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Sidestep: The pillar of Korekore Pa
Just south of Muriwai is an interesting pa that, in 1925, was regarded as one of the most complete undistrubed pa's in the Auckland region. There were some strabnge carvings in the trnch walls, some unusual pits dug into the walls and an Andesite pentagonal rock pillar common in Waikatere and the Raglan areas. In fact the Matira site has many of these pillars piled up about. Below are extracts from the Journal of the Polynesian Society dated 1925 hence the description of trees etc no longer exists for the most part
From the top of this well defended pa one could in every direction and all the way to the Kaipara Heads. The pa was essentially on the highway north and south (the beach) and a fresh water stream idled by, through the sand dunes and out to sea. Mr. Wilson of the Kaipara, said that about 1880 he was told by an old chief that the pa was abandoned about five generations or one hundred and twenty years before that time, which would place the date of its evacuation about 1760. This was well before the European formally arrived. One name of the district he had heard to be Wharekura. The inhabitants of the pa seem to have been the earlier inhabitants of the district before Ngatiwhatua swept down from the north. It is certain that the pa has been abandoned for a great number of years. The hill is covered with thick bush of a fairly open character, containing pohutukawa, karaka, and nikau of some size. Just outside the earthworks are two immense trees, one of a circumference of twenty-four and a-half feet, the other a puriri eighteen feet round. Inside the pa on the tihi or summit, there is another puriri measuring fifteen feet in girt. The general character of the bush all over the pa indicates that a great number of years must have elapsed since it was last occupied. The pa was well situated as regards food supplies. Birds could be readily obtained from the large area of bush inland at no great distance, and a fair expanse of rich warm soil lying at the back of the ford and facing the rising sun, would be conducive to the raising of good kumara crops.
EARTHWORKS: Defensive works exist mainly on the northern ridge. On the smaller and southerly ridge the only indications of earthworks are terraces which may or may not have been used for purposes of defence, but more probably were constructed purely for house sites. On the north side the cliff falls sheer for some three hundred feet, and renders the pa impregnable from that side. On the beach front also there is an exceedingly steep slope, and a palisade at the brink of the hill would probably be ample fortification. The upward climb on this side is also a heart-breaking one, as the writer knows to his cost. On the southerly side there are three narrow terraces which would probably be defended by the usual palisades, and below these the hill again falls steeply to the watercourse beneath. The only really practicable way of attack would be by way of the connecting saddle from the hills at the back, or over the sand-hills from the same direction. There are a large number of rectangular pits in the pa altogether, and it is thought that the larger ones indicate former house sites, while those of lesser size represent store pits for the kumara, aruhe, or other food crops. The distribution of the pits seems to indicate no definite order or arrangement. There are thirty-two on the smaller ridge and thirty-one on the larger, the latter having twelve house sites, whereas the former shows only seven. In addition to the rectangular pits there are also many storage chambers of the true underground type. These are fairly common throughout New Zealand. Entry is made by a round hole in the fairly level ground of about two feet diameter to a dome shaped cavity. One series of pits was on sloping ground on the crest of the ridge; another series lay on the second terrace right at the base of the join of the two terraces.
Another interesting excavation is a small cave made in the sheer cliff overlooking the northern beach and ten feet below the brink. This is concealed from anyone on the cliff above and was discovered by pakeha (European) investigators quite by accident. The mouth was somewhat hidden by bushes. The diameter of the entrance is 1 feet 7 inches; and the depth of the pit from the opening is 4 feet 3 inches. It is four feet wide and the average height inside is 2 feet 5 inches. The sill or threshold is quite high, the level floor of the chamber being ten inches below it. The hole or pit as it might be called, is circular in shape. The roof is rounded as a dome, rising carved from the floor.
There have been several conjectures as to the purpose of the cave. A more feasible suggestion is that it served as a repository for sacred objects.
THE PILLAR: Some 250 yards or so further along, past the highest point of the pa and away from all dwellings or store pits is a curious object, a natural rock pillar, set in the earth close to the cliff edge and apparently in quite a secluded portion of the pa. Since there is no similar rock of any kind within the fort, this has evidently been carried here by the inhabitants. The material is andesite and the formation is that of a pentagonal pillar of somewhat similar type to the well known basalt pillars of the Giants' Causeway in Ireland or the so called 'organ pipes' of Dunedin. When the writer first saw it some years ago the stone was set deeply into the earth, but it has evidently been recently dug up, and now lies completely exposed. Its original purpose is unknown. Several suggestions have been made. The most likely being that it was either a material mauri symbolising the mana of the pa, examples of which are known to have existed in forts, or else it served as the tribal tuahu. The latter seems more likely. A mauri or talismanic symbol embodying the mana or power of the pa would, in all probability, be well concealed in some place which no enemy would discover, lest by potent karakia he destroy the efficacy of that mauri and so deprive the fortress of any virtue it might possess as a stronghold and place of refuge. Material mauri, as a rule, seem to have been buried or hidden within the precincts of the fort for this reason. A tuahu (a tapu spot at which rites were performed), however, was not concealed in this fashion. It was merely placed in a secluded part of the village at a little distance from dwellings. This seems to have been the case with the andesite pillar. It does not appear to have been concealed in any way, but simply to have been set firmly in the earth in a spot somewhat removed from habitation.
CARVINGS: One of the most interesting features of the pa is the presence of carvings in the sandstone wall of one of the rectangular pits. The original depth of the pit, considering the leaves and refuse that now lie there, must have been approximately ten feet. The carvings have been made chiefly on the south-western wall, that nearest the sea, with some minor figures on the north-western side. Two slabs from the latter wall are now in the Auckland Museum. It has since fallen in and the south-western wall alone now remains intact. Practically the whole of the south-western wall is covered with these incised lines. They are no mere scratchings on the surface, being in some cases more than an inch deep. The incisions are broad and the figures are well demarcated. The style of the carving is in general free and bold and the work is quite evidently that of no unpracticed hand. Figure 8 has similarities to rock carvings on the Chatham islands. The figures on the south-western wall are still in a good state of preservation. The greatest damage has been inflicted by the roots of ferns which ordinarily cover the side, and which had to be removed to allow of sketching and photography. The carving as a whole presents no uniform scheme of design. A weak and ill-defined double spiral is seen on the right of the wall at the base of what faintly resembles a human head. The triangular shape of the face is reminiscent of the figure in the Kaitaia piece of carving, and it may be noted that this is a shape of face unusual in the orthodox Maori treatment. The smaller figure on the left (fig 5) suggests lack of finish. No other definite figures can be picked out on this wall.
BURIAL PLACES: Projecting from the steep seaward spur and some two hundred feet below the pa is a huge crag towering above the sand, and, to one who looks from below, dwarfing the rising hill behind. The rock is of conglomerate, sometimes termed pudding-stone, and is deeply fissured where the crag juts out from the hill, looking as if at any moment it might fall outwards down the slope. In this mighty cleft were laid the bones of the chiefly dead. From this urupa, a shaft descending some forty feet into the rocky chasm, several skulls have been removed by scientists.
The writer was recently informed that another wahi tapu of the tribe lies on a sandy knoll to the south of the pa.
Our note is that the pillar had no carvings and no markings unlike what was found at Matira. This pa site has no definitive connection with the first inhabitants although Maori reveal they were here from a very early time of 1400AD. It is likely those here first occupied the beach areas and used the hilltops to cook upon which due to the line of site was continued as a place of habitation by those who caled it Wharekura and lived there mainly on the level area facing the north below the summit until overcome by Ngati Whatua.
