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The Founding of MastertonTe Retimana Te Korou and Joseph Masters: The men behind the town of Masterton
Te Retimana Te Korou, born in the late 1700s was the son of Te Raku and Te Kai. His parents were descendants from the Rangitane/Ngati Kahungunu peoples of Wairarapa. Joseph Masters was born in Derby, England in 1802 where his father was a leather breeches manufacturer. He was orphaned at a young age and lived with various relatives before serving an apprenticeship with an uncle who was a cooper (barrel maker). In 1826 Masters married Sarah Bourton and in 1832 they moved to Tasmania, Australia with their two daughters. Around this time, Wairarapa Maori were facing mounting pressure from Te Rauparaha and his allies, the Taranaki tribes, who had moved south to Wellington and into Wairarapa. Although the tribes initially lived peacefully, eventually troubles arose and a number of battles took place. Te Korou was among a number of Wairarapa Maori captured. Te Wera, of Ngati Mutunga was taking him to Wellington when Te Korou escaped by killing Te Wera. Realising it was no longer safe in Wairarapa, Te Korou and his wife, Hine-whaka-aea and their children joined other Wairarapa Maori at the east coast stronghold of Nukutaurua on Mahia Peninsula. In 1841, Joseph Masters and his family moved to New Zealand and he set up as a cooper in Lambton Quay, Wellington. Te Korou had returned to Wairarapa by this time having been a member of a party of Wairarapa chiefs who concluded a peace treaty with the Taranaki tribes in Lower Hutt in 1841. When William Colenso, the travelling missionary, called at Kaikokirikiri pa, on the banks of the Waipoua River, Te Korou had already been converted to Christianity with the help of a Maori teacher.
Colenso baptised four generations of Te Korou’s family who adopted additional Christian names. Te Korou became known as Te Retimana (Richmond) Te Korou. Te Korou was involved in encouraging Pakeha settlement, offering to lease some of his tribe’s coastal lands to the pastoralists Weld, Clifford and Vavasour. Masters was also looking for land in Wairarapa, promoting the concept of small farm settlements whereby groups of working men could pool their resources and buy larger blocks of land which they could then subdivide amongst their membership. In March 1853, a Small Farm Association was formed. Masters and Masters was a vigorous promoter of Masterton, representing the area on the Wellington Provincial Council and helping to establish the Trust Lands Trust in 1871. He died in December 1873. Te Korou became disillusioned with pakeha settlement and he and his son Karaitiana supported the King Movement during the turbulent 1860s. When Te Korou died in 1882 however, many of Masterton’s leading settlers joined in the three hundred strong cortege which made its way to Te Korou’s burial place in the Masterton cemetery. Te Korou and Masters are buried fifty metres apart in the Pioneer Cemetery in Queen Elizabeth Park. |
