1853: Karanama’s Reserve

June 22, 2023

By AHNZ

Chief Te Hapuku had a lavish lifestyle that put him into great debt. Fortunately he was able to sell large blocks of Hawke’s Bay land right out from under his people who trusted him to administer it.

One big land disposal in late December 1853 was conducted with Hapuku’s son and heir Cranmer (Karanama Te Nahu.) It appears this next generation had found Western religion and adopted the usual convention of taking the names of famous Christian men. Thomas Cranmer was one of the great Anglican martyrs.

During the 1853 deal a reserve was put aside called ‘Karanama’s Reserve’ however this was very short-lived since Cranmer died in a measles epidemic in 1853. A Maori Reserve that never was. By 1858 this paper name was dropped and that land sold to become present day Havelock North as it has remained for over 150 years.

Now, in the 2020s, the process of replacing Havelock North with a Maori-sounding name is underway as you can see from the image of the new street sign above.

“It is very possible that Havelock, Lawrence, and Havelock North will be re-named with pseudo-Maori names some time during the current Aotearoa New Zealand era before it ends. Firstly, with bilingual names on the grounds of diversity and opposition to monoculturalism. Then,…” – AHNZ (July 2022)

Thomas Cranmer “..was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII…Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of royal supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm…After the accession of the Catholic Mary I, Cranmer was…executed, and he was burned at the stake on 21 March 1556..” – Wiki

“In late December 1853 Te Hāpuku visited Wellington with his son Karanama…and others. A dinner was put on at which Te Hāpuku said that he would like more Europeans in Hawke’s Bay…sales were undertaken without the knowledge of many of the owner-occupants of the land, and without the agreement of others; outrage spread and protests were made…he sold the Manga or Rangipeke block, claimed by Ngāi Tākaha; he failed to distribute any purchase money to the occupiers.” –  Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (1990,) Te Ara

“When deed of sale for the Te Mata land block was drawn up, it contained a clause to protect a Maori reserve known as ‘Karanema’s Reserve’…Yet Karanema died early due to the measles epidemic and a few years later the reserve was sold to the government.” – The history of Maori place names in Hawkes Bay, Buchanan; National Library

Chiefs Te Hapuku and Te Moananui were both paid the sum of £400 for Karanema’s Reserve. Ref. p13 Havelock North: The History of a Village, Matthew Wright (1996;) Hastings District Council

What sense is there in reverting Havelock North back to ‘Karanama’ for the sake of a 5 year period where the plot of land existed as ‘Karanama Reserve’? Nobody had an affinity for this place-holder name on a title that was part of dirty dealings between a corrupt chief and Government. Havelock North, on the other hand, is someone’s heritage and home territory going back to the nation’s founding. Ignorant of the history this new Colonising name is simply another ‘Aotearoa New Zealand’ levering of Maori-sounding psudoculture into the faces of Kiwis for the sake of Wokism and “Diversity.”

Ironically, few if any cheering this on would realise they are only ousting one English martyr for and older and even more famous one! Of course the change isn’t about authentic connection but about the fake-plastic-Maori vibe of it; Feels over Reals.

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Image ref. Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and others present the replacement name for Havelock North. Radio New Zealand

Ref. 1857: Havelock History, AHNZ

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