Ngati Kahupungapunga

I first became aware of the extinct Ngati Kahupungapunga tribe in the early spring of 2018 when, stopping by the bridge at Atiamuri on SH1 north of Taupo, we parked the car and went for a walk. For years I’d travelled past this prominent hill north of Taupo without knowing its history.

Crossing the road to the path where the Waikato River flowed and Mount Pohaturoa brooded, we found information on the South Waikato trails. One sign told of a siege where people were killed after lack of food forced them from their refuge. By 1840 the site was left empty.

The information board really didn’t give a lot of clues about the people who died at the site, the Ngati Kahupungapunga. I read they were possibly a surviving Moa hunter tribe and was left with the impression that they were itinerant hunter gatherers that moved around.

Later I learned the town of Tokoroa was named after a Ngati Kahupungapunga chief who defended the hill.

Further up the road we stopped to look at Hatupatus Rock, an unusual hollowed out rock in a small roadside reserve just north of Atiamuri. This unusual rock had a Maori legend attached to it (see the link below), but the really important info was missing. I learned later it was the sole remaining rock of a row of 140 stones that stood in an unbroken line, with one standing 2 metres higher than the others.

Really? This is the sole remaining rock! What happened to the rest?

When Gilbert Mair’s native contingent was stationed there in 1873, during his absence a number of the memorial stones were carried away to make a baker’s oven or kitchen middens at the camp.

In 2019, a year after our walk at Atiamuri, we went for a walk at Lake Okataina in the Rotorua Lakes district. Noticing a carpark for the Waipungapunga track I wondered if it was related to the Kahupungapunga at Atiamuri north of Taupo.

Parking at the lake’s edge, we chose the track to Te Koutu Pa. I learned from the information board at the start of the track that the first people to settle in the area were the myriads of Maruiwi followed by myriads of Ruatamore, who were later to adopt the name Kahupungapunga. Myriads meant an innumerable number of these people.

Related walk: Lake Okataina

So the Kahupungapunga tribe weren’t just at Atiamuri. Where did they go? Their placenames are just localities.

In the quiet of the lockdowns of 2021 I decided to do some research, and here’s what I found;

The Kahupungapunga were one of three indigenous tribes of the central North Island; “The earliest known inhabitants, or Tangata Whenua, were three aboriginal tribes, named Ngati Hotu, Ngati Kahupungapunga and Ngati Ruakopiri,” wrote James Cowan in his book “The Tongariro National Park.”

Of the three tribes the Kahupungapunga were perhaps the most important, wrote W.E.Gudgeon.

Some 400 years ago, they occupied all of the valley of the Waikato;

“Of these people we have only a mere tradition of their former existence, for it is not now known who they were, or whence they came; we only know that about 300 years ago they occupied all the valley of the Waikato, from the Puniu river southwards to Te Whakamaru range on the borders of the Taupo country; viz. all the country subsequently occupied by Ngati-Raukawa, for at that period the descendants of Hoturoa of the Tainui migration were still in the Kawhia district, where they first landed, and had not crossed the Pirongia ranges which separated them from the Waikato country.

This occupation of the Ngati-Kahupungapunga continued undisturbed until the days of Whaita, who as will be seen by the genealogy was contemporary with Raukawa, the ancestor from whom Ngati-Raukawa derive their name.”  Source:  The Journal of the Polynesian Society –  THE TANGATA WHENUA; OR, ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF THE CENTRAL DISTRICTS OF THE NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND

When the Ruakawa crossed the land from Kawhia, the Ngati-Kahupungapunga let them live at peace in their land.

According to the evidence of Raukawa’s descendent Hare Reweti Te Kume at a native land court hearing in 1868, the Ngati-Raukawa “desired to possess the land.”  The hapu arranged a strategic alliance, marrying a chieftainess to a man of the Kahupungapunga for the sake of peace and access to the region’s natural wealth. But the arrangement, it is said, turned sour.

The story of Parahore (Ngāti Kahupungapunga) and Korokore (Tainui)

1500 AD: During this period Ngāti Kahupungapunga had many settlements along the Waikato River, including Karapiro. Towards the end of this century a Ngāti Kahupungapunga chief, Parahore, married a great-granddaughter of Turongo, Korokore.  “She apparently considered that she had married beneath her station. In any event she became so domineering that finally, when she ordered her husband to make a gift of preserved birds to her relatives, he turned upon her and silenced her forever with a blow of his war club.” Korokore’s slave escaped and conveyed the news to Whaita, Korokore’s brother. Whaita, with the help of his uncle Takihiku and cousins Tamatehura, Wairangi, Upokoiti and Pipito, exacted utu on the Ngāti Kahupungapunga.

Battles were fought at Te Arowhenua, Te Pohue, Takaahiahi and Hapenui, which cleared the western side of the Waikato. On the eastern side Ngāti Kahupungapunga were relentlessly pursued and pa were captured at Piraunui, Hokio, Pawaiti and Puketotara along what is now Lake Arapuni.  The last battle was fought at Pohaturoa, known today as Atiamuri Rock, on Lake Whakamaru, which Tainui besieged until the defenders were starved out and immediately killed. Tainui hapu took over the lands of the Ngāti Kahupungapunga.

Source: Maungatautari Marae

Researching the battle sites, I found Piraunui Pa at Matawhana near Tokoroa, a major pa site which sadly has not been preserved. It was destroyed by livestock and the farmer filled in the underground rooms.

An archaeologists’ report done in 1930 showed a citadel where the highest terrace was 75ft by 30 ft. In some pits were fairly large blocks of stone that had not fallen from the roof. The walls and domes were still intact, and it would seem the method was to work behind blocks of stones and so break off large pieces. Finally the rock was carefully trimmed and shows a finish that would not disgrace a mason of the present day, with his efficient tools.

Maori did not build with stone.

Here are some interesting pages from the report of the Piraunui Pa at Matawhana, Waikato:

Pirauiti, a smaller pa site rediscovered on a land survey in 2014, is being destroyed by a quarry operation.

Pā Wars: Blasting at quarry blamed for partly destroying ancient village

Raukawa took three forts at Te Arowhenua, Pōhue and Taka-ahiahi at Wharepuhunga. There is an ancient rock with markings in this area called “Tokahaere rock.”

Mount Pohaturoa was the Kahupungapunga’s last stand after which they were wiped out.

This research is ongoing as I still have sites in the Waikato to visit.

More related walks:

Hakarimata Reserve, Huntly

Near the coast at Waikato they lived in caverns.

According to local lore Ngāti Kahupungapunga were said to be the people that populated the area around Ngāruawāhia/Karakariki. The original name of the Hākarimata is a denotion to these people, it originally was called whāwhāpunga – or pungapunga whāwhā – this was one of the many caverns of the Kahupungapunga people. There were remnants of these people who lived in caverns out west towards Te Pahu also.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari : Some 400 years ago, they occupied all of the valley of the Waikato from Huntly to Taupo and Rotorua. They had many settlements along the Waikato River, including Karapiro.

This tribe was an off-shoot from the Ngati-Kahupungapunga. From the fact that from Tangiharuru to the present day there are only eleven generations, we may infer that their departure did not long precede the destruction of the parent tribe.

When the Arawa canoe arrived in the Bay of Plenty, this was already a very numerous tribe, possessing large fortified pas at the foot of Putauaki (Mount Edgecombe), and also at many places on the sea coast.

Their chief at that period was Tama-a-hoe, another, a woman of great rank named Murirangawhenua who married Tangi-hia, a son of Ngatoro-i-rangi, the chief priest of the Arawa canoe. From Wakapau-korero, the warparty marched to Te Umuhika where they killed and ate the people of that place. At Ohui they saw the smoke of distant fires, and Tangiharuru halted his men and sent forward scouts to examine the country and report on the numbers and fortifications of the people he intended to invade. When the messengers returned, they reported the Marangaranga as being very numerous.

The boastful chief had not long to wait, for Tangiharuru defeated him at Pukahunui, and the same evening captured the Whangonui Pa, killing most of the chiefs of the tribe and among others Haeana himself. The survivors fled to their relatives among the descendants of Kurapoto, in the neighbourhood of Runanga, where they were certain of protection if not sympathy, for Maruahine, daughter of Rarataumai-Hawaiki had long before married Tupangea, third in descent from Kurapoto and her descendants were numerous. From this time forth Marangaranga ceased to exist as a tribe, but they have representatives among the tribes of the Whaiti (near Galatea), viz., the Patuheuheu, Ngati-Whare, Ngati-Manawa, and Ngati-Hamua.

Source: The Tangata Whenua of the Central North Island

Is there a tie in with the tradition of Nuku-tawhiti? Nuku-tawhiti is the father of Papa-tahuri-iho, and grandfather of Papa-tahuri-ake. The name of the house built by him in New Zealand was Whatupungapunga. Source: Encyclopedia Mythica, Nuku-tawhiti

Links

“Of the ancient tribes which formerly occupied the central districts of this island, perhaps the most important was the Ngati-Kahupungapunga,”

THE TANGATA WHENUA; OR, ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF THE CENTRAL DISTRICTS OF THE NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND

Massey University: The Piranui Pa at Matawhana, Waikato

Maungatautari Marae: KO NGATI KAHUPUNGAPUNGA

Roadside Stories: Hatupatu’s Rock

Papers Past: The Last Stand of the Tangata Whenua

According to Gilbert Mair a few of Ngati Kahupungapunga found a final refuge in Hawke’s Bay, where he met the last lineal descendant, a one-eyed man named Pene.
https://www.enzb.auckland.ac.nz/document/?wid=5087&page=1&action=null

Ngāti Ruakōpiri

Ngāti Ruakōpiri (Te Patutokotoko) and Ngāti Hotu. Two early kin groups who migrated together to the region from the Bay of Plenty were ngāti Ruakōpiri and ngāti Hotu . Their origins are unclear, although some claim Ruakōpiri were the descendants of Waitaha-ariki-kore, who, as stated earlier, arrived in his own waka, te Paepae-ki-Rarotonga.

It is believed that the two groups were living in the Taupō district when Ngātoroirangi and Tia, another member of te Arawa waka, made their exploratory trips. Having migrated from Matahina, east of the Kaingaroa Plains, ngāti Ruakōpiri lived for some time east of Taupō where they were attacked by ngāti Tahu (whose origins are also blurred) . They fled to Murimotu, where they took refuge among ngāti Rangi and ngāti Tamakana and other hapū of the Manganui-o-te-ao and upper Whanganui region.

In 1878, ngāti Ruakōpiri were based in upper Whanganui at te Ure-iti. Resident magistrate R W Woon believed they were a hapū of te Patutokotoko, while te Keepa te Rangihiwinui (Major Kemp), who had whakapapa connections reaching right up the Whanganui River, said that te Patutokotoko was a name that ngāti Ruakōpiri had adopted in the nineteenth century.
The National Park District Inquiry Report, page 39