"Heke Bidois" by Colin Bidois (1995)

Hekenui Bidois

When Heke and his family arrived at Te Whaiti in the winter of 1935, only half a dozen men were employed there, although this was one of the few areas where work was plentiful.

In the vicinity of the Urewera country there were at least six sawmills, numerous bush operations, and the associated transport of logs, timber and other products.

Under the old Public Works Department there was also an extensive roading programme, improving the highway through the winding, precipitous hills to Lake Waikaremoana. Camps for the road gangs were established along 40 miles of road.

Farming was struggling to survive in places such as Galatea, Murupara, Minginui and Ruatāhuna.

All this added up to a population as rugged as the surrounding hills, with a fair sprinkling of drunks and tough characters.

The territory of this sole “Sheriff of the Urewera” stretched from near Lake Waikaremoana north to Rerewhakaaitu, and from the village of Waiohau to the western fringe of the Kaingaroa Plains. One village was accessible only by an hour’s ride on horseback. Rotorua, the nearest town, was an hour and a half away. There was no electric power, and a single party line was the sole telephone link with civilisation.

Despite this isolation and demanding challenge, Heke was an easy-going man. He drew strength from the fine Tūhoe Māori, “the children of the mist”, whom he came to love so well.

A constable’s wage in those times was meagre, so regular hunting trips for deer and pig helped augment the family’s supplies. The outdoor life Heke had enjoyed since childhood in the western Kaimai Range—consisting of wonderful tōtara and rimu forest, beautiful fernery, streams and sports—also helped sustain the family.

Heke was a man of physical strength and moral courage. The well-known artist Rei Hamon recorded how Heke carried him five miles out of rugged bush. He would shoulder heavy tōtara rafters up steep roadside tracks when loading, passing the local record of 3½ hours. During his 15 years in the Urewera, Heke faced many precarious situations. He disarmed a crazed gunman, confronted a group of gamblers and confiscated the illegal brew of moonshiners. These operations placed him in dangerous situations.

Through his knowledge of and respect for true Māori “love”, working in tandem with his administration of the law, Heke was able to establish a balance of order and harmony in a territory that had the potential to become New Zealand’s Wild West.

In Mere, Heke had the ideal partner. While Heke was reserved, she was boisterous and outgoing, always with a smile. Her skill with the old wood-burning Orion range satisfied many a hungry person. Meals were provided for her husband over the years, and guests included a Prime Minister, priests, mayors, communists, district nurses, stock-drovers and the odd “bum” who wandered in to calm down in the jail house for the night.

By listening to the hunters’ tales and the stories of Tūhoe men, Mere became the family expert and adviser: which trout fly to use, which pools were holding well, where the hunting was good, and where to back off for a while.

But Mere’s true strength lay in her consistent support and encouragement of her husband in his difficult and challenging task at that rugged but beautiful heartland outpost.

A measure of Heke’s success is that, in 15 years, no more than half a dozen people had to be locked in the Te Whaiti jail house. Not one of the young people of the Urewera came before the Rotorua Court. They were dealt with on the marae and in the true whānau manner.

Colin Bidois
1995