When Emily Ahier was born at Pirongia in May 1911 it was around one month before her father, Aubin, died.
Aubin and his wife, Julia, now had eight daughters and one son but Aubin’s grip on life was precarious – internal injuries from a buggy accident were said to have turned into cancer.
The 57-year-old, hoping to recover, went to Waikato Hospital where he remained for some weeks. He was then brought to Te Awamutu, to the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs Miller. There was no hope though and Aubin died in his sleep in the early hours of a June morning.
Aubin had come to New Zealand in 1870, aged 16, with his uncle on the ship Sydenham, from their home Jersey in the Channel Islands. He settled at Pirongia and by his early 20s was in partnership with Mathias Asmuss trading as the firm of Asmuss & Ahier, Brickmakers. In 1878 the partnership dissolved and Aubin took up carpentry.
In March 1883 Aubin, on horseback between Mr Finch’s hotel and the bridge, rode into a disturbance near Pirongia where the Māori Prophet Te Mahuki and about 40 of his followers were marching.
Te Mahuki had become involved in trying to turn back the tide of European settlement. Aubin fell from his horse and was then chased by the group for a quarter of a mile before they caught him and tied him by the hands and feet with tether lines. They made him sit down, then he was placed on his horse; two of his captors walking on either side of him towards Pirongia.
The tying made him sore and he was very frightened.
Ahier, Pirongia cemetery
On arriving in Pirongia, the group halted opposite Finch’s Hotel, and Te Mahuki called loudly for John Bryce, Minister of Native Affairs, to come out.
An ambush of Armed Constabulary instead sprang out from behind Mr Oliver’s new store and quickly arrested the Te Mahuki and his followers. Aubin was rescued. At the Auckland Supreme Court the prisoners were found guilty of common assault and were charged with creating a riot and tumult at Pirongia and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment with hard labour.
In 1890, Aubin, 36, married Julia Berry, 26. They lived in Te Tahi on Pirongia Mountain. Aubin continued carpentry with a brief foray into storekeeping and finally became a farmer. He also took a very active interest in sporting and municipal matters. As a pioneer there were few who settled under more adverse conditions than Aubin and it was to men of his stamp that the settlement and progress of the district were largely due. He was farewelled at a Masonic funeral at the Pirongia cemetery.
Emily, known as Kim, the daughter born just before Aubin died, fell overboard from the yacht Yvonne in Cook Strait during the Wellington-Picton yacht race in 1946 and was lost at sea.
