Te Runanga o Ngati Porou NATI LINK December 2000

The Porourangi Maori Cultural School

This is the third lecture delivered by Sir of the canoes by reference to the genealogical (Song 226 in Nga Moteatea: Part 3)
Apirana Ngata at the Porourangi School of records of each tribe. Whakaturia ra te tutira ki roto o Uawa,
Maori Culture. At present many students are inclined to date Kia tirohia koe e Te Tokooterangi
Rauru-Nui-A-Toi Course: Lecture 3 many canoe arrivals several generations before Tenei haramai nei, he kotuku tangata
We can appreciate the vast distances of the the Fleet of Tauira 1350 canoe, which landed E he ana koe te hua a Materoa
ocean that they traversed in their canoes, by at Whangaparaoa, bringing Motatau and other Te kiri o Hinekehu, ka tokia e te hau.
reference to the calculated spans between ancestors of Ngariki, a tribe which occupied Ka unu ra koe te wai o Tinirau
island groups and between those groups from the Bay of Plenty coast from Whangaparaoa Te kai nui a kae ki te pakake ra ia;
which our ancestors came and New Zealand. to Maketu, and perhaps further; Mangarara, Utuhia ra ki te taha ko te Mitimitioterangi
Polynesian navigators made the Pacific a lake, which landed at the East Cape and established Ka unu ra koe Waitoti ! Waitota!
so confident and matter-of-course were they a colony there on Tokairakau foundation which From a lament for Kahawai, otherwise Mahuika
in their journeyings to and fro on its waters was already there; Te Aratauwhaiti, Te of Tokomaru (song 255 in Nga Moteatea: Part 3)
without compass or motive power or charts. Aratawhao and some earlier canoes from an Kumea atu ra, toia mai ra, i
Although we are not yet dealing in detail with island called Mataora, which colonised the I tona uru mahora
Hawaiki those of you who are able to should Whakatane and adjoining areas established Ki te matatahuna, e i
familiarise yourselves with the literature on the Tini o Awa, te Tini O Toi, the Kawerau, Ka tuhera to riu koe totara whakarangiura
Polynesia. In addition to Best’s monograph Waitaha, Ngamarama and other early To kiri waitutu, te kiri o Hinekehu,
there are brilliant passages in Dr Te Polynesian tribes in the Bay of Plenty; and Ka ngaro ra koe i te rehutai, e i.
Rangihiroa’s ‘The Vikings of the Sunrise’ on perhaps our own Horouta, which according to The urukehu strain, not uncommon among the
the same subject, which should make you Judge Gudgeon came four generations before people of this coast, must have been very
proud of being descended from the greatest the 1350 Fleet. striking in this lady for the features of the skin
seamen and navigators of all time. Our last map is MAP III of the Horouta canoe and hair to be commemorated in the poetry.
I wish now to add MAP 1A to show on a area. The external boundaries are shown in The Tamataonui branch of her family was bred
larger scale the islands of the Society Group, red and the main internal subdivisions in green. at Whangara, Tamataonui’s daughter
the Hawaiki of the Maori. Against some of the In our last lecture I gave a list of what were Kahukuraamoko married Kotaroa, a son of
islands are names, which are familiar to us in probably the earliest names applied to the Materoa by her second husband Tamaterongo.
New Zealand. They have been collected by features of the area, some by the Toi peoples, Kahukuramooko’s son, Tamataonui (named
many research students. The list is by no others by the crews of vessels anterior to after his grandfather) is known to have married
means complete. If in the course of your Horouta and Takitimu. The names given by Tamateakui, daughter of Uetaha, at Whangara.
reading you come across names associated Paoa, the captain of Horouta, and others of the After Uetaha and his relatives reconquered
with any of the islands in this group you should crew will be noted on the map, when we get the country we call Te Araroa it was from
note them. Sufficient names associated with the supply of blank maps from the headquarters Whangara that Tamateakui and her husband
Tahaa or Kuporu, Porapora or Wawau and of the Geographic Board in Wellington. We migrated to Karakatuwhero, Kahukuraamoko’s
Tahiti have been collected to make it probable shall have to devote a special lecture to the second child Iwipuru married Tauwhero, a
that our East Coast ancestors lived there and coming of this canoe, the many traditions grand-daughter of the Mahaki (Tauheikuri) from
that some of them came from those islands. concerned with it, descent from its crew and whom Te Aitanga a Mahaki of the Poverty
This aspect will be developed more fully in the names bequeathed to our map. Bay district derived their name. The
subsequent lectures on Hawaiki. We pass on now to continue the comments on descendants live at Poverty Bay.
MAP II,The Canoe Areas of the North Island, the genealogical tables, taking those numbered So far as Ngati Porou history is concerned
now shows the boundaries of the various 3 and 5. At the end of our last lecture we had we do not get anything striking in the
areas. These boundaries are not final, but are reviewed the sons of Hau, Rakaipo, Tamataonui branch of the Hinekehu family until
those compiled by the Maori Centennial Atlas Awapururu, and Tuere, traced the story of the the generation after Tamataonui the second.
Committee as far as their research went up to descendants of Rakaipo through Rakaiwetenga His son Kauwhakatuakina and the grandson
the outbreak of the present war. The legend to Hinekehu and her younger sister, Tamawhero were among the great warriors of
under the title gives the names of the Canoe Rakaimoehau, and of Taiau, second son of Ngati Porou and Te Whanau A Apanui, but
Areas, of the migrating Canoes from which Awapururu. their story belongs to the period of
the respective area names were derived and Between the period of Rakaiwetenga and that Tuwhakairiora, which we shall reach in its
of the main tribes occupying each area. Along of Hinekehu the descendants of Porourangi proper order.
the coastline of the map I have shown the were moving northwards to Tolaga Bay, With Hinekehu’s second child, Whaene, and
landfalls and probable resting places of as Anaura, Tokomaru and beyond. Hinekehu is her marriage to Poroumata we come to a
many of the canoes, as we are told of in one of the leading ancestresses of Ngati Porou. family, which more than any other has
tradition. The compilation and mapping of this She was as her name imports a kehu or influenced the course of Ngati Porou history
class of data has just begun and further urukehu, light haired and fair skinned. This and the settlement of that part of the East Coast,
research may add to our knowledge and map. characteristic is mentioned in two songs from which extends from Waikawa, a little south of
It will be interesting to date the order of arrival which I quote. Waipiro to Wharekahika. Authorities are not

page fourteen
 Te Runanga o Ngati Porou NATI LINK December 2000

The Porourangi Maori Cultural School

agreed, where Whaene and Poroumata were Porourangi element down to the present day. name Te Arikiupokotini, the Lord chief of the
born and where their children were bred. Some North of Ngati Ruanuku and south of the many. The name Ngati Tangiia is in existence
say, that they lived at Uawa (Tolaga Bay), Maraehara river the Waiapu valley was today.
while others indicate Whareponga as their birth- occupied by another section of Te Wahineiti, It is probable that some such pattern of
place. Disputes regarding the ownership of and by descendants of Toi and Porourangi resolving tribal or clan designations operated
lands between Waikawa and Tuparoa have elements, that had penetrated northwards. The on this coast in the case of Ngati Ruanuku,
vitiated the native evidence, and we have to papatipu land claims of Te Aokairakau, Pokai Te Wahineiti, Ngati Rongomai, Ngai
accept the existence of conflicting traditions. Rongomaiwharemanuka, Rakairoa and Te Tumoana, Pararaki, Ngai Tuere and other
It is probable, that several important events Aomania were founded on the occupation of early communities.
and movements were coming to a head in the mixed elements. Whether we adopt the story of ancestor
several settlements of the Porourangi North of Maraehara was the territory of Ruanuku having originated the clan name or
descendants and of the Toi peoples. Their order Ruawaipu another Toi people, its extension the story of a people from the south, who
is a matter for intensive research, but at this northwards embracing lands north of the accompanied Tahu to the obsequies of
moment and until our review of the traditional Karakatuwhero stream, but how much further Porourangi at Whangara, a tribe as numerous
and genealogical evidence is more advanced north and northwest is a matter disputed by as Ngati Ruanuku could not have been bred
we are left to speculate. At the risk of upsetting the elders. in the time from a common ancestor or from
the chronology of our story we must pursue It is clear, that the numerous population which the crew of Tahu’s canoe. What is more
the fortunes of Hinekehu’s daughter Whaene occupied the East Coast from Waikawa probable is that the name covered a number
and her husband, Poroumata. northwards cannot be explained by the natural of unrelated clans, who lived in one
We find them living in and about Whareponga growth of the Pororurangi stock. neighbourhood, had common interests and in
among a people called Ngati Ruanuku. The We have to regard it up to the time of Poroumata particular the interest of self-defence. It has
origin of this tribe is obscure. Some historians and for three or four generations after his death been suggested that in the area between
account for them by saying, that they were as an intrusive element, which penetrated into Waikawa and Waitotoki (south of Tuparoa) Te
derived from the crew of the vessel, which communities of earlier settlers. Wahineiti and Ngati Ruanuku were one and
brought Tahupotiki, the younger brother of The elders have passed on to us the names of the same. Mohi Turei’s account of
Porourangi to Whangara when the latter died, many of these communities, which will also Tuwhakairiora begins with this paragraph.
that they were from the South Island, Aropawa, be found in the traditions of the tribes of the “Poroumata and his wife Whaene were well
and were the servants of the Tahutioro, son of Bay of Plenty. These include Te Raupo- born, being descendants of Porourangi. Their
Tahupotiki. Whatever their origin we find Ngati ngaoheohe, Te Tawa-rauriki, Te Tururu- tribe was Ngati Ruanuku. The chief clans of
Ruanuku in great numbers and strongly mauku, Te Kokomuka-tarawhare, Te Aruhe- the tribe were Hore, Mana, Te Koreke, Te
entrenched in hill forts above Whareponga and tawiri. Moko-whaka-hoihoi, e Pananehu and
Akuaku. Their great pas were Kokai (formerly These sound like descriptions applied by the Pohoumama.”
known as Pukenamunamu ),Tokatea,Tongaanu latter to the early settlers. In the district about Now from other accounts we are told, that
and others.We are told, that they were a very Whakatane these and other communities, Hore and Mana were some of the chiefs of
numerous people. In the days of including Te Kawerau, Marangaranga, Te Wahineiti living at Waikawa, south of
Tuwhakairiora, grandson of Poroumata, the Maruiwi, Te Kotoreohua and others were Waipiro, in the time of the conquest of that
people who streamed down from Tongaanu pa grouped under the name Te Whanau a Toi, district by Tuwhakairiora, as will be told in
to meet his army was described as an the family of Toi. Many of these communities due course. The other clans mentioned as
immense multitude, who came down battalion preceded the generation of Toi, were among the early settlers grouped under the
by battalion. impregnated with his blood or came under same name of Te Whanau a Toi or Te Uri o
At the time of Poroumata the accounts agree, the mantle of his descendants, whether they Toi.
that the district between Waipiro and Tuparoa traced from him or not. Much the same We shall return to this subject in later lectures.
was well populated. To the south of Ngati process of gathering diverse elements of a We will see presently in tracing out other
Ruanuku and occupying pas at Waikawa, population, not necessarily connected by sections of Hinekehu’s descendants, that they
south of Waipiro, was a branch of the people blood, under the authority and name of some intermarried with Ngati Uepohatu, a people
called Te Wahineiti. This people had pas inland outstanding personality has occurred in wholly descended from Toi who made their
of Waipiro and along the Makarika and various parts of Polynesia and here in New first contacts with the Porourangi stock
Kopuaroa valleys. North of Ngati Ruanuku Zealand. In Rarotonga for instance Tangiia through inter-marriage with the Hinekehu line.
lived Ngati Uepohatu, occupying the coast was the chief or ariki of several clans, Te The Ngati Hinekehu and Ngati Uepohatu
from Tuparoa to Reporua and westwards to Neke, Te Kairira, Te Manaune, Te became intertwined genealogically and in
the range dividing this coast from the Bay of Kavekaveka, who were grouped under the regard to their land holdings.
Plenty. We shall see later in the special lecture name Ngati Tangiia, although his own children
on Ngati Uepohatu, that they were a Toi tribe had all been killed and he had adopted
whose land claims were based on that ancestor Taiteariki, son of the famous Whiro to be ariki The second part of this lecture will appear
and were not disturbed by the influx of the to his clans.To this adopted son he gave the in the next issue of Nati Link.

page fifteen