Tatai Whenua - Tuia 250 Encounters

22 November - 15 December 2019

Sailing under the same stars...

 “It is important to know history from a place of truth.”     
                                                                                                    Maikara Ropata

Hauraki Te Whenua,  Tikapa Moana,  Marutuahu Te Tangata

1769 – A Hauraki Perspective

Hauraki  (one of the earliest sites of human settlement in Aotearoa) was first visited by Toi and Kupe, Toi’s name being given to Te Paeroa o Toi (the Coromandel Ranges) and Kupe’s name to Te Whitianga-a-Kupe River.  The motu in the gulf are known as Nga Poito o te Kupenga o Toi (the floats of Toi’s fishing net).
“Ngati Hako, tangata whenua descended from Toi, are the earliest people of Hauraki still remaining”. *

Setting the Scene

In 1769 Hauraki is home to the Marutuahu and Paoa iwi and hapu who whakapapa to the Tainui and Arawa waka.   The area encompassed the Coromandel Peninsula, the Hauraki Plains south to Matamata, west up to the Otahuhu Portage, across to Wai-o-Taiki (Tamaki Estuary) and the Gulf islands in the north.

A good climate, fertile land, abundant fisheries and forests, waterways into the Waikato, strategic north/south sea-lanes, and proximity to the Otahuhu portage between the east and west of the island made Hauraki a highly desirable place to live.
  “In times of peace, whanau and hapu in Hauraki were highly mobile, shifting between scattered landed interests (to maintain land rights) and embarking upon expeditions to fishing grounds in the Hauraki Gulf. However, it is also clear that pa building was extensive at this time, to meet external and internal threats. The large fortified settlements on swampy ground at the mouth of the Waihou were fine examples of advanced Maori culture.” * 

Enter HMS Endeavour, a British naval vessel, the tall many-sailed waka as foretold in the prophecies, bringing ‘goblins from the sea’ to the Hauraki.  It came up from Tuurangi-nui a Kiwa on the east coast, the ‘goblins’  having already slain several people on the way with the deadly impact of their long-range firepower.

These were men from another place, hungry for food, women, resources, knowledge and power, men on a mission of scientific interest and territorial acquisition.

Except for one, Tupaia, a tohunga from Raiatea, bringing the reconnection of whakapapa from Raiatea and Hawaiiki to Aotearoa......