HERITAGE
WILLIAM AND HENI
T
he story of the Gilbert family is closely carpenter. When Tūhawaiki visited Peraki in November, the station log noted how ‘carpenter bound with the history of Te Pātakastow’d away in the bush’ and stayed hidden until a-Rākaihautū (Banks Peninsula). the southern chief departed two days later. Runaway apprentice William Gilbert first The growing Gilbert family moved around the came to New Zealand aboard an American Peninsula before settling in Okains Bay in 1853 whaler in 1835. On a return visit in 1838, and establishing themselves as boatbuilders. William had a fierce dispute with the captain after he sent a miscreant apprentice foretop in The couple were married according to Pākehā freezing conditions. He and a fellow crewman tradition at Pigeon Bay in 1854. Heni was seized three ancient pistols from the captain’s reportedly “a kind and loving soul”. One of her thirteen children, Robert, recalled being carried cabin and took charge of the vessel, taking as a baby in a shawl tied to his mother’s back it to Kōputai (Port Chalmers), where they over the rough, unformed tracks of the Peninsula. deserted the vessel. The pair took refuge at Puketeraki, near Karitāne, where William met According to local legend, Heni also carried her husband William over the hill to Wairewa and fell in love with Heni Te Marino (Ngāti (Little River) to seek medical aid when he was Irakehu, Ngāi Tahu) of Banks Peninsula. The gravely ill. She also worked as a housekeeper daughter of Te Heu and Te Kiore Marino, according to whānau whakapapa she was also and minder to the younger children of J.E. Thacker, the great-grandfather of the late Murray a close relation of Tangatahara, the defender Thacker who founded the Okains Bay Museum. of Ōnawe pā against Te Rauparaha. Heni had Heni passed away in 1888, aged 68, and fled south during the Ngāti Toa raids, sent William in 1895, believed to be 95. They are by her parents into the care of her uncle, the buried in the Okains Bay Cemetery and today great Southern Chief Tūhawaiki. Late in 1839, without consulting Tūhawaiki, have an estimated 5,000 descendants. An exquisite hand-coloured photograph of who seemingly disapproved, William took Heni north to the Rakaia in his commandeered Heni was gifted into the care of the Okains Bay Museum by her great-great-grandson, the whaleboat. The couple then walked for several late Orlan Te Rua Gilbert (1904–1974) of Little days to Peraki whaling station on Banks Akaloa, who also carved the frame. Peninsula, where William obtained work as a okainsbaymuseum.co.nz 16
