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William "Toss" Hammond (born 1869), discusses Māori history of the Thames region, from European settlement onwards. He discusses Hongi Hika and his visit to England, his attack on the Tōtara Pa and the history of the Tōtara pa, Tainui and Ngāti Maru. Also mention other local iwi: Ngāti Hei, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Huarere. James Mackay and his relationship with Māori, land purchases, mining rights and the strategies used to obtain them, breaches of faith with Māori, schools, the career of Col. Fraser (magistrate and Member of Parliament), juvenile delinquency and punishment (1870s and after) and fire fighting in Thames during the 1870s.
Mr Hammond talks about the Europeans gaining Māori land for mining purposes, his father building a house for Te Hera, a chief of Ngāti Tamatara of Ohinemuri. He recalls Te Hera and his friends Te Moananui and Mere Kuru did not wish to sell their land to Pākēha initially. He recollects first contact with Māori and people he came to know such as Tuku Mana of the Ngāti Whanaunga and Pokai, who was painted by Goldie.
He retells an account of Hongi Hika's trip to England and the great fight at Tōtara between Hongi Hika and the Ngāti Maru, as given to Captain Mair by one of the survivors, Matene te Nga [?] Details of another earlier fight at Tōtara, when the pā was besieged by a combined Ngāpuhi and Waikato force, and explains how it came to be known as the 'Battle of the Dripping Garments'.
He tells the story of Hotunui and how he was accused by father in law of stealing kumara, was subsequently banished and how his son, Marutuahu, went in search of him and exacted revenge for the way his father had been treated by the Ureopo.
He tells the story of Tauru Kopakopa and how he regained his wife who had been kidnapped by another iwi. Also how revenge was taken by Waiketiwai Māori for the death of Kairangatira, who had acted as the spy in getting Tauru Kopekope's wife back.
He talks about Thames Māori working with Waikato Māori during the Waikato war and the efforts of the government to prevent them assisting. James Mackay [Mackie] tried to "dissuade" the local Māori their from assisting the Waikato. Also some of Mackay's other involvements with Māori including trying to get the Thames iwi to give consent for their land to be used for mining.
He talks about tapu ground and how the promises to keep the sanctity of some Māori land were not kept. Te Moananui of Ngāti Tamatera of Ohinemuri - how he was cursed [makutu] by Pukuroa and what happened to Pukuroa as a consequence of that.
He talks about Sir James Parr who was tutored as a boy by Denis O'Donaghue for a scholarship which he nearly lost because the marks were given to the wrong boy. Also a Colonel Fraser and the harsh sentences he used to give to young boys he considered to be juvenile delinquents. Boys sent to a training ship in Auckland. Colonel Fraser then went into politics.
He recalls the history of the construction of the road between Thames and Paeroa, Māori who objected to it and those who worked on it. Also memories of old identities of the time, including an African-American known by the nickname "Shanghai" [Colonel Richard Davis] and other colonial era veterans such as Jim Donnelly, Pat Hennessy, Matt Kitt, Kelsaw, Parslow, Weir-Gordon and William Lucas.
He gives details of a challenge set up by Ngāpuhi to the Māori at Tararu which was accepted by the chief Te Apuranga. Also details of the revenge sought by Raupo for the killings of his father Kahuroutou and brother Kiwi and how he was captured by Ngāpuhi but managed to escape.
He speaks further about about the work of James Mackay [Commissioner of Māori Affairs] in the Thames region and how he was forgotten as an old man and his grave was neglected for many years. He ends by recalling as a child watching the great fire of Thames in 1872 and the many businesses it destroyed in Shortland.