House & whare

Karaka Bay

Photograph description:

‘House and several raupo whare at Karaka Bay, near the Wellington Heads. The photographer's eldest daughter by his first wife, Amy Elizabeth, is sitting with an unidentified Māori woman in front of a pile of firewood at centre.’ (Alexander Turnbull Library)

There are only a small number of references to the Karaka Bay whare in the newspapers:

1904 -

‘It is not long since the Maoris left Miramar. Fifteen years ago several lived at Karaka Bay and quite recently whares were to be seen there, but alas! the builder has swept away the raupo whares and seaside cottages have taken their places.’  (‘Curios From Miramar’, New Zealand Times, 24 September 1904, p9)

1921 -

‘Maoris lived at Karaka Bay long after the pakeha came. Some thirty years ago there was still an old Maori woman living in the last of the raupo huts about a miles to the north of Karaka Bay wharf, who was well known to those who used to “week-end” in the summer along the coast between Seatoun and Scorching Bay’. (‘Old Miramar’, Dominion, 5 March 1921, p13)

Additional photographs held by the Alexander Turnbull Library identify Wiremu Parata Te Kakakura photographed in front of a raupō  whare, and that the photo was possibly taken at a hui on 12 September 1891, when Ngāti Huia gathered to receive the infant son of Governor Onslow, how had been given the name Huia out of respect for Māori.

House and whare, Karaka Bay, Wellington. Courtesy of Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1572-1381.

A raupo whare and a fenced enclosure are in the foreground. By the fence are two of Henry Wright's older children, Reginald and Amy. Henry Wright is seated on the foreground to the right. Photograph taken circa 1887-1890. Scene at Karaka Bay, Wellington. Wright, Henry Charles Clarke, 1844-1936 :Negatives. Ref: 1/1-020626-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23107769

Māori woman in a korowai (tag cloak), and a pakeha woman, alongside a raupo whare at Karaka Bay, Wellington. The photograph was taken, circa 1885, by Henry Wright. The woman on the right is the photographer's eldest daughter, Amy Elizabeth Wright.

Women and raupo whare, Karaka Bay, Wellington. Wright, Henry Charles Clarke, 1844-1936 :Negatives. Ref: 1/1-020509-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22784295

Wiremu Parata Te Kakakura. Wright, Henry Charles Clarke, 1844-1936 :Negatives. Ref: 1/1-020616-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22440878

Wright, Henry Charles Clarke, 1844-1936. Wright, Henry Charles Clarke, 1844-1936 : Maori man wearing a korowai cloak at Karaka Bay, Wellington. Original photographic prints and postcards from file print collection, Box 11. Ref: PAColl-6304-27. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22758507

Unidentified Maori girl standing in front of a raupo whare at Karaka Bay, Wellington. Wright, Henry Charles Clarke, 1844-1936 :Negatives. Ref: 1/1-020569-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23238318