The original FitzRoy's Pole was erected in 1847-8 by Parata te Huia, Waitere Katatore and the people of Puketapu. It marked the eastern extent of the New Plymouth settlement after Governor Robert FitzRoy reduced the New Zealand Company’s 60,000 acre (24,280 hectare) land purchase to 4000 acres (1619 hectares).
Pou Tutaki (a pole to bar the way) - was originally situated a little closer to the river alongside the old road from the Waiwhakaiho ford near the present netball courts carpark.
It was quickly named "FitzRoy's Pole" by settlers, irate at the loss of potential farmland at Bell Block. The way was, however, not 'barred' for long as Pākeha land purchases in the Puketapu area during the 1850s saw colonist's settlement expanding towards the Waitara.
The pole was damaged in a scrub fire in 1877 and its remains chopped up for firewood by the nearby Devon Road toll-gate keeper.
The present pole – a replica based on a watercolour painting by William Strutt - was carved by Paikea Henare Toka of Hawera for the 1940 New Zealand Centennial. It was unveiled on 26 June 1940.
"Shock and awe" probably best describes the New Plymouth civic authority's response at the time to the overt "manliness" carved by Toka in the lower Māori figure. A workman was rumoured to have been dispatched forthwith to ‘correct’ the work! The figure remains emasculated to this day.
(Over the years there has been considerable confusion over the identity of the figures on the pole. Some authorities have maintained that the lower figure is the Pakeha and the upper one, the Maori, although after study of all available sources, that now seems unlikely.)
In 1974 residents were concerned that the pole was being left to rot.
In September 1984 the pole was chain sawed down by a young man protesting over the perceived unequal availability of Government mortgages.
Attacked again in February 1991 - this time unsuccessfully - by four men, reportedly in retaliation for the then-recent destruction of the militia statue on Marsland Hill's New Zealand Wars memorial.
The pole was restored to its full height, moved a few metres and re-dedicated in September 2001 after the building of the nearby Harvey Norman complex.
In 2009 a kohatu (important stone) uncovered during the excavation of Te Oropuriri pa at Bell Block in 2004, was placed at the base of the pole with due ceremony by former Governor-General, Sir Paul Reeves and members of Puketapu hapu.
References
Seffern, W: Chronicles of the Garden of NZ, 1896, p157
Brookes, E: Frontier Life, 1892, p 9
Wells, B: History of Taranaki, 1878, p 147
Cowan, J: New Zealand Wars, 1922, p 145
McCormack, E: Alexander Turnbull, 1974, p 238
Scanlan, B: Historic New Plymouth, 1968, p 23
NZHPT (Taranaki) Site Files
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