Ngati Whatua Origins
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The terms Ngāti
Whātua-whānui or Ngāti Whātua-tūturu – meaning ‘wider’
or ‘true’ Ngāti Whātua – refer to the confederation of four tribes
occupying the lands between the Hokianga Harbour and Tāmaki (Auckland).
The tribes are Te Roroa, Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Taoū and Ngāti
Whātua-o-Ōrākei. The shorter title of Ngāti Whātua is
sometimes used to describe both the wider confederation and the fourth member
group. While it is tempting to think of the four groups as hapū (clans or
descent groups) of a single iwi (tribe), each is actually an independent tribe
that can act with others or independently.
The Ngāti
Whātua tribes share a common heritage. They are descended from the
ancestor Tuputupuwhenua (sometimes known as Tumutumuwhenua). Each tribe is
affiliated with the Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi canoe, which landed on the
west coast between Kaipara Harbour and the Hokianga. And they share links with
the ancestors who migrated from Muriwhenua and intermarried with, and then
subsumed, groups living in the region the tribes occupy today.
Northern Ngāti
Whātua groups like Te Roroa believe that Tuputupuwhenua was the son or
relative of the legendary navigator Kupe. They say that Tuputupuwhenua’s
descendants Ngāi Tuputupuwhenua, and the descendants of his wife Kui, Te
Tini-o-Kui (the many of Kui), were the earliest occupants of the Waimamaku
valley and Waipoua Forest. Te Roroa describe Tuputupuwhenua metaphorically as a
spring gushing from the earth, the source of the life-giving waters of the
land.
Southern groups name this
ancestor Tumutumuwhenua and say that he emerged from the ground. He married two
women: Te Repo, who was a mystical being visible only to those with second
sight; and Kui, who introduced the gourd and taro to New Zealand.
Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi is the main ancestral canoe of Ngāti
Whātua. Māhuhu made its first landfall on the east coast of
Northland, exploring the bays between Whangaroa, Tākou and Whangaruru,
before arriving in Pārengarenga Harbour. The canoe then rounded North Cape
and sailed down the west coast.
The northern tribe Te
Roroa say that Whakatau was the captain, and that the canoe landed at Kawerua
on the west coast, where Whakatau's son Rongomai married a local woman,
Takarita.
Southern tribes say that
Rongomai was the captain, and that the canoe landed at
Tāporapora-o-Toko-o-te-rangi, a promontory opposite the entrance to
Kaipara Harbour. Rongomai drowned when his canoe capsized, and his body was
pounded onto rocks on the northern side of the harbour entrance, Te
Ākitanga-o-Rongomai (the beating of Rongomai). His body was eaten by
trevally, and to this day his descendants will not eat that type of fish.
Some accounts say that
the Māhuhu people returned to the north and settled at Rangaunu
Harbour, where the canoe was interred in a creek named Te
Waipopo-o-Māhuhu.
Te Roroa are based at
Waimamaku valley, Waipoua Forest, Maunganui Bluff and Kaihū valley. They
are descended from the ancestor Manumanu I and his brother Rangitauwawaro, who
migrated from Muriwhenua to the Waimamaku valley. There, they and their
descendants intermarried with, and brought together, the local peoples of
Ngāi Tuputupuwhenua, Te Tini-o-Kui, Te Uri-o-Nuku (from the Ngātokimatawhaorua
canoe), Ngāti Ruanui (of the Māmari canoe), Ngāti Kahu
and Ngāi Tamatea (from the Tinana, Māmaru and Tākitimu
canoes), Ngāti Miru (of the Mataatua canoe), and other tribes
including Ngāti Rangi and Ngāti Ririki.
Manumanu II (the son of
Manumanu I), Rongotaumua (the son of Rangitauwawaro) and their descendant Toa
extended Te Roroa’s influence further. They gradually took control of
Kaihū and the upper northern Wairoa River, including fortifications on the
strategically important mountains of Maungaraho and Tokatoka. Toa’s grandsons
(the children of his eldest son Tiro) added to this legacy: Te Waiata and his
son, the famous tohunga Tāoho, had authority over
Kaihū and Maunganui Bluff; Te Maunga over Waipoua; Te Toko over Taiāmai;
Te Māra over Waimamaku; and Paekoraha over Waiwhatawhata and Hunoke. Toa's
descendants through his three wives included the important 19th-century chiefs
Te Tāua, Tiopira Kīnaki, Parore Te Āwha and Te Tirarau.
Te Roroa take their name
from Manumanu II, who was killed in a battle at Kawakawa in the Bay of Islands.
He was so brave that his enemies exclaimed, ‘Te Hei! Te roroa o te tangata,
rite tonu ki te kahikatea!’ (Behold! That man is as tall as a white pine!)
Te Uri-o-Hau came to
control the northern part of Kaipara Harbour and Te Taoū the south. This
happened when Ngāti Whātua expanded south among the resident tribes
of Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Ririki and Ngāti Mārua.
Both Te Uri-o-Hau and Te
Taoū descend originally from Haumoewhārangi (also spelt as
Houmoewārangi or Haumaiwārangi). He had travelled down the Kaihū
valley and northern Wairoa River to settle at Poutō, on the northern side
of the Kaipara Harbour entrance, but was killed during a dispute over
kūmara (sweet potato) gardens. Haumoewhārangi’s widow Waihekeao
formed an alliance with Kāwharu, a famous warrior chief from Tainui, who
led several ferocious campaigns through the Kaipara area. The most destructive
of these was known as Te Raupatu Tīhore (the stripping conquest), where
Kāwharu stormed pā along the west coast of the
Waitākere Ranges from Muriwai to the Manukau Harbour entrance.
The descendants of the
five children of Haumoewhārangi and Waihekeao – Mawake, Whiti, Rongo, Mauku,
Riunga, Weka and Hakiputatōmuri – eventually took control of north and
south Kaipara Harbour and the inland region as far east as Whāngārei,
Wellsford and Mangawhai Heads. Hakiputatōmuri was the founder of Te
Uri-o-Hau, and Mawake was the founding ancestress of Te Taoū.
The exact origin of the
name Te Taoū is obscure. One account suggests that it comes from
Hakiputatōmuri and his people, known as Te Taoū (the spears) because
of their deeds during war. Another says that the name is taken from Toutara,
Haumoewhārangi’s granddaughter, who was killed by a spear (tao) thrust
through her chest (ū). The conquest of south Kaipara Harbour was completed
by Haumoewhārangi’s great grandson, Tumupākihi, and his son
Waha-akiaki.
When Te Taoū became
the dominant tribe in south Kaipara Harbour, the main tribe in Auckland was Te
Wai-o-Hua, led by Kiwi Tāmaki. Although the two tribes were linked through
marriage, the southerly expansion of Ngāti Whātua was the source of
much tension between them. This came to a head at the funeral of
Tumupākihi. Kiwi Tāmaki attended with several of his warriors, and
midway through the feast surprised and attacked their hosts, killing several of
them. Tumupākihi’s son Waha-akiaki, his cousin Tūperiri and others
escaped to Te Mākiri, the pā of Waha-akiaki, where Kiwi laid an
unsuccessful siege. Before leaving, Kiwi threatened to hang Waha-akiaki’s
breastbone on Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill). Waha-akiaki replied he would hang
Kiwi's breastbone on a pūriri tree at Tauwhare.
The subsequent conflict
culminated in a battle at Paruroa (now known as Big Muddy Creek) at Manukau
Harbour, where Waha-akiaki killed Kiwi Tāmaki about 1741. During the
battles that followed, Waha-akiaki and Tūperiri conquered all of central
Auckland. The core members of Te Taoū stayed at Kaipara Harbour under
Waha-akiaki, while a division under Tūperiri remained in Auckland. This
second group eventually became known as Ngāti Whātua or Ngāti
Whātua-o-Ōrākei.
During the early to
mid-19th century Te Ōtene Kikokiko became the leader of Te Taoū in
south Kaipara Harbour, and Āpihai Te Kawau became the leader of Auckland’s
Ngāti Whātua. Te Wai-o-Hua continued to live alongside Ngāti
Whātua, but mainly in south Auckland. Several hapū (clans or descent
groups), such as Te Uringutu and Ngā Oho, included members from both
tribes.
Intertribal wars between
1815 and 1840 were particularly damaging for Ngāti Whātua. They had
fared well in traditional conflicts before this. In the north, for example, Te
Roroa and other Ngāti Whātua tribes had defeated Ngā Puhi at
Moremonui in the battle of Te Kai-a-te-karoro (food for seagulls). Ngāti
Whātua of Tāmaki fought intermittent campaigns, sometimes in
conjunction with Te Wai-o-Hua, against Ngāti Pāoa of Waiheke and the
Coromandel. However, the introduction of muskets by European traders and
settlers overturned traditional balances. Conflicts were spread more widely,
and casualties were much greater.
In 1822
or 1823 Āpihai Te Kawau, the grandson of Tūperiri and chief of
Ngāti Whātua in Auckland, took part in a long campaign with the
Waikato tribes. They went through Rotorua to Hawke’s Bay and Wellington,
returning through Taranaki and Waikato. While Āpihau Te Kawau was away fighting,
Ngā Puhi, under Hongi Hika – who had acquired more muskets than other
tribes – devastated much of the Auckland isthmus. The tribe destroyed the
Ngāti Pāoa pā at Mauinaina, killing and dispersing
many of the Auckland Ngāti Whātua. In 1826 Hongi Hika again defeated
Ngāti Whātua in the battle of Te Ika-a-ranganui, near the Kaiwaka
River south of Whāngārei. As tribes fled the fury of muskets during
this time, much of the Kaipara and Auckland areas became abandoned wastelands.