The walk begins to the north of the ferry terminal at Matiatia. The first ten minutes of the walk is along the beach and it’s best to go either side of low tide.
The picturesque views include Rangitoto Island and downtown Auckland. The track passes some of the island’s most expensive houses with their manicured gardens and sculptures. There’s an interesting dog made of timber at Cable Bay.
It’s a slog up a lot of steps at Cable Bay until you get to Delamore Drive. The road has a gate which you pass through and after that a long track downhill track leads back to the ferry terminal at Matiatia.
Walk: Waiheke 50
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
Links
History of Waiheke Island
Mr. George Graham tells the story of Waiheke Island. The ancient Maori name of Waiheke was Te Motu-arai-roa {the long sheltering island), because it acted as a break-wind or shelter against the open ocean storms and winds of the outer Hauraki Gulf. The name Waiheke (cascade waters) was the name of a creek on the Onetangi (murmuring sands) beach, and formerly a favourite landing place. In pioneering days that became a general name for the island itself.
The earliest inhabitants were the Maruiwi, a people from the Western Pacific, who settled here about 950 A.D. The local tribe of that people were the UriKaraka (descendants of Karaka, a Maruiwi ancestor). These people are traditionally remembered as expert makers of nets and as fishermen. They fought with the kopere (throwing spear), and fearlessly navigated these waters in frail catamarans or rafts (mokihi) of interlaced flax stalks and raupo leaves. Their sails were of the same materials. They seemed to have been a numerous and industrious people cultivating only the hue or gourd, which they are said to have introduced into this country.
Toi found the Maruiwi very numerous and not too friendly. He at last sailed away and settled at Whakatane, which was his objective. Some of his crew settled down, intermarrying with the Maruiwi. About 1200 A.D. a party of Toi’s people, with their chief, Maeaea, accepted an invitation to a Maruiwi feast at Omaru (near Awaawaroa). There they were murdered, the victims being enmeshed in hand nets and then speared to death, that being the Maruiwi method of attack. Hence the name of that locality is still Te Rore-a-Maeaea (the snaring of Maeaea). This incident led to a punitive campaign against the Maruiwi tribe at Waiheke, who were conquered, a remnant only being spared as wives or as slaves.
The Maruiwi were replaced by the people of Toi, who were replaced by the people of Arawa, who were replaced by the people of Maki. Then came Ngati Whatua, and Ngati-Huarere. The owners of Waiheke, who remained such until European times, were of the tribe of Paoa.
This pa is ringed on three sides by a high defensive ditch and the Waitara River on the fourth. There’s a second ditch inside the first. The ditches are so well constructed that even now, centuries later it’s still impressive. Food pits called ‘rua’ are still visible, despite being covered by centuries of leaf litter.
The way in is not very welcoming as there’s a screen of kawakawa bushes, but once you’re through it’s easy to walk around. There are karaka trees throughout the site and a big totara tree that would have been growing there when the site was still occupied.
The track begins at a farm on the end of Ngatimaru road. You can park near the farm shed. The track is over farmland marked by an orange trail marker.
Ngati Maru descend from an ancient Taranaki people known as the Kāhui-Maru, whose genealogy predates the arrival of the explorer Toi. Kahui means a flock, a name which is only applied to the tangata-whenua people. (Source: Tangata Whenua – The ancient inhabitants of Taranaki)
Ngāti Maru were not involved in the land dealings which led to war in Taranaki in 1860, and were not directly involved in the subsequent fighting. Source: Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Act 2022
The Musket Wars
Taranaki was a fertile land that was home to 8 Māori tribes before it was devastated by the Waikato invasions that began in 1817. It would be left almost uninhabited for the next seven years before European colonisation began in 1841.
And here’s another video about Taranaki by Kiwi Codger. In this podcast Kiwi Codger critiques the New Zealand Herald article on the destruction of Parihaka in South Taranaki. Like much of our news today, it presents good information out of context, and reinforces negative impressions of the colonization of New Zealand. He also outlines the importance of accessing all the factual information available, and describe where you can find many of the early books, diaries, and official records in order to form your own informed opinions. Be sure to check out Kiwi Codger’s YouTube videos on the Musket Wars. I’ve just summarized what happened; Kiwi Codger brings it to life!
While it’s winter time I’m posting some walks we did years ago, this is one of them. It was a lovely summers day with a warm wind blowing when we crossed the coast to Muriwai from our place at Snells Beach. It was an easy walk and we were able to see the gannets up close.
There’s a seal colony at Oaia just off shore. The gannets began establishing nesting sites on Oaia, then in 1975 on they moved to Motutara Island. Motutara literally means “the island of the seabirds.” The gannet invasion of Motutara Island caused the white fronted terns which formerly nested there to shift down to small crevasses on the sheer cliffs. The little terns fly like swallows.
The gannets then settled on Otakamiro Point, one of only two mainland nesting sites in NZ.
There used to be two pa at Otakamiro Point where the gannets now are.
To really top the walk off, we found a sea cave on the beach. All in all it was a cracker day.
The headland where the gannets are is named after Takamiro, a renowned Turehu rangitira or chieftain.
Takamiro was the earliest known chief associated with the Motutara area. Like his famous contemporary Tiriwa, he lived at a number of places between Motutara and Whatipu, although he generally occupied the headland that dominates Muriwai Regional Park. This landmark, and the pa which was constructed on it, are still referred to as ‘O-Takamiro’ or ‘the dwelling place of Takamiro.’
Both Tiriwa and Takamiro were Turehu leaders credited in tradition with great spiritual power, and with the ability to modify the landscape.
According to local tradition the area was subsequently settled by the ‘Tini o Maruiwi’ or the people of the Kahuitara canoe who migrated north from the Taranaki coastline. Some of this iwi settled on the coastline between the Manukau and Kaipara harbours where they intermarried with the Turehu people.
Ngati Te Kahupara, a sub tribe of both Te Kawerau a Maki and Ngati Whatua descent, lived at Korekore pa until the 1700s. The pa was abandoned before the coming of the European.
“The largest of the pa on the west coast is at Muriwai and is known as Korekore or Oneonenui and locally as Whare-kura. This pa has been fully described by Firth while Best also makes reference to it in his monograph on the Pa Maori.
This conspicuous headland pa jutting out into the sand dunes about 2½ miles to the north of Motutara was until 1938 one of the best preserved of pa sites. Its covering of pohutukawa and puriri trees has however been since removed and the whole area grassed. To prevent cattle and sheep being trapped, many of an extensive series of subterranean storage chambers have been blocked up, while the huge defensive earthwork 60 feet across and 27 feet deep has been partially infilled to provide tractor access to the western section of the pa.
The carvings on the side of the large storage pit situated on the ridge running south-west from the main pa are still in a good state of preservation, as are house sites and storage pits in this area in general. But much of interest on the main pa site has been obliterated. There was a kumera pit 28 x 21 x 7 foot deep.”
Source: Maori in the Waitakere Ranges, by J.T. Diamond, p 304-314/p1
Pillar, ancient Korekore pa siteA member of the Auckland Tramping Club exiting the mouth of a burial cave at Korekore Pa site with view down onto the dunes, beach and sea in the distance.View of dunes, Korekore Pa site and Muriwai Beach 1905, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections JTD-01E-01240
Muriwai Regional Park History Overview This document provides a 3-page summary of the history of human occupation and archaeology at Muriwai Regional Park from 1994. It describes the earliest inhabitants of the area from over 800 years ago, subsequent migrations of iwi/hapu groups like Ngati Te Kahupara and Te Kawerau a Maki in the late 19th century. It also outlines the traditional place names of the area and archaeological sites that provide evidence of human history.
This ancient pa was a familiar sight in my childhood. We travelled past every other week, crossing the Tutaekuri River on our way to the Hawkes Bay Milk Co-op. I remember the pa being a bare hill with deep defensive scarps and a quarry at the bottom. The lower part was almost quarried away. The site became a reserve in 1972, the year after I left. The site looks different now with the trees and pallisading.
The Otatara Pa reserve encompasses two pa, the upper level is Hikurangi Pa, the lower one marked by the pallisades is Otatara Pa proper. The pallisades had been erected in 1990 by the Maoris at Waiohiki to make it look more like a pa from the 1800s, to provide “an interpretation of the defensive structure.” The Ngāti Paarau of Waiohiki Marae are now the site’s guardians.
The pa site from the road, 2006The back of the pa site, 2025Family visit 2006
Waiohiki Marae is just across the bridge over the Tutaekuri River. Otatara pa didn’t belong to that tribe as they were never able to take it, so their ancestors settled in Waiohiki Pa on the other side of the river instead.
A brief history of the area is on the boards as you enter Otatara Pa. The wave pattern on the entrance carving depicts the migration of groups to Otatara over a long period of time.
As a child I didn’t realise how how much land (33 hectares) the pa site covered. Now I’ve learned it was one of the largest and most significant archaeological landscapes in NZ. In keeping with today’s ‘right-think’, the timeline at the entrance only goes back to the 1500s with the descendants of Awanuiarangi, the eponymous ancestor of Te Ātiawa (see below).
Also mentioned on the timeline is “Te Tini” which would be the people of Toi. Toi (an explorer from around 1150 AD) is widely acknowledged as the principal ancestor of many North Island tribes.
There is more information on the board displaying these artifacts: “The people who lived in the pa were descendants of Awanuiarangi. They were known through the generations as Te Tini o Awa, Ngati Kouapari and Ngati Mamoe (or Whatumamoe). Ngati Ira also lived on this pa. Te Tini o Awa (descendants of Awanuiarangi) also lived at Heipipi Pa at Bayview.”
The Ngāti Māmoe were one of the original people groups on the Heretaunga Plains (see the links below) but they were driven south by the Ngati Kahungunu who are now the dominant tribe in Hawkes Bay.
Artifacts from the info board at the entrance
Number 2 and 3 of the above artifacts look pre-Maori. Ngati Mamoe from the info board were settled in the land before the explorer Kupe. (Note, there are two Kupes.) Before them were the Maruiwi.
Otatara Pa at Taradale and Heipipi Pa at Bayview, Napier were once on the shores of the Ahuriri lagoon until the land lifted after the Napier Earthquake in 1931. Our farm was once on the edge of this lagoon. The neighbouring farm was Park Island, so-called because it used to be an island, and beyond was the Napier Harbour Board Farm. The Harbour Board got the land from the sea after the Napier earthquake.
As well as being a historic site the views over Taradale and Hawkes Bay are just beautiful.
Walk: Hawkes Bay 31
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
Links
DOC, Otatara Pa Historic Reserve – A series of tribal groups (iwi) once occupied these sites: Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whatumāmoa, Rangitāne, and (most recently) Ngāti Kahungunu. All have distinct perspectives on events. Elders say that a chief named Koaupari built the original Ōtātara Pā.
Ngati-ti-Koaupari were exterminated at Mohaka, Hawkes Bay. [See “the end of this people“ Journal Polynesian Society, Vol. XV., p. 25.]
Early Māori History of Napier
Tribal traditions, whakapapa and archaeological evidence all indicate many centuries of Māori occupation in Ahuriri (Napier), centrally located within the wider area of Te Matau-a-Māui (Hawke’s Bay). Te Matau-a-Māui translates to the ‘fish hook of Māui’ and is an allegorical reference to the legendary explorer and ancestor Māui who ‘fished up’ Te Ika-a-Maui (the North Island).
Early Māori tribes in the region descended from Māui and down through Toi-kai-rākau, and included Ngāti Hotu, Ngāti Mahu and Whatumamoa. When Ngāti Kahungunu arrived in the region in the sixteenth century, Whatumamoa, Rangitāne, Ngāti Awa and elements of Ngāti Tara were living in Pētane, Te Whanganui-a-Orotū (the Napier Inner Harbour, also known as Ahuriri Harbour) and Waiohiki. These groups are all ancestors of the current hapū within Te Matau-a-Māui.
Ngāti Kahungunu became the dominant tribal group in the region through both warfare and strategic marriage though large numbers left the area in the 1820s due to armed raids from both the west and north, and most sought refuge at Māhia. They started ‘filtering back’ to Ahuriri-Heretaunga in the 1830s and 1840s with the Treaty of Waitangi providing the prospect of ‘being able to return to their ancestral lands in peace’.
Te Awanuiarangi is recognised as the founding ancestor of Te Āti Awa. According to Te Āti Awa traditions, he was the product of a union between Rongoueroa and Tamarau, a spirit ancestor. Awanuiarangi is also an ancestor of Ngāti Awa in the Bay of Plenty. However, while Ngāti Awa trace their ancestry to the Mataatuacanoe, some Te Āti Awa trace their origins to the Tokomaru canoe whilst others remember the connection to the Kaahui people or the people that walked here before the floods (?)
Kupe and his people discovered people at various places. These people were the Mamoe, the Turehu, the Tahurangi, the Poke-pokewai, the Patupaiarehe, the Turepe and the Hamoamoa. They lived on the fronds and berries of the trees, and the roots of the earth.
Source: Volume 28 1919 > Volume 28, No. 110 > The account of Kupe and Tainui, by George Graham, p 111-116
Kāti Māmoe (also spelled Ngāti Māmoe) were originally from the Heretaunga Plains of Hawke’s Bay. Early migration stories say the Ngāti Mamoe were forced out of their home in the Heretaunga, and took refuge in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) with the permission of Ngāi Tara‘s ancestor and namesake, Tara. Later after they had moved down to the South Island, they defeated Waitaha along the east coast of the South Island.
The pa is described in page 393 of The art workmanship of the Maori race in New Zealand as “an ancient pa of great size, the earthworks covering many acres, and extending over three of four spurs of the hill.”
Section of a large pa at Taradale, Hawke’s Bay. The sketch section of the ditches and banks show the strength of the defensive works ; such was the extent of the pa that a very large number of men must have been required to repel a large attacking force. This pa is only one of many visible from this place. It is situated on a high spur above the river, and covers several acres.
Heipipi Pa at Bayview, Napier is described in page 303 of The art workmanship of the Maori race in New Zealand as, “A celebrated pa of the autochthonous people overlooking the outlet of the Petane Valley, near Napier.” Autochthonous means “native to the place where found; indigenous.” In 1896 it would have meant the pre-Maori people, Ngati Mamoe or Maruiwi.
The Ngati Kahungunu then moved south into Hawke Bay, first overcoming the Maruiwi in the Heipipi Pa on a hill at today’s Bayview, and in the Otatara Pa above Taradale. Tawhao settled by the Ahuriri estuary (at Napier) and Taraia settled along the Tukituki (near Hastings). Full story
According to T.M.R. (Boy) Tomoana, a Waipatu elder who was interviewed in 1971, the original inhabitants of the Otatara area were the Ngati Hotu and Ngati Apa tribes. The former tribe is now non-existent and the Ngati Apa is reduced to a very small number.
The walk is next to Opape Beach. It’s an old coach road. There are some nice views from the track but the land is neglected. It doesn’t look like the track is used much. The views would be better if they cleared away the gorse.
The track is a joint venture between Nga Tamahaua hapu, Opotiki District Council and Environment Bay of Plenty. Which to me means no-one’s in charge of looking after the land.
“At Ngai Tamawe have a really important historical narrative about the people who were there previously and were the early settlers. They were called Pananehu. Many of the women at that time were tiny women with small cervixes. When they mated with the Pananehu who were the giant people as we refer to them, many of those children died in pregnancy because the women’s cervixes were too small. The original name of Opape was *Opepe. The namecommemorated this event. Ngai Tamahaua has a waiata unique to the hapu which memorialises the loss of the children. “We’re the only ones who sing it on ceremonial occasions and at tangi.“
We stopped here to eat breakfast on our way home from Wellington after witnessing the end of the protest at Parliament Grounds. We felt shattered.
Eating our food, we watched a couple of divers enter the sparkling water. A man and his dog played fetch with a driftwood stick and two yachts sailed slowly by. In the calm and tranquil peace of the morning we realised life would go on.
This is a stunning part of the lower North Island west coast. Mana Island could be seen in the distance and beyond that, misty and barely disernable, the mountains of the South Island.
Our breakfast spotLooking out to Mana Island Te Pa o Kapo, Titahi Bay
History
The place name means the Pa of Kapo. The tribe was Ngati Ira. Te Pa o Kapo may have been occupied for as long as 400 years, but when Te Rauparaha invaded the area in 1819-20 the pa had already been abandoned.
Ethnographer Elsdon Best (who was born at Tawa) visited the pa and was impressed by the superb defences. He noted that at the time the stumps of the totara pallisading were still visible.
I suspect the rock at the site may have been a tuahu. Each canoe and tribe had one, a sacred place marked by a stone.
A plaque in front of the stone reads, “This is the site of a fortified pa occupied by Ngati Ira prior to 1820. The defensive bank and artificially narrowed causeway were once clearly visible. Archaeological evidence suggests there was an extensive settlement in this area.”
Walk: Wellinton 13
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
Kupe’s anchor
It is said that Kupe’s anchor used to lie on the Porirua foreshore. This is the narrative or korero from the Te Ara Encyclopedia of NZ about Kupe’s anchor:“The Polynesian explorer, Kupe, visited this area and named Porirua Harbour, Mana Island and his landing place, Komanga Point, situated south of Titahi Bay. The anchor stone from Kupe’s canoe, Mātāwhaorua, rested for many years on what is now Ngati Toa Domain. It is now at Te Papa.”
Be aware, this is a classic example of revisionist history about canoes and dates of discovery. Te Ara are wrong on two counts; they haven’t mentioned there were two explorers named Kupe and they failed to point out the stone is actually local greywacke.
Here’s the stone which is NOT from Kupe’s canoe. It used to lie on the beach at Porirua.
Ngati Ira: Intermarried with Ngati Tara. In 1819 a war party comprising Taranaki, Atiawa, Ngati Toa, Ngapuhi and Ngati Whatua attacked the Wellington area, destroying the main Ngati Ira fortifications. Most Ngati Ira fled to the Wairarapa where they still live today.
KUPE’S VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND: Kupe and his people discovered people at various places. These people were the Mamoe, the Turehu, the Tahurangi, the Poke-pokewai, the Patupaiarehe, the Turepe and the Hamoamoa. “Such is the story as told me by my elder Tati Wharekawa.”
Old Maori Middens round about Paremata At what period the site was first settled is difficult to ascertain, but it is possible that the Maruiwi or Moriori folk had lived in the district and there about, and had hunted and eaten the moas whose bones now lie smouldering on the earthy floor.
The finding of six so-called “spools,” of which so little is known, may lead us to speculate on the possibility of the Maruiwi having dwelt there, seeing that the Maoris know next to nothing of the “spools”; in fact, the names and uses are unknown to the Maori. Like the round flat, stones found at Tauranga, and certain weapons of which the Maoris call tell us nothing, the “spools” have probably belonged to the Maruiwi.
Somewhere about 100 years ago the Ngnli-Tua and Ngati-Awa tribes-came down the West Coast, and raided the settlements around the Porirua Harbour and drove out the dwellers. The former then settled at Porirua, and the latter on the shores around Wellington Harbour. Thus we find that the Porirua district has experienced many changes of occupants, and the Paremata people have changed many times also. Source: Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 15 September 1919, Page 4
This is a beautiful walk but you have to time it either side of low-tide. It’s a black sand beach at Tongaporutu, just off SH 3. There are three rocks called “the Three Sisters” and another rock called “Elephant Rock,” which lost it’s trunk in 2016.
There was also a cave with ancient rock petroglyphs, but sadly the cave has been lost to the surf. Note the big foot with six toes.
“They are the last signs of what we know as Te Kahui Potama,which are the ancient people and they were known as the Maeroa,” says Ngati Wai spokesperson Haumoana White. Source: Transparency NZ
After the beach walk, we went to the Three Sisters Lookout on Pilot Road near the Tongaporutu Cemetery to get another view of the beach. While there we read a sign about a Grey-Face Petrel colony at Rapanui, inside a predator fenced area near Tongapōrutu. I was glad to see the reserve was also protecting some dotterills, one of my favourite birds.
Author James Cowan speaks of the Maruiwi, a blanket name for the original people. They inhabited the district before the Tainui and other Hawajkian canoes landed. Toi on his arrival found them living at Tongaporutu, south of Mokau; “They were a rough and primitive people say Maoris; they did not build permanent houses, nor did preserve food for winter use, but lived like wild men, from hand to mouth. The later-comers attacked them, and at last the Maruiwi took shelter on the hill-top. Soon afterwards they disappeared. Their chief, say the Mokau people, called upon his gods to assist them as they were fleeing up the river-bank, and at a place on the hillside the ground opened, revealing an underground passage. Into this subterranean way the chief led his people and they vanished.” (Cowan J. , UP THE MOKAU, 1911)
Te Kahui Tipua were the ancient people known as the Maeroa.They were described as “wild men of the woods,” who probably were the remains of some of the original people driven to the forests and mountains by the incoming crews of the heke. Even so late as the fifties of last century, they were supposed to inhabit the great forests in inland Taranaki.
History Maori
Tongaporutu is also where the Tokomaru canoe landed.
From the boards: Okataina means the lake of laughter. It was an important link in pre-European times where canoes were carried from Tarawera to Okataina, and from Okataina to Rotoiti. Okataina road follows one of these ancient portage routes.
In 1823 Te Koutu Pa was attacked by Hongi Hika using a portage route.
Met at the Te Koutu pa site, Lake Okataina
The lake has no surface outlet – it drains by seepage through fissured lava towards Lake Tarawera which is about 20 metres lower in elevation. Because of this, the lake levels fluctuate dramatically with the rainfall.
In 1886 the area was covered in volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Tarawera.
There are small caves at the pa site. Tarawera ash has made it appear that caves were dug below ground level when in reality you had to step up to enter them. Some caves are characterised by a slightly domed ceiling. Some are L shaped with straight walls and a perfect gable ceiling, the outside is characterised by an extra recess for the door.
Te Arawa iwi Ngāti Tarawhai are the principal iwi now associated with the Okataina district. 1Te Karere TVNZ report that Lake Okataina was one of many strongholds for Ngāti Tarāwhai iwi who settled there following the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886.
In 1921 they gifted the foreshores of Lake Okataina to the crown to be set aside as reserves.
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Toitu te whenua – leave the land undisturbed.
New Zealand – Ancient Carved Maori Gateway or Waharoa – 20ft high – Te Koutou Pah (or Pa – a village of more commonly, a hill fort), Rotorua – now in the Auckland Museum. Date: 1920s
Walk: Rotorua 29
★★★★★
History
In previous times this area was settled by different iwi (tribes) who either pre-dated or derived from Te Arawa Waka. According to Ngati Tarawhai history, the first people to settle in the area was an iwi called Te Tini o Maruiwi (the myriads of Maruiwi.) They were followed by Te Tini o Ruatomore (the myriads of Ruatomore) who were to later adopt the name Ngati Kahupungapunga. Source: Lake Okataina Scenic Reserve history
The last stand of Ngāti Kahupungapunga was at Pohaturoa Rock.
THE MARUIWI FOLK OF THE BAY OF PLENTY DISTRICT: Volume 37 1928 > Volume 37, No. 146 > The Maruiwi folk of the Bay of Plenty District, by Elsdon Best, p 194-225
The refugees of Ngati Kahu-pungapunga
After the Ngāti Raukawa–Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga War, some of the surviving members of Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga fled to the Rotorua region. According Ānaha Te Rāhui, Wahiao settled some of these refugees at Whekau on Lake Ōkataina. Tarāwhai found out about this, went to Whekau and killed one of their men, Paiere, while he was digging for fern root. Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga travelled on to Tuhourangi (Rangiuru, on the Kaituna River near Te Puke) and Ngāti Uruhina. Source: Wikipedia, Ngāti Raukawa–Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga War
Rangitoto Island, a major Auckland landmark is said to have formed over 600 years ago from a volcanic eruption. It’s a popular destination for a day trip as it’s a short ferry ride across the harbour.
A great view of Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf can be had from Rangitoto’s summit. Although there’s no natural water source on the island there’s abundant bush and birdlife.
View from Rangitoto Island looking toward Motutapu Island
I was amazed at how the trees have colonised the volcanic scoria.
Although at first reluctant to buy an island that was ‘all rock’, in 1854 the Crown bought Rangitoto from its Māori owners for £15. In 1890 the island became a public domain and a popular destination for picnickers and boat day trippers.
Baches were built in the 1920’s and 30’s. Most were taken down as the place is a reserve but some have been left. I’m glad these baches were left as they add a bit of character to the island. Leaving a plaque in memorial of a bach is not the same.
The Collins bach is still in use.
Walk: Auckland 55
History
Māori know the island as ‘Nga Rangi-i-totongia a Tamatekapua’ which translates to ‘the day the blood of Tama-te-kapua was shed’. Tama-te-kapua was the chief of the Arawa canoe which arrived around 1350. He fought a major battle with the iwi (tribe) from the Tainui canoe at Islington Bay on Rangitoto which was allegedly caused over adultery, and the fight that followed left Tama-te-kapua’s face bloodied and bruised.
“From Hawaiki they came with “Te Arawa” canoe; Ngatoro-i-rangi was the “Tainui” navigator. When they arrived at Rarotonga the people of that place were urged to come along also, that is to say, the people called Te Aitanga-o-Whakaahu, younger brother of Puanga; but those people said “No”—they would not agree to leave their ancestral home and come hither—so they were left behind; also Rakataura of the “Tainui” crew, because of his thievish habits. Riu-ki-uta was now the navigator, because Tama-te-kapua had taken away on his canoe the “Tainui’s” navigator Nga-toro-i-rangi, also that man’s wife Kea-taketake.”
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The date of 1350 for the arrival of the canoe seems wrong. How can Rangitoto be formed 600 years ago if Tainui and Arawa anchored there and had a fight? The answer is that Rangitoto Island was already formed and inhabited before the arrival of the immigrants from Tainui and Arawa. The inhabitant’s footprints are preserved in the ash of adjacent Motutapu Island. Was the 600 year date given for the formation of Rangitoto Island made to fit the arrival of the Tainui and Arawa canoes?
The Ngai Tai ki Tamaki tribe have clarified the matter. Rangitoto erupted more than once. The footprints preserved in the ash of adjacent Motutapu Island are likely to be from the Maruiwi people.
The Maruiwi
The explorer Toi was there long before the arrival of the Tainui canoe, and when Toi Te Huatahi arrived in Tāmaki he found it to be extensively settled already by the Maruiwi peoples as firstly evident by the many occupation fires visible from his arrival. Hence, Toi called this land Hawaiiki tahutahu, ‘Hawaiiki of Many Fires’.
Peretu
When you get off the ferry you will walk under this gateway.
The waharoa (gateway) of Peretu
Peretū was a key Maruiwi ancestor.
“Peretū (pere, dart; tū, pierced) was so named for his father died of a wound in battle caused by a hand-thrown dart, a weapon that was commonly used by these ancient peoples. The headland where Peretū resided is named Ō-Peretū (Fort Takapuna). Peretū had other Pā across Tāmaki, one such in the North being Te Raho-Para-a-Peretū at present day Castor Bay, North Shore, and another in the south known as Te Pounui a Peretū (Ponui Island).
At that time Peretū utilised Rangitoto for the purpose of a “Rāhui-Kākā” (Parrot Preserve), a bird then very abundant on that island. The many Kākā would thrive on the plentiful bush foods of Rangitoto for the island was covered in a forest of Rātā and Pohutukawa trees. For this reason the slopes of Rangitoto are known as “Ngā Huruhuru a Peretū” (The hairs of Peretū) in ancient times and today. Note that this period precedes the second eruption of Rangitoto.
Some of Toi’s crew stayed and intermarried with Peretū’s people. Uika, Toi’s cousin, was one who stayed in Tāmaki and intermarried. Uika settled at present day North Head, known thereafter as Maunga-a-Uika or Maungauika.
Also in these ancient times was the name Ngā Pona Toru a Peretū (The three knuckles of Peretū) which refers to the three summits of Rangitoto. Peretū had three fingers on each hand; this was not a deformity, but a sign of his descent from a godly ancestor.“
Heritage New Zealand: Tradition records that the first arrivals on what is now the North Shore were Te Tini o Maruiwi. One of the descendants of these people, Peretu, is remembered in many place names in the area including the pa, Te Rahopara o Peretu, which is located on a headland to the south of the Castor Bay Battery and Camp site.
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