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Hell Hole of the Pacific, Richard Wolfe
Penguin
Reviewed by Lindsay Wright (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

Kororareka, now Russell, has become something of a backwater, but Wolfe's book recalls the town's rollicking colonial past.

In those days the town was also known as Blackguards Beach or Devil's Playground but naturalist Ernst Dieffenbach also called the fledgling settlement the cradle of New Zealand civilisation. The founding document of this nation, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, was signed just across the water in 1840.

Drunken whalers and escaped or time-served convicts from the  penal colonies across the Tasman reeled drunkenly on the beach and mingled with local Maori to the prim condemnation of the missionaries and settlers struggling to gain a foothold in this land. Grog shops and prostitution thrived - firearms were common currency for the services of both.

But Kororareka may have been the seed bed for the tolerant society that New Zealand has developed into. No doubt many missionaries felt vindicated when the town was razed in March 1845.

"Kororareka was overwhelmed by a great and terrible sunset ... galloping with blue and scarlet tongues. It was biting all the houses into bits; tossing their limbs up under exploding oil barrels; running in glowing rivers to the sea," an observer reported.

Hell Hole of the Pacific would best be read on the spot, or at least before a visit to the site.
Black and white photos of Kororareka make an interesting comparison with today's township. The grog shops have gone upmarket and Blackguards Beach is regularly raked by local council employees.

The book is a timely reminder of how close we are to our history.