Ripeka Susanne (Rebecca) Hingston

The Kiwi Cloak Story.. Memories as recalled by Janice Perress Graham nee Hingston, Florance Perress MacEwan nee Hingston and James Roy Taylor. When our grandparents Murray John and Ripeka Hingston were working on Taharua Station near Taupo our grandfather trapped enough kiwi to make the feather cloak. Uncle Cyrus (Cyrus Conrad Hingston) told us that a kuia from Tuwharetoa wove it for them, confirming its source, as well as our mother (Dallas Florance Hingston nee Perress) knew Grandma Hingston did not weave it herself. Grandma Hingston is reputed to have used it for a bed cover for the rest of her life. Our father Stanley Keith (Nipper) inherited the cloak. Whether it was because being the youngest child he had never had the advantage of attending Te Aute College as did all his brothers but stayed home and helped his mother, or was it because he had given her money to attend and register Maori land claims. We understand these requests were on going. Flo always understood the money was for koha for these huffs. When Ripeka died in the Wairoa Hospital, on May 28th, 1938 our district was flooded and our father was unable to get to the tangi in Wairoa. Aunty Lorna and Aunty Fleta were driven to Mohaka where the road bridge was washed out causing them to cross the old rail bridge on foot, where they were met on the other side. (Source Flo and Roy Taylor). How or when they returned is unknown but it is understood they brought the cloak back and delivered it to our father at Tomoana. There it was hung on the wall of our sitting room where it became a treasured memory of our childhood. When our brother Perry married, our mother and father shifted across the paddocks to a new house and the cloak was left in storage at the old home until it was uplifted and spent some time in the Taupo Museum. When it was returned Perry took charge of it and on his death it was inherited by Keith Hingston. The kiwi cloak was the only inheritance our father received in his lifetime. The cloak was purchased by Ora Hingston who had it restored at Te Papa and it was then gifted to the Napier Museum. (Roy Taylor is Valerie Taylor's husband and Aunty Lomas son in law)

• Reference: MyHeritage Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 27 2018, 23:56:31 UTC