Early Castlepoint
(H G Groves)

Published on 18 December 1940 in the Wairarapa Times-Age

WITH the completion of a fine ferro-concrete bridge over the Whakataki Stream, on the Masterton-Castlepoint highway, a few rambling notes on early tracks and transport in that region may be of interest in the Centennial year [1940]. 

Taking into account the amount of traffic on the Castlepoint road, and the years during which it has been in use, it seems remarkable that the Whakataki had not been bridged before. 

There is still one stream, Ducrous Creek, on this road to bridge. Is there another road in New Zealand that has been in use so long and carries as much traffic, that has had to wait so long for bridges? 

In making this comment, it is not the writer's wish to reflect in any way on the authorities who have controlled the road. The long delay in bridging is mentioned merely as an interesting fact. In the notes that follow, every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of dates and other particulars.

Kupe's visit

Castlepoint, or to give it the original Maori name, Rangi Wha Koma [Rangiwhakaoma] , was one of the places visited by Kupe in his great chase after the "Wheke," or octopus, from Hawaiiki. 

We are told that Kupe landed at Rangi Wha Koma to replenish his stores and also to hunt the wheke from a cave in the rocks. This he succeeded in doing; the Wheke fled south and was eventually caught in Tory Channel--"New Zealand's first fishing story."

Thomas Guthrie

Castlepoint, as known today, was first settled by Thomas Guthrie, in the year 1848. He was the original owner of Castlepoint Station. This must have been one of the earliest settlements on the East Coast, between Palliser Bay and Hawke's Bay. 

No doubt the safety of ships from southerlies, and a good beach for landing on, would be a deciding factor in choosing Castlepoint as a place for a settlement. 

Guthrie and his family must have arrived at Castlepoint carly in the year. for in the big earthquake of 16 October 1848 the chimney of their hut, built of clay and boulders, was wrecked [along with every other chimney in the Wairarapa]

No information is available today of the struggles and trials of these pioneers in their first seven years at Castlepoint.

With the arrival of the Groves family at Castlepoint in 1855, more information is available, thanks to letters by John Groves to his brother in England. These letters are now in the Turnbull Library. 

From these letters we learn that Guthrie had established a store and also an hotel at Castlepoint, as well as being in a large way with sheep and cattle. 

To the writer of these notes it is a great surprise to learn that 13,000 sheep were shorn on Castlepoint Station in 1856 and that the wool was sold in the London market for 13d a lb [pound].

Thomas Guthrie

Of Guthrie, not much is known today. As far as is known, he was of a London family. He, his wife, and one child arrived at Wellington in the ship Adelaide on March 7, 1840, having sailed from London on September 18, 1839, a voyage of 171 days. 

Before settling at Castlepoint, Guthrie was one of the first settlers in Happy Valley, Wellington. His old home, a slab hut, was in use as a cowbail not many years ago. A list of the burgesses of Wellington for the year 1846. in the Turnbull Library, contains the name of Thomas Guthrie: occupation, stock-holder; place of residence, Upper Willis Street. 

Guthrie died and was buried at Castlepoint in May, 1876. His wife Ann died at Dannevirke in 1906.

John Groves and Mrs Guthrie were brother and sister. Guthrie was noted for his very fine physique and immense bodily strength. His only son died in his early twenties, so the name has passed. 

The Whishaws, of Featherston, are grandchildren. Their mother [Kitty Wishaw] was a daughter of Thomas Guthrie. Mrs N. R. Blakiston, of Dannevirke, is also a grandchild.

Pioneer transport

To come to early tracks and transport, it is hard to realise today that Castlepoint was a centre for distribution, years before Masterton was started and many years after that event. 

The district served by Castlepoint extended from Brancepeth on the one hand to Alfredton on the other, and the main means of transporting stores from Castlepoint to the different homesteads was pack bullocks. 

The writer has often heard his mother speak of the pack bullocks coming through from Brancepeth on their way to Castlepoint for stores twice a year. 

Seven Oaks was one of the places of call on the way through. William Beetham was usually in charge of the pack bullocks, and if churning was in progress at Seven Oaks, Beetham always waited for a cup of buttermilk when the churning was completed. Morning and afternoon teas were not yet invented.

The writer remembers hearing of the bad luck that happened to the Brancepeth packers on one trip. When they were nearly home a pack bullock ran against a tree and tore a bag of flour off his load and the flour was lost. Such a calamity had the sympathy of the whole community. A similar catastrophe was the means of the cutting on the main road in front of the Triangle homestead being called Sugar Corner. A bag of sugar was lost from a pack bullock in this locality.

The Bullock Dray

Later, as tracks came to be more defined, sledges had their day, and later still bullock drays did their share. This was a big step forward. Right down to the 1880's all the wool from the Whareama district was shipped from Castlepoint--a matter of three to four thousand bales of wool. The formation of the road from Kahumingi through the Mangapakeha Valley to Tinui, in 1880-81, was a death-blow to Castlepoint. Five-horse wagon teams were at once on the road, giving a faster and better service to the railway at Masterton, and the day of the bullock team was over, just as, in later years, motor transport wiped out the horse-drawn traffic. With the wonderful transport service that we have today, it is well to remember that pack bullocks were the pioneers of today's ease and comfort.

Shipping uncertainties

A factor in diverting the wool traffic from Castlepoint was the uncertainty of shipping. Wool was often held in the shipping shed for months; shipping was not regular, and the first wool into the shed was often the last out. Wool had to be transhipped at Wellington into sailing vessels for the London market. Often growers of wool had to wait a year or more before receiving account sales of their produce.

The formation of a dray road from Masterton to Castlepoint was a job extending over many years. The first portion, from Tinui, to Castlepoint, was done under the Provincial Government. From the Masterton end the road was formed as far as Kahumingi, and was a dead end there for years. Mails for the East Coast districts came as far as Kahumingi by buggy once a fortnight and were packed from there to Whareama, Tinui and Castlepoint over the hill tracks. With the formation of the road from Kahumingi through the Mangapakeha Valley to Tinui, in the early 1880s, a twice weekly service began. Today Castlepoint enjoys a daily service, thanks to motor transport.

A road much used

Next to the sailing vessels which made the settlement of the East Coast stations possible, the sea beach was the next means of practicable transport. All the early traffic on land between Wellington and Napier used the beach as a road, Castlepoint being about half-way between the two. In a letter written by John Groves from Castlepoint in 1856, he mentions his surprise at the number of travellers who passed up and down the coast -sometimes as many as twelve travellers staying at the hotel at Castlepoint. In this same letter Groves states that the hotel at Castlepoint and another were the only places of accommodation between Wellington and Napier. The other hotel to which he refers, but which he does not name, would be the Lake Ferry Hotel, at the mouth of Lake Wairarapa. This hotel was in existence in 1853, and possibly earlier. The Lake Ferry Hotel is still on the map, but with the opening of the road from the coast to Masterton, Castlepoint was a dead end, the hotel closed for want of business, and the licence was transferred elsewhere.

The Beach Highway

No doubt the first travellers from Wellington to Napier followed the beach round to Cape Palliser and up the coast from there. Later, with settlement taking place in the Lower Wairarapa, and tracks being opened, the route appears to have been' through Martinborough to Hinakura and down the Pahau River to the coast and then along the beach northward.

In the middle fifties, after Masterton was settled, tracks were established in from Castlepoint and most of the traffic took this route, it being shorter and more direct. A certain amount followed the coast route till the Whareama River ferry was closed in 1882. Traffic then ceased on the beach route.

In 1863 J. A. Perry rode to Greytown from Aohanga for a doctor to attend Harry Groves, who had been accidentally shot while pig hunting. The route taken was down the coast to the Pahau River, and into Greytown via Hinakura and Martinborough. On the return journey with the doctor. they found the Pahau River in flood and the doctor refused to cross. Not to be beaten, Perry grabbed the reins of the doctor's horse, struck the spurs into his own and got safely over. The journey from Aohanga to Greytown and back to Castlepoint occupied two days. Evidently fresh horses were obtained from settlers along the route. The patient was brought to Castlepoint on a bullock dray to meet the doctor and eventually recovered. The writer is indebted to Mr H. Clarke, of Masterton, for this information. Clarke was standing alongside Groves when the accident happened.

Whareama tragedy

While traffic up and down the coast had practically ceased, the closing of the Whareama Ferry in 1882 was a tragedy. Late on Saturday afternoon, April 29, 1882, a shepherd on Meredith's Orui Station noticed, from the hills, that the ferryman's house appeared to be wrecked. Next morning he, with others, swam the Whareama River, and found the house burned down, and the remains of the ferryman, his wife and two children in the ruins. The house, of five rooms, and built in 1860, had raupo walls and a toi toi thatched roof. It seems extraordinary that the victims could not get out of the burning building. It will never be known how many days had passed from the burning of the house till its discovery by the Orui shepherd.

Two clocks found in the ruins had stopped, one at 10 and the other at 10.10, whether a.m. or p.m. could not be proved. The ferryman, George Smith, was a bootmaker by trade and apparently had quite a circle of customers. His wife had had nursing experience and her services were often made use of in case of sickness in the district. Smith was known to have quite an amount of money in his possession, but after the fire a few copper coins were all that could be found in the ruins. Whether foul play or sheer bad luck caused the tragedy will never be known. The particulars given here are from files of the "Wairarapa Daily," May 1, 2 and 4, 1882.

That a ferry service in the early days of settlement was urgently required at the Whareama River is proved by the fact that on Guthrie taking up Castlepoint Station, he had to undertake to maintain a ferry service at the Whareama River.

Ferry abandoned

On the sale by Guthrie of part of Castlepoint Station to the Rev J. C. Andrew, in 1866, the responsibility to maintain the ferry passed to Ica Station. Documents in the possession of Mr James Andrew, Ica, prove this. After the tragic ending of ferryman Smith and his family, the Rev J. C. Andrew camped at the river mouth for a fortnight to prove that the ferry was not required. Not a single traveller appeared in the fortnight. The parson packed his belongings into the boat and rowed home, and it is very doubtful if a traveller has passed that way since.

A neglected reserve

While Castlepoint was the main centre for the distribution of stores, etc., to the new settlements on the coast and in the Whareama Valley, the Whareama River was also made use of. So important was this waterway considered in the early days of settlement, that in the original surveys of the Whareama Valley a reserve site comprising fourteen acres of land, for a landing place for goods, was set aside and a road surveyed to it. This landing reserve is on the Kowhai Flats near when the Kowhai Stream empties into the Whareama River. It seems near when the Kowhai Stream empties into the Whareama River. It seems a pity that the authorities have not taken steps to have this area defined. In time to come this reserve may be of great use to the community.

For quite a time after settlement started in the Lower Whareama, settlers had their stores brought up the river by small sailing vessels and landed on the reserve. Uncertainty as to time of arrival was a great handicap. Settlers, with their pack bullocks, sometimes waited days for the boat to come in. On one occasion, after a three days' wait, the settlers concerned went home. Next day the expected vessel got in and came up the river. No one was there to receive the goods. The ship's crew dumped them on the bank and departed. That night a heavy flood came down the river and washed most of the goods away. This settled shipping in the Whareama River. Even if it were further away, Castlepoint was a safer place for the landing of goods.

Tracks still visible

Today we do not know who was the pioneer who blazed the first tracks into the Whareama that the pack bullocks followed, but anyone who cares to look can still find them. The first track into the Upper Whareama followed up the Whakataki Stream to the foot of the hill, where the present road starts to climb, and climbed up a ridge to the left of the present road, crossed the main road at the top of the Big Hill and straight over the high ridge to the right. The old track is very plainly to be seen here. 

After crossing the ridge, the track came steeply down into the Tinui River Valley, crossing the present road about half a mile above its junction with the main road. Going straight across the Tinui River, the track goes up the other side in a series of zig-zags. Some of these are so sharp and steep that it seems almost impossible for heavily loaded pack bullocks to get round them. After zig-zagging up the hill for some distance, the track follows up a spur on to the top of the high hill known as Mount Misery. It then followed a long ridge down into the Whareama Valley, and crossed the river in the vicinity of Ngapopatu, the homestead of Robert Langdon. Probably Langdon was one of the pioneers who blazed this track, as he settled at Ngapopatu in March, 1854.

Part of Ngapopatu is known today as Larch Bank. Some time later this track was carried up the Whareama to where Manawa is today, and over the hills to Alfredton. This track served as a highway for years for goods coming in and wool going out. The first wool clips from the Alfredton district were packed out on bullocks to Castlepoint for shipping away on this track. The wool was packed in long bags called "pockets" and on arrival at Castlepoint was repacked into the ordinary bale for shipping. Pockets seem to have been universally used for packing wool. 

Early day fords

A second track left Castlepoint for Lower Whareama. This track later became one of the main routes between Wellington and Napier. Climbing over the hills from Castlepoint, the track came on to the watershed ridge, between the Whareama River and the sea, a little south of the hill known as The Peak. 

It then followed the ridge south over the high knob known as The Trooper and down into the Whareama. Valley. 

The track crossed the Whareama River at what was known as the Hikurangi Ford. This ford is near Mr John Andrews's Awanui homestead. Another ford sometimes used is the one today known as the Ica Ford. 

After crossing the river, the track crossed the flats and through what is now the Langdale Domain and on to Cripps's. 

Leaving here the track climbed over the hills to Blairlogie, from there over what was known the Kerosene Range and along the watershed between the Kahumingi and Mangapakeha streams, past where the Awatoitoi homestead stands day, and followed a long ridge down into the Kahumingi, crossing it where the Rorokoko and Kahumingi streams meet. 

From here the track climbed to the top of the high ridge to the left of the present road, went through the bush to Taueru, crossed the river little above the present bridge, turned to the right past where Abbotsford stands today, over the hills to Te Ore Ore and into Masterton. This track went over the hills some distance north of the present road.

Bullock-dray transport

Later, as the country became clearer, bullock drays used this route, and also branched off about where Awatoitoi stands for Tinui, through the Mangapakeha Valley. The track used to come down from Awatoitoi into the Mangapakeha Valley and can still be seen about half a mile on the Masterton side of the Bush Grove entrance. Jack Pickett and Peg Leg Morrison claimed to have driven the first bullock-dray over this route. Wheel marks are quite plainly to be seen here. Timber was the material hauled from Taueru. A bullock team to go to Taueru from Tinui for a load of timber, left Tinui about midday and arrived at the head of Mangapakeha Valley, late in the afternoon and the driver camped under the dray. Next day to Taueru, load and back to Mangapakeha, camp and next morning back to Tinui. 

John Taplin, who later maintained a carrying plant at Taueru, once related to the writer his experiences when hauling the timber with bullocks from Taueru to Tinui, for the bridge over the Whareama River in the year 1876. The length of the piles and stringers was the chief difficulty, but as usual the bullocks saw the job through. This bridge has since been replaced by a ferro-concrete structure. 

Another connecting track ran from Ngapopatu down the Whareama Valley to Flag Creek. From there it climbed over the hills, and came down into the Mangapakeha Valley, about where Triangle homestead stands today. After crossing the Mangapakeha Stream the track went over Langdale Hill and joined the main track somewhere about what is today the Langdale Domain.

Bridging the Taueru

The present Langdale Road practically follows the original track. So important was this junction that the Provincial Council sent up a signpost from Wellington, for Cripps to erect, directing the traffic to Castlepoint. The greatest obstacle to travelling in the pioneer days was the unbridged rivers and many lives were lost. 

Among the many valuable accounts of Early Wairarapa compiled by Charles Bannister and published in the "Times-Age," is one giving dates of bridges erected over Wairarapa rivers. Although he does not give the actual date of the bridging of what he describes as "that dirty, detestable river, the Taueru," from his remarks, if one gives the date of 1874 it will be near the mark. The first bridge over this river was washed away by a flood, the day after the authorities had passed the work and taken it over from the builder.

Isaac Cripps related to the writer how in the early sixties, he and several other travellers were held up at Gilligan's accommodation house, by a flood in the Taueru River. Gilligan's establishment stood about where Abbotsford stands today. After waiting for three days for the river to go down, Cripps decided to do something. Securing an axe he searched along the river bank for a tree that could be felled across the river for a bridge, found a kaihikatea that was suitable, and set to work to fell it. In the words of the axeman "it went across beautifully," then broke in two, slipped into the river and slowly floated away. The travellers waited another two days before the river was fordable.

Pioneering hardships

To show what hardships some of the early settlers at Castlepoint encountered, the experiences of the Cripps family on arrival at Castlepoint may be of interest. Under engagement to Valentine Smith, who had shortly before started Mataikona Station, Cripps, his wife and five children arrived at Castlepoint in February, 1854, by the brig Kitty. They were met by Smith with a pack bullock to transport their belongings. Next day they started for Mataikona, on foot up the beach--a distance of nine miles. It was a hot summer's day and progress was very slow.

It was seven o'clock in the evening when they reached Mataikona. Each parent carried a child, the youngest a boy ten months old, and the writer's mother [Harriet Groves, nee Cripps, who married John Groves], a toddler not quite three years old. Fortunately, then as now, there was a Maori pa at Mataikona and the travellers received a very hearty welcome from the Maoris. An oven had just been opened and Maori hospitality did its very best for the weary travellers. Speaking of this meal in after years, Cripps always declared that in all his life he had never tasted "taters" like the ones the Maoris served to them on their arrival at Mataikona.

In after years, when referring to their Mataikona experiences, Mr and Mrs Cripps always expressed their deepest appreciation of the welcome and hospitality they received from the Maoris of Mataikona on that February evening in 1854.

Pioneering hardships

After staying for two years at Mataikona, Cripps and his family returned to Castlepoint. The return journey was made in comfort in a bullock dray. 

The next move of the Cripps family was to Whareama to shepherd for H. Buxton, who had started the Whareama Station (later Langdale). Here they lived in a slab and thatch shanty on the banks of the Whareama River, a little below what is today the Ica Ford. 

While living here they were flooded out at some time in January, 1858. During the night they woke up to find the river up to their door and rising fast. It was a matter of getting out at once. Luckily for them there was a deserted Maori whare on a small hill about half a mile away and in the rain and dark they set out for it. In some of the hollows the water was waist deep and Cripps had to carry the family across. 

Twins had arrived in the Cripps family in September. They reached the whare safely and no doubt spent a very miserable night. Next day the flood waters went down and they were able to return home. In referring to this experience in later years Cripps always said how lucky they were that it happened at full moon. There was enough light for them to see their way to safety. Anyone who cares to look can still see the site of the Maori whare on the little round hill at the bottom end of Langdale flats. The terracing made by the Maoris is still there.

In 1858 Cripps settled on what is today Seven Oaks, built a comfortable home for his family and set out to make his bit of New Zealand into an English farm and succeeded.

River fatalities

One of the pioneers who lost his life fording a flooded river was Henry Buxton, the first owner of Whareama Station (afterwards Langdale), who was drowned in the Whareama River, at what is today the Ica Ford, at some time in the 1860's. 

Buxton left his home for Castlepoint and was never seen alive again. Next morning his horse, with the saddle and bridle on, was seen on the river bank and a search was made. Buxton was noted for being a fine swimmer and the horse he rode was also an exceptional beast in the water. When he entered the river, Buxton was wearing an search was made. 

Buxton was noted for being a fine swimmer and the horse he rode was also an exceptional beast in the water. When he entered the river, Buxton was wearing an overcoat with a long, heavy cape and this was always thought to have caused the tragedy. When he was found two days later, in a sitting position on the river bank, the cape of his overcoat was folded over his head and it is reasonable to suppose that when he started to swim the cape floated over his head and smothered him. Stock brand No. 2 in the Register of the Stock Office, Masterton, is HB, owner's address Henry Buxton, Whareama, Castlepoint, 1856. A trig on his old station carries the name of Buxton.

A personal note--Buxton stammered badly, and was known far and wide for a fine singing voice. The writer has heard many complimentary accounts of his ability from older members of the community who had heard him in their younger days. Strange to say, a younger brother of Buxton's employed on Castlepoint Station, was also drowned. When he was taking cattle from the station, a beast broke from the mob and swam across what is known as the Basin on to the reef.

Buxton foolishly attempted to ride along the reef after the beast, was caught by a wave coming over and was drowned. The body was recovered some days later. The date of this tragedy is not known today. Both brothers are buried in the Castlepoint Cemetery.

In closing, the writer has to thank Mr George Cripps, Paraparaumu, and Mr Thomas Cripps. Kirton Street, Masterton, for most of the history of early Castlepoint contained in these rambling notes. Without the generous help of these two pioneers. these notes could not have been written

Harry Groves
1940

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 December 1940, Page 7

Harry Groves (1876-1960) was the son of John Groves (1844-1905) and Harriet Cripps (1852-1894). He farmed Marangai Station.