Sidestep: Prehistoric drains of the Kaipara

PREHISTORIC DRAINS ON THE KAIPARA - BY EDWIN HARDING, OF DARGAVILLE.

IN 1878 my people stocked the native grass belt on the West Coast, by Dargaville, with sheep, the first adventure in sheep-farming on the Wairoa. There were no fences, and my task in shepherding caused me continually to traverse the coastal belt, from Maunganui Bluff half way to Kaipara Heads.

In crossing a large, dry hollow, growing high manuka, I met with a deep trench. Following this to find a crossing, I noted, from the spoil thrown on the banks, that it was artificial, and further, that instead of the channel following the natural outfall, the trench was straight, a deep cut having been made through a spur about fifteen feet high. My observation thus stimulated, I found that almost every hollow which had once been a lake or swamp had been similarly drained, noteworthy features being that the drains were perfectly straight and cut to the most direct outlet, involving in some cases cuttings over twenty feet deep. The largest work is, I think, over a mile in length, straight as a dart. The work which interested me most is unfinished. There is a reedy lagoon, of perhaps a hundred acres in area, its main length and outlet creek running parallel to a gully or valley, the bed of which is 50 to 80 ft. below the lagoon. They are separated by a long sandstone ridge, three or four chains across, and about thirty feet higher than the water. At a point about opposite to the middle of the lagoon a trench has been driven in about thirty feet from each side of the spur, true to a centre-line, and there abruptly stopped. I spent much time searching in likely places for implements or relics, but found none. A good many of the drains have now been more or less obliterated by gumdigging, cultivation, or drifting sand, but some of the more striking works still remain.

I inquired of the leading Maori people of that time, Parore Te Awha, Pairama, and others. They indicated that they did not know that these were drains, that they knew nothing of them or who might have dug them, and that the Maori had no tradition of any such work. Recalling the relics at Kaitaia, Waimamaku, Raglan, etc., I have thought that these interesting problems, which probably must remain unsolved, suggest that in ancient times there has been an immense population on this coast, evidence for which may also be found in the many pa and great heaps of shells; that they apparently were agricultural people, for these drains indicate that they were permanent works, made for cultivation, and not temporary ones made for catching eels; that the general conditions do not seem to have greatly altered, except that the coastline has receded, as shown by the portions of pa-sites on the cliffs, from which the greater part has been worn away. Again, since the main food-supply, fish and shellfish, is as abundant as ever, what caused the population to disappear?—why did cultivation entirely cease?—why are there almost no implements or relics?—why is there nothing to indicate what was grown? The only edible vegetable found on the coast was the common Maori cabbage or turnip; I have never seen taro growing on the coast, though frequently found wild in abandoned plantations inland.

It may be pertinent to this subject to record that next to the fertile coast-belt lies a particularly desolate area of sandstone country, in which are a number of small caves. These caves were the repositories of many hundreds of skeletons, which, when I first explored the caves, were in perfect order. Later the gumdiggers wantonly destroyed them. Some of us searched the caves diligently for relics, but I never heard of either ornament, charm, or weapon being found. In the desire to take away a complete skull, one of us failed to find a lower jaw. Naturally, that started a search, with the result that, so far as I saw or heard, no jawbone was found with the skeleton in any cave. I have been advised that it was never a custom of the Maori to remove the jawbone.

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Below is an aerial shot of an area close to where we are investigating another cache of skeletons. There are many ditches that exist and are not used and in fact without Google Earth you would walk over them and not even recognize what is there. The farmer did not make them.

Drains that do not match normal farming ditches occur in many of the river valleys between Raglan and Port Waikato, as elsewhere. There is also evidence of even older works of some type. Some of those river valleys are Tauterei, Waimai, Matira, Waikaretu, Okuka, Kaawa (farmed so intensively it's hard to tell now), and some portions of Waikawau before the sand drifted in. They all show unusual ditch patterns. One of these farmed valleys is particularly interesting. What can we prove? Nothing, but old locals in the early 1900's when these areas began to be farmed were told those old ditches were already there. Maori did not dig drainage ditches on flat land, but they did dig defensive ditches. At the Kaipara the answers were the same as this article testifies to. There was definitely a people before Maori and they had skills the Maori did not, but it wasn't copied. All we can say for sure is the ditches were here before Europeans and Maori of the day were mostly unaware of them and they exist in areas that old Maori say others existed before they arrived.