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Paremata Redoubt.
This post consisted of a stone blockhouse (or barrack, as it was usually called) surrounded by a stockade. It was situated at Paremata proper, at Porirua Harbour. The name of “Paremata” applies properly only to the flat north of the railway-bridge; the railway folk are to blame for having transferred the name to the railway-station across the water. The station should have been named “Whitianga” or “Horopaki,” both names of places within a few chains of the station. The remains of this stone blockhouse at Paremata are still to be seen at Paremata Point, west of the railway-line (Plate II, fig. 1), and it was here, at the narrow channel between the outer bay and the inner arm, that the first ferry was established at Thoms' whaling-station.
In Collinson's report on the Wellington Military District (published in the papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, 1855) appears the following: “On April 8 [1846] 220 men under Major Last were sent round to Porirua, and, after lying a week under Mana Island from stress of weather, they landed and pitched their tents on Paremata Point.” The Wellington Independent of the 15th April, 1846, mentions this movement. On landing at the point tents were erected, and a large whare near Thoms' whaling-station was also occupied. Men were set to work to form a trench and
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rampart defence, of which some signs may still be seen. The building of the blockhouse was a slow affair. Wellington papers of October, 1846, stated that “The first stone of this building was laid on Friday, the 23rd instant, by Captain Armstrong, the officer in command at Porirua. As usual on such occasions, various coins of the present reign were deposited in the stone.” The Spectator of the 14th August, 1847, remarks, “Last Saturday [7th] the new stone barracks at Porirua were delivered over by Mr. Wilson, contractor to the Ordnance Department.”
A plan of this post made by V. D. McManaway in 1852 (fig. 2) shows the blockhouse almost surrounded by a five-angled stockade, the water-front being left open. Within the stockaded enclosure are shown a number of huts, including a sergeant's hut, three men's huts, a hospital, guard-room, and commissariat. A well is also marked inside the enclosure, while outside are the canteen, bakery, and two other huts.
The walls of the blockhouse were built of undressed stones laid in cement. Many are waterworn boulders apparently obtained from a pit near by, and a few bricks are worked into the walls. The portions of wall still standing are about 30 in. in thickness and up to 10 ft. in height. The dimensions
Fig. 2.—Plan of Paremata Redoubt.
of the building are about 60 ft. by 36 ft. inside, and the ground-floor was divided into two rooms. The men's quarters were in the upper story, to which access was gained by means of an outside stairway. The place is only about 35 yards from high-water mark. The earthquake of 1848 so shattered the upper parts that the men were moved out into huts, and the shake of 1855 brought down the upper story. The post had been abandoned before the latter date. Turrets had been built on it, apparently to accommodate cannon of sorts, but the first shot fired at a passing canoe manned by hostiles so shook the fabric that the gun was not used again. Powers tells us that the stockade was a very inferior one.
The Wellington Spectator of the 27th May, 1846, gives the strength of the force stationed at Paremata as follows: 58th Regiment—seventy-eight men, under Captain Laye and Lieutenant Pedder; 99th Regiment—seventy-four men, under Captain Armstrong and Lieutenant Elliott; Royal Artillery—nine men, under Lieutenant the Hon. A. Yelverton; also twenty-five Royal Marines from H.M.S. “Calliope,” under Lieutenant Fosbrooke.