by ancestors long gone. But this one marked defeat.

Mr Tito is saddened that the issue has divided his community and shakes his head at what he believes has been manipulation by a few people chasing headlines.

"It was a simple spelling mistake. We asked for it to be corrected. Then it really hit the news.

"It caused a lot of tension. Muriel saw something she could latch on to.

"This is our history. It is a Maori name - surely we should be able to correct it."

He accepts that the decision inconveniences businesses who use the mountain's present name. I had people ringing me up saying, 'Are you going to pay for me to change the name of my business?'. I said, 'No, you can call your business whatever you like. We are not against that. We just want the mountain to be named accurately'.

"This is not about dividing the community, or about Maori against pakeha.

"Some of my mokopuna have blue eyes and blonde hair. This is as much for them as anyone else. We should work together. That's what it is all about."

Mr Tito accepts that officials may have made a change, but swaying many in the community is another matter.

WHAT'S IN A NAME

* Kaumatua Te Ihi Tito says the mountain was the site of numerous battles and Parihaka, which translated to "cliff haka", referred to the many haka performed following the conflicts.

* Local historian Nancy Pickmere says the original owners of the Whangarei District in 1700s were Ngai Tahuhu, who called the mountain Parahaki. She favours a translation of Parahaki as "pa or fortress, and rahaki, which means on one side ... I think this describes the pa which has terraces mostly on one side".