No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2025
In the late nineteenth century, the highlight of many Europeans’ visit to New Zealand's ‘thermal wonderland’ was a guided tour of Whakarewarewa – the Māori village and adjoining thermal belt. From the outset, the villagers controlled tourism on their land. However, the settler government was also keen to control tourism in the region. This paper examines the villagers’ resistance to the government's attempts to take over. While initially able to mitigate governmental interference, once they lost ownership of the lucrative thermal belt to the Crown, their physical control over this land receded. However, tourist guiding provided village women with the opportunity to enact another form of agency: to retain control over how the land was (re)presented to others. Indeed, the guides created, controlled and shared their representation of Whakarewarewa with large numbers of tourists. Ignoring the government's imposed ‘legal’ boundaries, the guides incorporated ‘sights’ from both Te Arawa and Crown-owned land, thus constructing imagined Whakarewarewa as a single ‘place.’ While the historiography often focuses on tourism as a tool of colonisation, this paper demonstrates that through guiding the women of Whakarewarewa challenged the supposed substantive sovereignty of the Crown and undermined the cultural processes of colonisation.
1 Unless otherwise stated, all English/Māori translations are from the online Māori dictionary Te Aka: https://maoridictionary.co.nz/. Where known, the iwi or tribal affiliation of an individual is added in brackets after their name.
2 Waka Maori, [hereafter WM], 2 May 1876, 107. Unless otherwise stated, all newspapers and appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives [hereafter AJHR] were accessed via Papers Past, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. English translation from Waka Maori. A note on Māori spelling and grammar: in the past, English speakers added an ‘s’ to pluralise Māori words, and macrons were not used. Contemporary scholarship utilises the macron and the understanding that Māori words can be both singular and plural. Quotes have been cited verbatim.
3 Ibid.
4 McClure, Margaret, The Wonder Country: Making New Zealand Tourism (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2004), 10Google Scholar.
5 Peter Waaka, “Whakarewarewa: The Growth of a Maori Village” (MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1982), 9, 10-2, 45, 48, 51, 53, 55. Ngāti Wāhiao were originally part of the iwi (tribe) of Tūhourangi. In the 1860s, due to friction amongst Tūhourangi living at Lake Rotokakahi, some whānau (family) and hapū (sub tribal) groups, who later named themselves Ngāti Wāhiao, moved away. Ibid., 8-9, 41.
6 Hot Lakes Chronicle [hereafter HLC], 22 January 1896, 2.
7 Other relevant histories include: Don Stafford's public histories on Te Arawa and the Rotorua region (including Stafford, Te Arawa: A History of the Arawa People (Auckland: Oratia Media, 2016)); Hamish Bremner, “Constructing, Contesting and Consuming New Zealand's Tourism Landscape: A History of Te Wairoa” (PhD diss., Auckland University of Technology, 2004). Other works have focused on European engagement with tourism in the region, including a history of the government-created New Zealand Tourism Department (with chapters on tourism in the Te Arawa region) and a thesis on the way in which European guidebooks formulated Rotorua as a “playground” where tourists “could re-enact Imperialist fantasies.” McClure, The Wonder Country; Philippa Galbraith, “Colonials in Wonderland: The Colonial Construction of Rotorua as Fantasy Space” (MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1992), ii.
8 Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 162.
9 Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, “The Sociocultural Impact of Tourism on the Te Arawa People of Rotorua, New Zealand” (PhD diss., University of Auckland, 1981), 5, 283.
10 Ibid, 283.
11 Ibid, 286.
12 Vincent O'Malley and David Armstrong, The Beating Heart: A Political and Socio-economic History of Te Arawa (Wellington: Huia Publishers, 2008), ix, x.
13 Ibid, 219.
14 Ibid, x.
15 Te Awekōtuku, “The Sociocultural Impact of Tourism on the Te Arawa People,” 285.
16 O'Malley and Armstrong, The Beating Heart, ix.
17 Alexander Turnbull Library [hereafter ATL], Diary of Mākereti Papakura, 1907/1908, MSDL-0254, /records/22581409. Papakura, Mākereti, Guide to the Hot Lakes District (Auckland: Brett Printing and Publishing Company, 1905)Google Scholar, Special Collections, University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services [hereafter SC, UoA].
18 Press [hereafter P], 23 June 1871, 3; Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 82.
19 Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 81; P, 23 June 1871, 3; WM, 16 May 1876, 116.
20 Timaru Herald [hereafter TH], 1 January 1878, 6; HLC, 19 August 1896, 2; Daily Southern Cross [hereafter DSC], 11 September 1866, 1; DSC, 10 June 1867, 4.
21 Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 82; Otago Witness [hereafter OW], 8 December 1877, 6; TH, 1 January 1878, 6; New Zealand Herald [hereafter NZH], 22 March 1886, 6.
22 WM, 2 May 1876, 108.
23 Kumara Times [hereafter KT], 9 February 1886, 2. New Zealand Mail [hereafter NZM], 18 May 1878, 6; Stafford, Don, The Founding Years in Rotorua: A History of Events to 1900 (Rotorua: Ray Richards and Rotorua District Council, 1986), 271Google Scholar.
24 ‘Tuhourangi papers’, 14 November 1885, January 1886, cited in Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 82, 87.
25 Waikato Times [hereafter WT], 7 April 1881, 3; NZH, 23 March 1885, 3; Lyttelton Times [hereafter LT], 25 January 1886, 2; KT, 9 February 1886, 2. In comparison, one visitor noted that local hotels were charging approximately 60-70 shillings per week. Otago Daily Times, 26 February 1876, 2.
26 WT, 7 April 1881, 3. For comparison, around the same time a carpenter earnt about £3/week, a labourer £2/week. https://www3.stats.govt.nz/historic_publications/1889-official-handbook/1889-official-handbook.html?_ga=2.33199862.99576084.1648086579-671949658.1646796102#d50e19370. Accessed 24 March 2022.
27 Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 82, 87; WT, 7 April 1881, 3; LT, 25 January 1886, 2.
28 McClure, The Wonder Country, 8.
29 Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 79; ‘Political and constitutional timeline,’ URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/milestones, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, updated 24-Nov-2022; McClure, The Wonder Country, 14.
30 McClure, The Wonder Country, 14-15.
31 Ibid, 15-17; Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 79, 81, 85.
32 Te Awekōtuku, “Sociocultural Impact,” 93; NZH, 15 November 1886, 8.
33 Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 85; NZH, 29 December 1900, 21.
34 Stafford, The Founding Years, 270; Bay of Plenty Times [hereafter BOPT], 27 December 1881, 2; NZH, 29 December 1880, 1; Gilmour, Calum, ed., Harry Selden Young: Diary of a Voyage to Australia and New Zealand,1885 (Auckland: Polygraphia, 1999), 85.
35 Stafford, The Founding Years, 270-1; BOPT, 27 December 1881, 2; AJHR, “Notes of Native Meetings,” 1885, Session 1, G-01, 48, 53; Duncan Moore and Judi Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, Waitangi Tribunal Claim 153, Document C-2, 1995, 108; NZM, 12 August 1887, 16.
36 O'Malley and Armstrong, The Beating Heart, 213; Stafford, The Founding Years, 271.
Mita Taupopoki, quoted in Māori Land Court Rotorua Minute Book 44 [hereafter RMB44], 340. KT, 9 February 1886, 2.
37 RMB44, 254-255, 283.
38 ‘Maika Paupopoki [sic]’ quoted in AJHR, “Notes of Native Meetings,” 54. Likely a misspelling of Mita Taupopoki. Waaka, 9.
39 AJHR, “Notes of Native Meetings,” 48, 53, 54; Waaka, 79; Moore and Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, 25.
40 AJHR, “Notes of Native Meetings,” 53, 54.
41 Ibid, 54, 57.
42 Stafford, The Founding Years, 271; Moore and Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, 10.
43 NZH, 23 March 1885, 3.
44 HLC, 23 January 1897, 2.
45 AJHR, “Notes of Native Meetings,” 54. KT, 9 February 1886, 2; P, 27 August 1889, 3.
46 Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 58–60.
47 Ibid., 89; O'Malley and Armstrong, The Beating Heart, 214; Bruce Herald [hereafter BH], 12 August 1887, 4.
48 Moore and Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, 87-88. By the end of 1893, following three Māori Land Court cases, Ngāti Wāhiao retained only 93 acres (8%) of the Whakarewarewa block including the village. The rest of the block had been awarded to Ngāti Whakaue, who in 1896 sold the majority of Whakarewarewa's thermal belt to the government. Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 65-66.
49 Moore and Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, 88.
50 Ibid, 7, 59, 69.
51 HLC, 22 April 1896, 3; Letter dated 13 May 1897 from Surveyor General Percy Smith to Mr Reaney, Road Surveyor, Rotorua, quoted in Moore and Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, 86.
52 HLC, 23 January 1897, 2; Waaka, 75.
53 LT, 2 August 1897, 6.
54 Letter dated 13 September 1897 from ‘Hori Taiawhiao,’ ‘Wi Keepa Rangipuawhe,’ and ‘Panapa te Nihotahi’ [sic] and 29 other Whakarewarewa residents, quoted in Moore and Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, 87; Letter dated 15 September 1897 from Mr Reaney to unknown, quoted in ibid, 86.
55 Reaney, quoted in Moore and Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, 87.
56 Star [hereafter S], 18 February 1899, 3; Hawera and Normanby Star [hereafter HNS], 13 November 1900, 3. OW, 20 April 1904, 71; NZH, 24 March 1906, 1.
57 HLC, 22 April 1896, 3; Auckland Star [hereafter AS], 9 January 1907, 6; Manawatu Herald, 23 April 1910, 3.
58 HLC, 22 January 1896, 2. S, 18 February 1899, 3; AS, 8 April 1899, 1; NZH, 17 February 1900, 1; NZH, 5 April 1890, 1.
59 O'Malley and Armstrong, The Beating Heart, 219-220.
60 NZH, 19 March 1885, 3; Te Awekōtuku, “Sociocultural Impact,” 252, 280.
61 Te Awekōtuku, “Sociocultural Impact,” 252, 280.
62 Southland Times, 18 March,1878, 2; P, 27 August 1889, 3; AS, 9 January 1907, 6; Te Awekōtuku, “Sociocultural Impact,” 261; Jane Tolerton, “Household services,” Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/household-services/print (accessed 30 September 2022).
63 Te Awekōtuku, “Sociocultural Impact,” 170, 260–1.
64 Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser [hereafter AMABPA], 27 August 1889, 2; P, 27 August 1889, 3; NZH, 5 April 1890, 1.
65 Kuru Waaka, quoted in Ehrhardt, Penny and Beaglehole, Ann, Women and Welfare Work: 1893-1993, (Wellington: Department of Social Welfare, 1993), 32-33Google Scholar.
66 Ani Waaka, quoted in Wanganui Chronicle [hereafter WC], 3 April 1908, 5.
67 WC, 3 April 1908, 5.
68 Salazar, Noel, “The (Im)mobility of Tourism Imaginaries,” in The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Tourism (New York: Routledge, 2013)Google Scholar, Melanie Smith and Greg Richards, eds., 34.
69 Ibid.; Felicity Barnes, New Zealand's London: A Colony and its Metropolis (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2013), 15; David Woodward and G. Malcolm Lewis, eds., “Cartography in the Traditional African, American, Artic, Australian and Pacific Societies,” in The History of Cartography, vol. 2, 3 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 1–10, 4; HLC, 22 April 1896, 3; Thames Star [hereafter TS], 3 January 1899, 2; Clutha Leader [hereafter CL], 26 June 1903, 2; Wairarapa Daily Times [hereafter WDT], 20 August 1908, 2.
70 OW, 20 April 1904, 71; WC, 3 April 1908, 5; Janice Caulfield, ed., A Victorian Lady's Journey to New Zealand: The 1901 Travel Journal of Mrs Jane Wheeler, a West Australian Pioneer (Martinborough: Ngaio Press, 2014), 50–1.
71 Papakura, Guide to the Hot Lakes District, 30; AS, 9 January 1907, 6; Cromwell Argus [hereafter CA], 20 September 1909, 6; Marlborough Express [hereafter ME], 27 October 1911, 3; Abraham Pease, Winter Wanderings (New York: Cochrane Publishing Company, 1910), 232.
72 Pease, Winter Wanderings, 232. According to newspaper reports, the man who died in July 1906 was “Kaperiere” [sic], the uncle of Mākereti and Ihapera Papakura. NZH, 5 July 1906, 6. Iriaka “slipped into [Korotiotio] and died” about thirty years prior to these visits. Papakura, Guide to the Hot Lakes District, 30; Tāmati Te Rangikatukua, RMB44 277, 336.
73 CA, 20 September 1909, 6.
74 Barnes, New Zealand's London, 15.
75 Papakura, Guide to the Hot Lakes District, 30–6; HLC, 22 April 1896, 3; HNS, 13 November 1900, 3; NZH, 24 March 1906, 1; King Country Chronicle, 10 December 1913, 6; E. Way Elkington, Adrift in New Zealand (London: John Murray, 1906), 92, 97, SC, UoA, LLS.
76 OW, 20 April 1904, 71.
77 KT, 10 February 1886, 2; NZH, 19 May 1894, 1; HLC, 22 April 1896, 3; Gilmour, ed., Harry Selden Young, 85.
78 Nelson Evening Mail, 12 April 1904, 2; NZH, 25 January 1908, 1; WDT, 20 August 1908, 2.
79 CA, 20 September 1909, 6.
80 ME, 27 October 1911, 3; WC, 3 April 1908, 5; NZH, 25 January 1908, 1; WDT, 20 August 1908, 2.
81 Barnes, New Zealand's London, 15.
82 KT, 9 February 1886, 2; NZH, 22 March 1886, 6; AMABPA, 27 August 1889, 2; NZH, 5 April 1890, 1.
83 NZH, 3 July 1901, 2; OW, 27 January 1904, 67; WDT, 23 February 1904, 7; Woodville Examiner [hereafter WE], 18 April 1904, 2; NZH, 25 January 1908, 1; ME, 27 October 1911, 3; Pease, Winter Wanderings, 232.
84 WDT, 23 February 1904, 7; WE, 18 April 1904, 2; Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 105.
85 Moore and Boyd, The Alienation of Whakarewarewa, 88–9, 108.
86 Ibid., 81.
87 Salazar, “The (Im)mobility of Tourism Imaginaries,” 34.
88 Ibid.
89 Ibid.
90 TH, 26 January 1906, 7; TS, 10 April 1915, 5; Caulfield, A Victorian Lady's Journey, 64; NZH, 24 March 1906, 1.
91 WE, 20 April 1904, 2.
92 MacDonald, Penfold, and Williams, The Book of New Zealand Women, 488, 490.
93 ME, 27 October 1911, 3.
94 Mahuika, Nēpia, “Revitalizing Te Ika-a-Maui’, Māori Migration and the Nation”, New Zealand Journal of History, 43, 2, 2009, 136; Stafford, Te Arawa.
95 NZH, 25 January 1908, 1; Caulfield, A Victorian Lady's Journey, 76; OW, 27 January 1904, 67.
96 CL, 26 June 1903, 2; BH, 10 January 1905, 3.
97 HLC, 18 March 1896, 2; AS, 1 July 1896, 1; NZH, 24 September 1898, 5.
98 NZH, 24 September 1898, 5; WE, 18 April 1904, 2; BH, 13 April 1908, 3; Caulfield, A Victorian Lady's Journey, 76; Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 91.
99 Hinerangi quoted in Caulfield, A Victorian Lady's Journey, 76; NZH, 24 September 1898, 5.
100 Caulfield, A Victorian Lady's Journey, 76.
101 Ibid.
102 Rangitīaria Dennan, Guide Rangi of Rotorua (Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1968), 49; Diamond, Paul, Makereti: Taking Māori to the World (Auckland: Random House, 2007), 40, 41Google Scholar. I have chosen to refer to “Guide Maggie” as Mākereti in this article as this was how she chose to identify herself throughout her life.
103 Dennan, Guide Rangi, 49.
104 ATL, Diary of Mākereti Papakura.
105 Salazar, “The (Im)mobility of Tourism Imaginaries,” 34.
106 Pease, Winter Wanderings; Waaka, “Whakarewarewa,” 67, 69; Massy, E. I., Memories of Maoriland (London: William Clowes, 1911)Google Scholar, v, vi.
107 Woodward and Lewis, eds., “Cartography,” 3.