Yeah... Just how did Māori Hill get its name?
...and what happens when even Gregor doesn't know?
Recently, my friend messaged me and said her son had asked how Māori Hill had got its name and why did the school not use the macron over the a? A quick Google and I’m coming to the realisation, as did my friend, that it’s not an easy, well known answer. The latter will have to do with boring databases and computer records no doubt but how the suburb got its name, as I do with everything, I deferred to Gregor. I quickly realised Gregor was busy with other research and I’m overly curious so out comes Papers Past which leads me to “Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand" by Dr Hocken to “Reminiscences Of The Early Settlement Of Dunedin And South Otago” by John Wilson to “Above the Belt, A History of the Suburb of Maori Hill” by Jane Smallfield and Brian Heenan. After days of being buried deep in text, I finally have somewhat of an answer. Unfortunately no smoking gun, nothing definitively saying “and that’s how the suburb was named”. Putting all the threads together though, this was my reply to the young’un.
“In 1843/44, Frederick Tuckett from England was hired by The New Zealand Company to survey for suitable land for The Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland. It was decided Port Cooper (now the area of Lyttleton/Christchurch) wasn't what would suit the Scot's vision of a new Edinburgh but the area of Otago was much more suited to a crofter's lifestyle. So, The Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland organised with The New Zealand Company to purchase 400,000 acres of land in Otago (Otago being an anglicised version of Ōtākou). The New Zealand Company bought the land from Māori who were looking forward to welcoming the Scots to the area and continuing a relationship based on shared knowledge and trade with the Europeans who had already been living on the coast as whalers and sealers for the most part. Tuckett made the arduous journey through some harsh terrain, starting from the beach at Ōtepoti near Toitū stream and working his way up to Whakaari/Flagstaff. The area we know as Halfway Bush was named as such then but was a larger area, moving east. He noted that there were Māori living in Halfway Bush and they had been visited by missionaries who were giving Christian instruction. He also found tracks used by Māori and wrote so in his diary. One can assume that because Halfway Bush was such a large area, more landmarks were used as descriptors to narrow down specific areas. 1857 is the oldest found use of "Maori Hill' in the newspapers currently made available to the public and is described as "the Maori hill" or "known as Maori Hill" until 1862 when it seems to be just referred to as "Maori Hill". Again, one can only assume that the tracks and hapū were found closer to Ōwheo/Leith than the current Halfway Bush because Ngāi Tahu would use rivers and streams as roads, as stated in Tuckett's diary which would put the area in the vicinity of where Māori Hill is currently.
How did Māori Hill go from being a reference to a landmark to an official name for a borough? James Macassey might have had something to do with that. He was a lawyer, moved from Ireland to Australia to Dunedin in 1862. He married the daughter of Charles Kettle, a surveyor who took over from Tuckett once Otago was ready for the Scots to move in. Kettle subdivided the area known as "the Maori hill", the Macasseys moved in and there’s some evidence that he mainstreamed the name as the official name of the area.
Māori Hill got its first mayor in 1865 and was amalgamated into the wider city in 1916.”
This is a call for help, however! If anyone has any information related to the naming of Māori Hill, please let us know.
- Lolene