A good example of Maori and Pakeha relationships.

Name marks Maori-Pakeha link
21 June 2006

If the Flat Bush town centre gets a new name, local iwi will push for one recalling a feisty Scot who married into their tribe about 170 years ago. Ngai Tai Te Waka Totara Trust says it will settle for the name Flat Bush, which has historic credibility, but any new name must reflect the bicultural history of the area.

Trust chief executive officer James Brown sees a symbolic ring of harmony between the Ngai Tai tribe and the Scottish people, thanks to an 1820s marriage between chief's daughter Ngeungeu and Scottish explorer Thomas Maxwell. This union is recalled in the name, te ringii o Makiwhara - the ring of Maxwell - which is Te Waka Totara's choice if the Flat Bush town centre is renamed.

'As a symbol, the ring is appropriate, because it can include and accommodate any amount of ethnic communities living in Manukau,' says Mr Brown.

Maxwell was a boatbuilder from Maxweil near Aberdeen, who landed in the Bay of Islands in 1820, aboard a sailing ship he built himself. Local Ngapuhi were impressed with Maxwell's courage in refusing to hand his ship over to them.

Meanwhile, a raiding party returned to the Bay of Islands from Tamaki after capturing the beautiful daughter of chief Otara te Irirangi. The young girl was considered so tapu that to avoid all-out war, Ngapuhi chief Patuone sent word to Otara that she would be kept safe.

Then, unexpectedly, Ngeungeu and Maxwell met up and fell in love at first sight. Patuone allowed them to marry and arranged safe passage to Tamaki, where Otara embraced his new Pakeha son-in-law.

Otara, who owned many islands in the Gulf, granted Maxwell and his daughter Waiheke Island, where Maxwell set up a boatbuilding operation. Tailored to local conditions, these craft facilitated trade with missionaries and settlers as far afield as the Wairoa River.

The couple had three sons, beginning a distinguished halfcaste line that persists to this day.

Mr Brown uses elements of the Maxwell family's coats of arms in silver rings worn by himself and members of his staff at Te Waka Totara. He says the tribe succeeded in naming Te Irirangi Drive and nobody should under-estimate how serious they are about te ringii o Makiwhara.

Te Waka Totara will make verbal submissions when the Manukau City Council Hearings Committee meets on July 4 to decide what name to recommend to the New Zealand Geographical Board.