Mt Tarawera in eruption

In the nineteenth century, New Zealand’s Pink and White Terraces were considered the eighth wonder of the natural world, attracting tourists from afar to the Rotomahana region in search of the exotic. New Zealand painters and photographers produced myriad views that were widely exhibited, serving both as advertisement and as souvenir. Te Wairoa was the village en route to the Terraces, through which all visitors had to pass to gain access. By 1886, this was a bustling village, home to about 120 members of Tuhourangi hapu of Te Arawa, as well as Pakeha settlers. These included Charles Haszard, schoolmaster, his wife and five children.

Tragedy struck this small community when, on the 10 June 1886, Mt Tarawera erupted, destroying the Pink and White terraces and causing the loss of lives of an estimated 105 people. Ina Hobbs (née Haszard) was one of the survivors – her father and three of her siblings were killed in the eruption. Her sister, Clara, described the view of the eruption from their veranda as follows: ‘There was a large inky black cloud floating above the truncated cone of Tarawera, with lightening and balls of fire shooting out of it’. (Muriel Blomfield, Charles Blomfield: his life and times, Auckland: Hodder and Stoughton, 1979, p. 87) Shortly after viewing the eruption, the family sought refuge in the living room, where they experienced a terrifying ordeal. Showers of lava rained down on the roof, and the walls gradually caved in as volcanic debris, mud and ash buried the house.

The survival and subsequent rescue of Mrs Haszard and her two daughters, Clara, who took refuge in a fowl house, and Ina, who was sheltered by Mary Te Mu under a table in a bedroom, became one of the most reported stories following the eruption. The story was retold on many subsequent occasions, on the death of Mrs Haszard in 1925, and then in 1935 and 1936 as the 50 year anniversary of the eruption was anticipated and commemorated. Haszard’s painting, made in 1935, almost 50 years after the event, offers a dramatic view of the eruption, based both on memory as well as her sister’s description. By the time she painted it, Ina was the only surviving member of the family of Wairoa. She wrote ‘My mother and sister, who were survivors, passed some years ago. Painful as the subject is to me I have felt it a duty to my native home, New Zealand, to leave a brief record of my experience, and being an artist I have also used my best efforts in producing a painting – "Mt Tarawera in Eruption". To live again in memory that terrible drama, for the purpose of creating this picture, has proved a trying ordeal, but I hope my efforts have not been in vain’. (‘Tarawera 49 years ago’, Auckland Star, 8 June 1935, p. 12) The painting was displayed in the window of Hill and Plummers shop on Queen St, Auckland, where it could be seen by the public.

The terraces continue to be a source of historical interest and fascination for many New Zealanders – they are arguably New Zealand’s Atlantis – and recent investigations into whether they do actually lie at the bottom of Lake Tarawera have been intensive. This painting offers a remarkable connection to both the terraces, as well as the apocalyptic eruption of Mt Tarawera, experienced firsthand by the artist. It is of significance both for what it pictures – while it cannot be seen as a ‘documentary’ view of the eruption, it offers a powerful view of the visual impact recorded by survivors of the night – as well as what it registers in terms of the very real physical and emotional impact of the eruption.