The ol' gaol

Thirty days hath September, thirty things we remember … (#27 of 30)

I used to live in the superintendent's house for the old Terrace Gaol, now the site of the Te Aro School. One of the saddest stories of the Gaol is that of young Hamiora Pere, a participant in the Te Kooti's War, who was hanged at the Gaol and buried in an unmarked grave. He is the only New Zealander to have been executed after being convicted of treason. The only toilet was outside behind a line of sheds and I didn't like going out in the dark as I was a little spooked by this sad story and the idea that Pere may have been buried on the property. (Kim, Marketing Manager)

(Hamiora Pere had been tried for treason in the Supreme Court in Wellington on 28 September 1869. he was one of the first men charged under the Disturbed Districts Act, a temporary measure containing special provisions for trying Maori 'in open rebellion' who had committed 'outrages and atrocities'. According to some theories, Pere was executed not because he was deemed to have deserved it, but because the government 'needed someone to hang' to satisfy public opinion or to serve as an example.)
 
Stay tuned for our daily stories throughout Wellington’s Heritage Month 2013 - where staff and volunteers share one of their favourite stories of the Wellington Region.