History – The cloud Kaiwaka

Some say Kaiwaka translates to “eating the canoes” and the historic portage route between Kaiwaka and Mangawhai, linking the east coast and Kaipara Harbour. But local korero tells a different story of Kaiwaka denoting an unusual cloud formation. By some accounts, the appearance of these distinctive clouds foretold that someone of high rank was about to leave this world.

In one Waitangi Tribunal Report, a tupuna/ancestor from Te Aupōuri described this cloud in great detail:

“It was after one of the happy meals, when the sun has started to set, that somebody called out, ‘Here comes Kaiwaka. See it’s him. Look it’s Kaiwaka.’ Looming on the horizon was a huge black cloud, moving from north to south. As it approached, other clouds formed rows in all colours in front of the main bank, looking like a forest of Kauri trees, ponga, nikau and other trees and shrubs.

From among the trees a long line of vapour gave the appearance of a flowing river and down the river slid the billowy shape of a canoe with men seated in it, paddling in great haste. Around it more clouds rolled and billowed forming fantastic shapes.

So quickly did these cloud pictures change that we children were soon left to stare at empty sky. To the older people ‘The Kaiwaka,’ as this celestial picture show was called, foretold the passing of a chief. Somehow, it had always proved correct.”

In a Kaiwaka Centennial, B. Linnell quotes another tupuna/ancestor from Te Uri-o-Hau referring to the Kaiwaka cloud:

“The interpretation of the lament I have given here should be sufficient to confirm that Kaiwaka was not a canoe of food. Nevertheless, canoes had been used to carry the dead up and down the creek and to carry food in conjunction with overland carriers from Mangawhai as late as 1862, but that is nothing to do with the ancient name of Kaiwaka.

The Cloud Kaiwaka has never been observed anywhere else in the Kaipara, and when the Cloud Kaiwaka appears against a clear sky it foretells the passing of a person of high rank. It has been said that persons of high rank or tribal leaders have great resistance against death and will live on longer than they should if there is no one else to succeed them.

The passing of such people and the Cloud Kaiwaka may all seem a coincidence. The reason assumed is that a certain atmospheric pressure will weaken all resistance against sickness. Chest asthma was then common amongst the Māori. It is also assumed that a bush covered mountain like Kaitara or Pukekaroro with the same atmospheric pressure would attract mist and fog to form the Cloud Kaiwaka.”

The similarity of these accounts suggests this story circulated among more than one iwi.

Pūrākau/story credit: He Apiha Takawaenga Māori (Mangawhai Museum Māori liaisons) Roi McCabe and Herby Skipper.

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• Now Showing | The Bug Room, a special exhibition on until August 24
• Mon 7 Jul | Author storytime with Malcolm Clarke
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• Thu 10 Jul | Winter Series Lecture: Conservation
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