Walk 42, 29th September 2020
This is a walk to the site of the former Signal Station. From that spot there’s a sweeping view of Hokianga Heads, the coast, Tasman Sea and the villages of Omapere and Opononi.
Arai Te Uru is the name of the Taniwha (mythological sea monster) which guards the harbour entrance with its sister Taniwha Niwa which stands guard on the opposite shore.
Signal Station Track: The Signal Station was in operation from 1838 – 1951 to guide ships over through the treacherous harbour entrance until being replaced by an automated lighthouse. Today all that remains is a few upright timbers and a horizontal beam.
The full name of Hokianga harbour is Hokianga-nui-o-Kupe”, meaning “the final departing place of Kupe. Kupe is a legendary figure, a Polynesian chief from Hawaiki who was involved in the discovery of New Zealand.
Each canoe and tribe had its tuahu, a sacred place marked by a stone. This huge stone is the tuahu of Kupe, erected as a memorial to him at Pakanae marae, near Opononi. It was moved here in the 1960s from the upper Hokianga Harbour.
Traditions about Kupe appear among iwi (peoples) of the following areas: Northland, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tainui, Whanganui-Taranaki, Rangitāne, and the South Island. Details about him differ from iwi to iwi.
Early accounts from the Ngāti Kahungunu area consistently place Kupe on board the Tākitimu canoe or name as his companions people who are strongly associated with the Tākitimu. The few references to Kupe in South Island sources indicate that the traditions are substantially the same as those of Ngāti Kahungunu, with whom Ngāi Tahu, the main tribe of the South Island, had strong genealogical and trading links.
The local iwi is Te Roroa, a sub tribe of Ngati Whatua. They occupy the region between the Kaipara and Hokianga.
Walk: Northland 23
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Notes:
The Burial cave near the pilot station: On the southside of Hokianga Heads there was a cave in a perpendicular cliff, which was the burial place of the people of Hokianga from time immemorial. Ramaroa was the name of the cave. To reach the cave men were let down over the cliff with a rope. When that part of the country was purchased by John Martin as a pilot station in March, 1832, the people removed the bones to another place, and it became common (noa) or free from tapu. Source: https://kaihuvalleyhistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/1-from-the-sea-we-came.pdf
Whiria Pa, Episode 20, Musket Wars #3
Ngapuhi trace their lineage back to Rahiri, who was born at Whiria Pa.
“Hong Hika tried to conquer Whiria in 1813, without success. Join me in a drone over Whiria where ancient earthworks are still clearly visible.”
It’s not far from Pakanae marae where the stone tuahu (memorial) to Kupe is.
There were two explorers named Kupe. The original discoverer of New Zealand named Kupe flourished some ten generations before Toi: THE ACCOUNT OF KUPE AND TAINUI. Source: The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Volume 28 1919 > Volume 28, No. 110 > The account of Kupe and Tainui, by George Graham, p 111-116
There were people here before the arrival of Kupe.
The article from the Journal of the Polynesian Society states that Kupe and his people discovered people at various places, according to elder Tati Wharekawa; “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. They were expert in preparing such foods, and in snaring and spearing the birds in forest and fish in stream.”
Monica Matamua of the Ngati Hotu tribe confirms this. She said that everywhere Kupe went, he found the land already occupied by people, some were fair skinned tribes. Here’s a close up of the Kupe memorial stone, and Monica Matamau’s account.
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