August 2024

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The Harakeke story

Harakeke (Phormium Tenax) or swamp flax, an important native plant originally grown only in New Zealand, is the major vegetation in the Taupō swamp. Harakeke was the name given to this plant by Māori. The first European traders called it ‘flax’ because its fibres were similar to that of flax found in other parts of the world. Although we still call it flax today, it is not a linen flax but is related to the daylily – itself a separate classification from that of the lily.

Harakeke played a significant part in the history of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Traditionally, it was essential in the lives of Māori. It is said that when they heard that there was no harakeke grown in England, chiefs asked “But how is it possible to live there without it?”

It is highly likely that a major reason for Ngāti Toa Rangatira’s leader Te Rauparaha’s decision to locate his Taupō kāinga here was the proximity to harakeke.

The flax plant symbolises a family with the centre of the flax, te rito, as the child, protected by the next layer of leaves, the parents, and then the outer layers showing the support of the extended family. Traditional flax cutting only removes the outer layers to ensure the protection of te rito, for the continuing health of the plant.

The value to iwi and their tūpuna (ancestors) encompassed food gathering, rongoā (healing resources), and various forms of flax weaving. Differently named varieties of harakeke were cultivated for particular purposes.

The seeds provide a sweet and meaty food, while the nectar is a sweetener. Flax seed oil is rich in linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid.

Among the many medicinal uses, the sticky sap or gum eased pain and healed wounds and burns, the flax root juice provided a useful disinfectant, and the leaves themselves were handy for bandages.

However, the major use for harakeke was weaving. Strips of the long, green leaves were woven to make many everyday items including whāriki (floor mats), rourou and kono (food baskets), and kete (bags). Narrow strips of leaves were used for decorative tukutuku panels.

Leaves woven for kākahu (clothing) could become, for example, a rain cape. In the past, Māori people wore a skirt-like garment too, later superseded by piupiu which are also made from

harakeke.

An important, further development was to use mussel shells to scrape the leaves, stripping the green flesh and leaving the long, strong fibres – called muka. They twisted the muka for fishing nets, bird snares, lashings, traps, footwear, cords, and ropes.

To prepare for making soft, comfortable clothing, the muka was thoroughly washed, then softened by continual pounding with a stone.

Groups of individual fibres were then hand-rolled, often against the thigh, to produce threads for weaving. The threads could be dyed yellow, red-brown, and black, with the natural colour of the fibre providing a fourth colour.

Traditionally, to begin a piece of weaving such as a cloak, a cord was stretched between two weaving pegs stuck in the ground. From this cord, the warp threads hung downwards and deft fingers wove the finer weft threads horizontally to create the fabric. As the fabric grew, the next stage (as shown in the Angas painting) was to stretch and fasten the fabric between four sticks, and continue weaving.

On Captain James Cook’s 1769 expedition to New Zealand, it was observed of Māori that ‘their cloth is white, and glossy as silk, worked by hands, as even as if it had been done in a loom, and is worn chiefly by the men, though it is made by women.’

There were many styles of kākahu (cloak). One style was a kaitaka as described above which might also have a woven taniko border. In another style, a particular korowai would be named for its adornment with bird feathers, or tassels, or fringing.

The flax trade – impact and development

When visiting European sailors realised the value of muka for their rigging, trading relationships developed. First in the north of New Zealand where there were the earliest concentrations of non-Māori arrivals, then increasingly throughout the country.

Ngāti Toa leader, Te Rauparaha, was the local Māori trader. He quickly understood the value of muka, and of pork and potatoes, to trade for Pākehā goods such as blankets, muskets, metal tools, and tobacco.

According to Tamihana Te Rauparaha’s account of his father’s life, by the 1820s European ships arriving (about every four months at that time) called for him by name. “Kei whea a Te Rauparaha?” was the cry. At the reply “kei uta” (ashore), the captain would respond “tīkina” (fetch him).

Access to European goods had a significant impact as iwi competed for control of the flax trade and thus the supply of these valued goods. They moved from their traditional homelands to be closer to trading opportunities and closer to the flax swamps.

Ownership of traded muskets brought change to the customary inter-iwi conflicts with the result that different iwi gained or lost influence and resources. The loss of life across iwi around the 1820s bears witness to a devastating impact.

One related local episode occurred in 1830, when the English brig, Elizabeth, was hired, in exchange for a shipload of muka, to transport and assist a Ngāti Toa war party to mount a surprise attack on Ngāi Tahu at Akaroa.

The 1860s war, between Māori and British settlers in some parts of the country, saw the end of the Māori-dominated manual production of flax fibre. European settlers capitalised on the opportunity offered by increased demand from international rope makers.

From 1869, flax mills using stripping machines began to be established at Foxton and then around New Zealand. The first machines could produce about 250 kilograms per day, while stripping by hand produced only about 1 kilogram – although hand stripping was much better quality. Over time, improvements to the mechanical flax stripper saw increases in both quantity and quality.

In the late 1880s a number of prominent Wellington businessmen including Shannon, Levin and Plimmer (who were also directors of the Wellington Manawatu Railway Company), formed a company to provide flax to the stripping mills. Flax harvested at Plimmerton could be transported from Plimmerton to Foxton via the new Wellington Manawatu Railway and onto the branch line that continued from Longburn to Foxton.

The Foxton Flax Mills company cleared the flax from the Taupō swamp and Karehana Bay valley several times. It was tough work in the mills, machines were very noisy and quite dangerous to operate, and the workers were often cold and wet washing the huge quantities of slimy fibre.

Harakeke weaving renewal

Dressing the harakeke into muka, then hand weaving, was a long, labour-intensive process. A fine cloak, although wonderful quality, could take more than a year to make. European blankets were a much readier source of warm clothing. Consequently, cloak-making and other fibre arts were practised less frequently from the early 20th century.

However, a number of dedicated women sustained the weaving arts and passed them on to younger female relatives. Perhaps the most significant of these women was Diggeress Te Kanawa who remained at the forefront of the promotion and revival from the 1950s.

The year 1969 saw a national weaving school established at Rotorua. Te Rito was the name given to a new building in 1994. At Te Rito, students learn the art and skills of traditional weaving through a full-time three-year course, and in part-time courses. They train in the skills and learn about the related traditions and tikanga (protocols), and the stories and designs unique to each iwi. Other educational institutions also teach traditional Māori weaving.

Local Plimmerton woman Kohai Grace is nationally and internationally acknowledged as one of the most talented weavers practising this art today. In her workroom at Hongoeka, she spends endless hours preparing muka and using traditional techniques to create beautiful items of clothing and other works of art.

Nowadays, innovative weekend workshops focus on teaching parents how to make wahakura (woven harakeke bassinets) to create a safe, shared sleeping space for a baby (up to 5-6 months) in their parents’ bed. This return to a traditional Māori way aims to promote breast-feeding and bonding, and to protect from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) by preventing accidental suffocation. Various health organisations sponsor many of these workshops.

At community-based, weekly and weekend workshops throughout Aotearoa, learners weave the harakeke leaves to make putiputi (flowers), kono and rorou (food baskets), kete (bags), potae (sunhats) and other useful items.

Deirdre Dale
3 June 2024