Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 9, May 1968
Attendances at our monthly meetings were very good and the membership is 218. The following were the activities:-
October: Visit to Mr. C. Murdochs Maori Artifacts Museum.
November: Field Day to Athenree and District.
February: Visit by 20 Members of Whakatane Historical Society who were met by our party at the Karangahake picnic area. They found it hard to realise that 2,000 people had lived here and that the town could boast of cerbing and channelling along its sealed streets, lit by gas piped from Paeroa. The sign erected by the Paeroa Rotary Club was highly commended. Owing to threatening weather we moved to the Karangahake Hall for afternoon tea and talk, after which the Tauranga group departed while the others proceeded to Mrs. Climie's house for further discussion. After dinner at the Paeroa Hotel our visitors again met us at the Presbyterian Hall where Mr. Hughes outlined the History of Paeroa (present population 3,000). Mr. Garry Staples showed recent slides of the district and Messrs Alan Beck and Phil Jones displayed the excellent 16" x 18" prints of old Karangahake which they had enlarged from Mr. George Chappell's quarter plate glass negatives of 60 years ago. Next morning we joined Mr. Isdale at Totara Pa and Thames.
March: Outstanding talk by Mr. Harry Armour, Waihi on Scandanavian [Scandinavian]Countries and their people, illustrated by excellent slides.
September: Just before our last Journal went to press thirty members of the Paeroa Historical Society attended the Golden Jubilee of the opening of the Kauhanganui Maori house of parliament at Morrinsville. Queen Te Ata-i-rangi-kaahu attended the Rukumoana marae for the first time since her coronation. She was accompanied by a large contingent of Maoris from Ngaruawahia and was accorded the traditional challenge on arrival, young Maoris presenting a programme of songs and dances. The commemoration service, which was conducted in the Maori language, attracted many hundreds of Maoris and Europeans, and the Queen unveiled the adjacent monument of King Mahuta.
Both the official party and visitors inspected a valuable collection of documents of historical significance in the Kauhanganui, a building now used almost exclusively for instructing young members of the tribe in the art of Maori carving. Special interest was shown in the throne on which the late King Koroko, and subsequently his daughter, the reigning Queen were crowned. Finally, the usual generous hospitality of the Maori people was dispensed, the guests partaking of a sumptuous banquet beautifully served. The day was a most memorable one.
We acknowledge permission from the Forestry Department to use the reproduction of M. Wirepa's painting, and thank Mr. Tom Morgan for allowing us to include the most interesting map he prepared for the Waihi Borough Jubilee Book published in 1962.