A RAMBLE THROUGH RAGLAN

If you're a European New Zealander, then for the last 30-years you've been reminded, fairly frequently, that you're merely the unwanted "flotsam and jetsam", caste-off floating garbage of Britain that got washed up on, and now pollutes these shores. Apparently, New Zealand has fallen from its former, pre-colonial paradisiacal state to become "the land of the long white crowd" and now it's open season on Europeans, which allows activists like Harawera to make her "kill-a-white" comments with legal impunity.

But in fact, as every true Maori Kaumatua or Tohunga knows and will probably tell you, if you ask politely enough, Europeans have occupied New Zealand, constantly, for many thousands of years and were, once, the core population of the country before the arrival of Polynesian/ Melanesian Maori. The old Maori Kaumatuas, who were properly trained in the wharewaanangas or at the feet of the elders, memorised the oral histories handed down from their distant forebears. This was no small task or accomplishment and it took the alert minds of the most gifted children, coupled with tremendous discipline, to learn the histories by song or cadence rhythm and keep them alive. Oral traditions have to be memorised perfectly and are, generally, very reliable. Many regional oral histories have been recorded and are available in the history books of the last 200-years.

Generation upon generation of old Kaumatuas and Kuias have always acknowledged the existence of the kiri puwhero (light complexion, reddish skinned) and uru-kehu (light coloured, golden tinged or reddish hair) taniwha races (the pre-Maori stonebuilders). It is only the lately trained corporate kaumatuas, with a degree in business management or law, who have, all-too-conveniently, forgotten who the actual Tangata Whenua (Lords of the soil) of New Zealand truly are. The ruined stone structures and highly visible landscape excavations of the stonebuilders dot our countryside in their thousands and many of these structures relate to astronomy, just like in Britain or Continental Europe and the Mediterranean.

Virtually everything one sees in Maori culture has been derived from the earlier kiri-puwhero and uru-kehu stonebuilders, as the spoils of war and conquest by the Maori warriors, who, subsequently, annihilated the earlier people.
The name Turehu, from whom Maori acknowledge they learned the art of "Moko", the "Haka" dance and many other cultural expressions, describes a large sub-group of the kiri-puwhero, uru-kehu races, which came under an umbrella term or name of Patu-paiarehe. Other names for these people were Pakepakeha, Maruiwi, Ngati-Hotu, etc. In fact, remnants of the Ngati-Hotu survived into colonial times and were also called Te whanau o Rangi…or the children of heaven.

J.M. McEwen researched the Ngati-Hotu for over 15-years and used for reference the writings of Hawke's Bay chiefs Raniera Te Ahiko and Paramena Te Naonao. Other researchers gleaned information from genealogical tables related by tribes bordering Lake Taupo and by interviews with the learned elders there. One quotation about the Ngati-Hotu, derived from these Maori sources, states:

Generally speaking, Ngati Hotu were of medium height and of light colouring. In the majority of cases they had reddish hair. They were referred to as urukehu. It is said that during the early stages of their occupation of Taupo they did not practice tattooing as later generations did, and were spoken of as te whanau a rangi (the children of heaven) because of their fair skin.
There were two distinct types. One had a kiri wherowhero or reddish skin, a round face, small eyes and thick protruding eyebrows. The other was fair-skinned, much smaller in stature, with larger and very handsome features. The latter were the true urukehu and te whanau a rangi. In some cases not only did they have reddish hair, but also light coloured eyes.
(See Tuwharetoa, chapter 7, page 115, by Rev. John Grace).

Our rapidly disappearing older books are replete with oral tradition quotes or observations about the pre-Maori "Stonebuilders" and, during the 1960's and before, these people were common knowledge and openly talked about. Even the "collectable picture cards" from our Vita-Brits breakfast cereal box mentioned them, as did old tourist maps of Taupo, etc. Felton Mathew, Surveyor General in Hobson's fledgling government, observed during his first visit to Thames-Waitemata on February 23rd 1840:

'There are several very singular hills rising boldly from the surrounding land, in shape and form closely resembling the Roman encampments on the Tumuli that abound in many parts of England & having like them three or four distinct fops or ditches encircling them towards the summit - This singular too that these have been formed for defence by the natives - the top of every hill is marked in this way with distinct lines of circumvallation. An antiquary might from this circumstance deduce a connection between the New Zealanders and the ancient Romans!!' (see Felton Mathew's unpublished letters to his wife, Special Collections, Auckland Public Library.

Another early explorer noted:

'Arriving at the foot of the mountain [Mt. Eden] we assayed its ascent in the course of which my friend evinced a deep interest in traces of Maori fortifications of a past age, which were everywhere in evidence, the escarpments, trenches and what had once been covered ways and store pits though fallen in or overgrown, were yet in a wonderful state of recognition.
Several of the stone walls of these fortifications could still be traced with considerable accuracy, although the oldest living Maori could not tell when, or by whom, they were erected.
The Maori race show a wonderful aptitude for field engineering in warfare, and these traces of ancient fortifications, in particular, have often called forth the highest commendation from those most capable of judging such matters.
It must have taken a much larger population than was then to be found to man these fortifications effectively, so extensive were they, the whole mountain appearing to be girt by them, line after line, from bottom to top (see Sketches of Early Colonisation in New Zealand -and its Phases of Contact With the Maori Race, (circa late 1840's), by "Te Manuwiri", pg. 123, Whitcomb & Tombs).

Another publication states:

"Maungawhau, 'the mountain of the whau', a shrub believed to have been growing in the area. The shrub was valued for its cork-like wood, used for floats on fishing nets...Maori legend tells of Maungawhau's [Mt. Eden's] first inhabitants, the Patupaiarehe or Turehu, who were skilled in the arts of fishing, hunting, weaving and warefare. It is said that this nocturnal people were destroyed as they lingered building a bridge after dawn"(see The Changing Face Of Mt. Eden, pg. 8, Mt. Eden Borough Council, 1989).

Indeed, British Archaeologist, Aileen Fox made much the same observation in her 1976 book, Prehistoric Maori Fortifications in the North Island of New Zealand, remarking on the distinct similarities between Maori PA's and the ancient, palisade encompassed, pre-Celtic hill forts of Britain. A mass of such landscape evidence, incorporating many kinds of structures across New Zealand, has been, in recent years, increasingly relegated to the realm of politically incorrect, fringe or pseudo-science and, consequently, never allowed to be seriously investigated by our mainstream archaeologists or historians.

Of these extensive fortifications, built in a very European style, leading historian Elsdon Best said:

The Maori did not live in this manner in his former home in eastern Polynesia. Did he evolve the pa system after he settled here, or did he borrow it from former inhabitants? (see: The Maori As He Was - A Brief Account of Maori Life as it was in Pre-European Days, Chapt. VI, pg. 165).

If the Polynesian Maori brought the artefacts, symbols and motifs here, then why are they not found in their lands of origin? Historian/ anthropologist, Edward Tregear, asked this same question. Professor Thor Heyerdahl wrote the following on this very subject:

'Irrespective of how and when the Maori began to cover their carvings with spirals, the habit is absent in their Polynesian homeland and may therefore very well be so in their still earlier fatherland further away. There is, indeed, no such curvilinear surface design on the wood carvings of the Society Islands and these include the very tall ancestral posts which were erected in ancient Tahiti' (see American Indians in the Pacific, pg. 116).

Skeletons of the uru-kehu people have been observed, frequently, in burial caves or in a sitting (trussed position) in sand dunes, since the earliest colonial times. In burial caves, they often have been seen to have red hair or other light brown and blond hues. Samples of their braided hair, taken from the Waitakere rock shelters, used to be on display at Auckland War Memorial Museum and were the subject of written commentary by Maori anthropologist, Sir Peter Buck. Our earliest maritime explorers frequently saw the, red headed, freckle-faced Maori or "waka blondes" and large pockets of them survived well into the 20th century as people who had never mixed their blood with colonial era European settlers. These days, on occasions when ancient, pre-colonial European Caucasoid skeletons are located, the iwi takes possession of them and no scientific investigation is permitted.

On Tuesday December 14th 2004 a group of researchers visited several "Obelisk" solar observatory sites in Raglan, New Zealand to determine why the huge, purpose place boulders had been laboriously hauled and erected at exact positions. The tumbled obelisk seen would probably weigh in excess of 10-tons. Surveying analysis demonstrated that was set up to get a fix onto the setting sun, at the equinox, as it descended upon prominent peaks of Mt Karioi. This position could be used twice a year for very accurate calendar fixes. Another, smaller stone site, not too far overland, where the observatory stones were inscribed by designs, used Mt. Karioi as the outer marker for the winter solstice. Raglan researcher, Terry Stoddart, who discovered these highly significant and very ancient sites, takes a GPS fix, while Sandra Stock and the author look on.

The reason why the obelisk was laboriously hauled overland and placed in this exact position was to get an accurate fix on the equinox sunset, using Mt. Karioi as the "outer marker" for that precise calendar event.

One of two inscribed boulders at the second observatory visited on December 14th 2004. This small solar observatory used Mt. Karioi as the outer marker for the winter solstice sunset. (Photo courtesy of Sandra Stock).

The 4th obelisk position surveyed on the day. Prior to this the team had visited an impressive hillcrest observatory that used Mt. Pirongia as the summer solstice sunrise outer marker. It also gave excellent distant range fixes onto the equinox and winter solstice rise positions.
The huge stone at site 4 was the largest single obelisk encountered on the day. It has been pushed out of its cradle, where the author is seen setting up a theodolite. It was determined that the ancient, purpose placed obelisk position orientated onto a position just north of Mt. Pirongia for an accurate fix relating to the equinox sunrise. Terry Stoddart takes another GPS fix. (Photo courtesy of Paula Feather).

Left: Another view from the giant obelisk, which uses a hill on the horizon (with a radio mast now atop it) north of Mt. Pirongia as its outer marker for the equinox sunrise. The obelisk has been tumbled off its stone cradle platform and lies forlornly on its side. This was the largest purpose placed obelisk found, of 7 sites visited, on Tuesday 14th of December 2004. The position also worked for both winter and summer solstice sunrise determinations.
Right: The author sets up the theodolite adjacent to a hillside obelisk at an impressive standing stone circle site overlooking the Raglan harbour. In the ground beside this obelisk was found a very impressive incised stone bearing crossing lines. The rear of the obelisk was inscribed with a series of horizontal lines, inferring a system of counting for calendar determinations. (Photos courtesy of Sandra Stock).

Two intricately incised calendar stones located at the large standing stone circle site overlooking the Raglan harbour. The stone to the left was set in the ground within ten feet of a large obelisk that marked the solar rise positions along a range to the East. The other stone, composed of 64 incised squares, was found adjacent to a "standing stone circle" made up of large obelisk components. The two "cross-hatched" incised stones, and several others bearing similar-design ancient inscriptions, were found within 300-feet (100 metres) of each other. The layout of the 64-square matrix stone is very reminiscent of the ancient Druidic Calendar of Coligny of Ain, France, which used a 64-square, chessboard design (doubling to 128-squares) for lunisolar calendar calculations. The design lattices seen here are very similar to what is seen on Lapita pottery of the Pacific, which is also a duplication of the Neolithic Wessex and Beaker designs of ancient Britain. (Photo of the 64-square matrix stone courtesy of Terry Stoddart).

One of the large incised components of an obelisk standing stone circle at a high promontory overlooking Raglan Harbour. It is as yet unknown what this incised writing or pictograms relate to. It was very near to this standing stone circle that the 64-square matrix stone was found by Terry Stoddart. It was located lying face downward on the hill slope adjacent, in a manner to suggest that it had been hurriedly abandoned when these sites came under siege. Near to the high hill site was found the remnants of stone domestic dwellings, tumbled walls and cut assembly plateaus, one of which related to an accurate calendar fix onto the equinox sunset. There is no doubt but that the ancient, pre-Maori people were heavily involved in sophisticated astronomical and land surveying activities, as a careful analysis of these many stone marker positions will attest. (Photos courtesy of Sandra Stock).

The Poulton Plaque fragment, one of many found in England, which duplicates the crossing-line designs found upon many ancient New Zealand incised stones. This "cross-hatching" design-style is found on 'Grooved Ware' pottery, which is supposedly unique to Britain.

Two massive, deeply incised boulders located in the Waipoua Forest of Northland New Zealand. Before Maori arrived there was a huge settlement living in the forest, adjacent to both the Waipoua River and the western sea coastline. The people lived in stone beehive-house hovel domes, just as in ancient Ireland. The sprawling metropolis extended over several large valleys and the inhabitants built their many types of structures in stacked stone. Left: The deep incising on this huge boulder is so old that it has caused water penetration into the fissures. With seasonal expansion and contraction, large exterior sections have flaked off. Right: This boulder shows the cross-hatch style of incising commonly found in Britain.

Left: Wairua Taylor and Terry Stoddart stand atop the main tumbled hubstone obelisk of the standing stone circle during a research expedition at the vernal equinox (Southern Hemisphere's) in 2004.
Right: During the 14th of December trip, Sandra took this photo, from yet another observatory site on the lowlands of the Raglan Harbour estuary, of the sun descending onto the peaks of Mt Karioi. This sunset was only one week before the summer solstice and positively showed that ancient astronomers were using the purpose built observatory for an accurate solstice fix, using the peaks of Mt. Karioi as the outer marker.

The fact of the matter is that New Zealand has many standing stone circles, hill-range marker mounds, cairn and standing stone surveying markers systems and ancient hilltop trigs. There is evidence, across our entire landscape, of very sophisticated surveying having taken place in remote antiquity. There are also many thousands of collapsed stone beehive house hovel domes, walls, etc., in our forests and it is a very easy task to find and assess these ancient pre-Maori sites.

Unfortunately, we pay out very sizable sums to employ establishment archaeologists, historians and other experts, who then tell us half-truths or hide our long-term history by omitting significant detail. These moral cowards are, either, deliberately obtuse and unobservant or, alternatively, simply inept and stupid people, unworthy to be in our employ. They seem quite happy to take our money off us, seemingly under false pretences, but never actually cultivate the ability to see what's so vividly at their feet or in plain view, as documented evidence within our archives.
It was never more true that, "there are none so blind as those who WILL not see and none so deaf as those who WILL not hear." If New Zealanders wish to gain access to their true, long-term history, either pre-Maori or colonial, they're going to have to extract it themselves from the landscape or archives without any hope of help from "politically correct" and "racially sensitive" academics, who aren't allowed to participate.