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November 5, 2015 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Malia Puka O Kalani

The ahupua‘a of Waiakea, South Hilo, is large, about 95,000 acres. It extends from the coast to approximately the 6,000-foot elevation on the windward slope of Mauna Loa.

Waiakea was held by Kamehameha. When he died in 1819, his son Liholiho received the lands. The property was affirmed as Crown Land during the Mahele.

Kuleana properties generally refer to cultivated fields with house lots, indicating habitation and agricultural production within the same zone; at Waiakea, kuleana were generally within the coastal zone.

After contact, the coastal area continued to contain the vast majority of the population. Houses and stores were concentrated in the northern half of Hilo Bay, somewhat removed from Waiakea, because at the time the main pier for Hilo was at the mouth of the Wailuku River. (Cultural Surveys)

Keaukaha is along the central coastline of the Waiakea ahupuaʻa; it was included in lands designated to the Hawaiian Homes Commission.

The Hawaiian Homes Commission act was approved by President Harding on July 9, 1921. In the first five years, over 60 homes were established in the ‘Kuhio Settlement’ of the Hawaiian Homes lands at Keaukaha, in the vicinity of Hilo.

The 1929 Report of the Commission notes, “Kuhio Settlement, in the subdivision of Keaukaha near the town of Hilo, Island of Hawaii, has proven to be an unqualified success.”

“One-acre lots have been given to Hawaiians who work for wages in the City of Hilo or in adjacent industries.” By 1930, more than 200-house lots had been assigned. (Pukui)

Among the ‘reserved lots for public purposes’ within the Keaukaha lands was a 1-acre lot (lot #127) for a Catholic Church Site. (Report of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, 1929)

This church became Malia Puka O Kalani (St Mary, Gate of Heaven,) one of only two parishes in the Diocese of Honolulu located on Hawaiian Home Lands.

The Mission Statement of the church: “Malia Puka O Kalani is a Roman Catholic parish on Hawaiian Home Lands in Keaukaha, Hawaiʻi dedicated to building a church community filled with the Holy Spirit, guided by God’s Word and enriched by the Hawaiian culture.”

In 1934, the parish, under the care of the Sacred Hearts Fathers, built a large hall on the property. This was used as a place of worship as well as a community center. In 1940 the existing church which seats 120 people was constructed.

In 1954, the Maryknoll Fathers assigned the first resident pastor to the parish. Today, the parish is under the care of the Diocese of Honolulu as the ministry on the Hawaiian Homelands continues.

In a 2011 church pastoral plan, parishioners note, “As a parish, we are committed to maintaining our Hawaiian culture within the framework of the Roman Catholic Church.”

“We intend to continue our traditions of lay involvement in liturgy and of volunteerism within and beyond the parish. Parishioners and visitors alike are drawn to our vibrant community and to the spirit existing in the faith expression of our Hawaiian traditions.”

DHHL records note the St. Mary, Gate of Heaven (Malia Puka O Kalani) Catholic Church is operating under a license from the Commission (1999-2028.)

About 35-years ago, Malia Puka O Kalani Catholic Church started a small Advent workshop known as the Big Island Liturgy and Arts Conference. It grew.

It is recognized as “One of the remarkable accomplishments of Malia …. This conference has attracted many of today’s brightest and best known composers and artists”. (GIA Music for the Church)

It has grown to attract some of the biggest names in liturgical music and many noteworthy keynote speakers. The Marianists in Honolulu began hosting the event in 2003.

The program is now known as Marianist BILAC; all the conference events now take place on the campus of Chaminade University and Saint Louis School in Kaimuki. (This year’s theme is ‘The Spirit of Malia – 40 Years of BILAC;’ it starts November 5, 2015.) (Lots of information here is from Malia Puka O Kalani.)

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Filed Under: Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings Tagged With: Hawaii, Hawaii Island, Keaukaha, Malia Puka O Kalani

December 17, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kanakea Pond

In the Waiākea area called Keaukaha (‘passing current’) at Hilo on the Island of Hawaiʻi a legend refers to a hole called Kaluakoko beneath the water.

A man and a woman lived nearby, and later a second woman came to live with them.

The new wife became jealous of the first, and convinced her to go net fishing one day when the husband was fishing, though the husband had forbidden it because it would affect his fishing.

As she caught shrimp at the edge of a large hole, the second wife pushed her into the hole and covered the entrance with a rock, killing her. Blood spread through the sea foam and the fisherman, followed its trail in his canoe, moved the stone, and saw what had happened.

He confronted the second wife, who lied, and then beat her to death. According to the story, the hole has been referred to as Kaluakoko (‘the Hole of Blood.’) (Cultural Surveys)

Here, Kanakea (‘wide stream’) pond is located. A freshwater subterranean spring rises from a large sinkhole and feeds cold water into the bay at a former fishpond.

Due to apparent remnant of a seaward rock wall at the narrowest point of the channel to the ocean, it is believed to be a loko kuapā.  A cobble field, submerged except during low tide, is in a linear pattern, suggesting they may have been in the formation of the pond wall.  (However, the cobbles may have simple accumulated there by currents or tsunami.)

“There are plenty of ducks in the ponds and streams, at a short distance from the sea, and several large ponds or lakes literally swarm with fish, principally of the mullet kind.”

“The fish in these ponds belong to the king and chiefs, and are tabued from the common people. Along the stone walls which partly encircle these ponds, we saw a number of small huts, where the persons reside who have the care of the fish, and are obliged frequently to feed them with a small kind of muscle, which they procure in the sands round the bay.”  (Ellis, 1823)

“On the nights of high tides every keeper slept by the mākāhā of which he had charge. It was the custom to build small watch houses from which to guard the fish from being stolen at high tide, or from being killed by pigs and dogs; when the tides receded the fish would return to the middle of the pond, out of reach of thieves.”

“On these nights, the keeper would dip his foot into the water at the mākāhā and if the sea pressed in like a stream and felt warm, then he knew that the sluice would be full of fish.”  (Kamakau; Maly)

Railway tracks crossed the pond from about 1916 until 1946 (when they were destroyed by a tsunami;) remnants of the railroad trestle are still visible within and above the surface of the pond.  (Hawaiʻi County)

The pond’s modern name is ‘Ice Pond’ (due to the cold spring-fed waters.)  It is brackish (that word comes from the Middle Dutch root ‘brak’ (‘salty.’))

The adjoining small bay consists of white sand and coral rubble; between 1925 and 1930, coral material dredged from Hilo harbor was deposited on the western side.

The small bay is now referred to as ‘Reed’s Bay.’  It is named after William H Reed. Born in 1814 Belfast, Ireland, Reed was a businessman. He created Reed’s Landing, which he used to moor boats carrying lumber for one of his businesses.  (Hawaiʻi County)

Reed arrived in the Islands in the 1840s and set up a contracting concern specializing in the construction of wharfs, landings, bridges and roads.  Other interests included ranching, trading and retailing.  (Clark)

Across Hilo Bay, Reed also bought an island in 1861, originally known as ‘Koloiki’ (‘little crawling,’) once surrounded by the Wailuku River and Waikapu Stream.

Reed married Jane Stobie Shipman on July 8, 1868 (she was a widow, previously married to William Cornelius Shipman, a missionary assigned to Waiʻōhinu in the district of Kaʻū.  Shipman died in 1861, leaving Jane with her three children, William Herbert, Oliver Taylor and Margaret Clarissa.)

Jane was born in Scotland. At an early age she came to the US with her parents, lived in Quincy, Illinois, and was educated to be a teacher; and in 1853 was married to Reverend Shipman.  (The Friend, December, 1902)

Following his death, Jane moved to Hilo, with her three children and maintained the family by keeping a boarding school until 1868 (when she was married to Reed.)  (The Friend, December, 1902)

William Reed died on November 11, 1880 with no children of his own; Jane inherited the Reed land holdings.  (In 1881, Reed’s stepson William Herbert Shipman and two partners (Captain J. E. Eldarts and Samuel M Damon) purchased the entire ahupuaʻa of Keaʻau, about 70,000-acres from the King Lunalilo estate.)

The image shows the damaged rail line at Kanakea Pond.  (Hawaiʻi County)  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions, Place Names Tagged With: Hawaii, Hawaii Island, Hilo, Kanakea Pond, Keaukaha, Reed's Bay, Reed's Island, Waiakea, William Reed

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People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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