Dawn Settlement

I snuck out early while others were sleeping for a wander along Waikanae Beach in Gisborne. Being the time of the year with the shortest day two weeks away I had a feeling the sun would not be rising over the calm Pacific Ocean from this spot but rather to the left of prominent Titirangi, known as Kaiti Hill, an ancestral site of the Ngati Oneone sub-tribe in Gisborne.

Today was all about my European and Maori ancestry dating back to 1831. I visited the museum and spent the afternoon at the library trying to understand the different tribes and sub-tribes, looking at old maps to establish where the my Great-Great-Great Grandfather, John William Harris, had purchased land, discovering he was the founder of Poverty Bay and learning of his relationship with the Maori people and how he came to find his wife Tukura-a-Rangi. There was so much to take in, I was exhausted and drained by the end of the day and left with many questions which still needed answers.

It seemed right to be standing on the shore where my Great-Great-Great-Grandfather landed, he purchased land just behind me and further up the river while his future wife Tukura-a-Rangi was living at a pa nestled at the foot of Kaiti Hill. In the day when trading vessels were schooners, when Maori produced potatoes and pork for visiting ships in exchange for new weaponry and later trading with flax, maize and wheat, when whaling stations were established and the first wooden cottages and trading stores were built - a new dawn brought a new settlement all those years ago.

Looks great in large :)

A daylight view - the ship was being loaded with logs later in the day.

Out for tea now down by the wharf and then an early night, so tired but what an awesome day :)