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Pepeha
Ko Mātaatua te waka
Ko Maungapohatu te maunga
Ko Waikaremoana te moana
Ko Ngāi Tūhoe te iwi
Ko Taiarahia te maunga
Ko Ohinemataroa te awa
Ko Rūātoki te haukāinga
Ko Ngāhina te marae
Ko Tāwhaki te wharetipuna
Ko Tonga Okioki te wharekai
Ko Ngāti Tāwhaki te hapū
Ko Tauarau te marae
Ko Rongokārae te wharetipuna
Ko Rangimāhanga te wharekai
Ko Ngāti Rongo te hapū
Ngā uri o te kohu
Tiwakawaka according to some traditions was the first explorer to discover these lands. Tiwakawaka settled at Kākahoroa later named Whakatāne. Toitehuatahi, a descendant of Tiwakawaka, lived above the cliffs of Whakatane at Kaputerangi. Te Tini-o-Toi (the multitude of Toi) spread inland as far as Te Whāiti and beyond before the arrival of the waka Mātaatua. The original people of the land also included Te Hapuoneone who inhabited Ohiwa, Waimana and Ruātoki. Some Tūhoe traditions claim descent from Pōtiki.1 The Waitangi Tribunal reported:2
According to evidence presented in the Urewera inquiry and also in our own, all of Tuhoe are descendants of Potiki, also known as Potikitiketike. Tuhoe tradition states that this ancestor was the offspring of the union of Te Maunga and Hinepukohurangi, and thus of the land itself. His descendants became known as Nga Potiki. In a later generation, Te Rangitiriao (a direct descendant of Potiki) married Rakeiora, daughter of Tamakihikurangi of Te Hapuoneone and a direct descendant of Toi.
The whakataukī 'nō Toi nō Pōtiki te whenua nō Tūhoe te mana rangatira' proclaims the land comes from Toi and Pōtiki but the prestige and rank comes from Tūhoe Pōtiki. He is the ancestor from whom Ngāi Tūhoe take their tribal name. His grandmother Wairaka and her father Toroa came from Hawaiki on board the waka Mātaatua.
Rongokārae is also a descendant of Toroa from whom Ngāti Rongo of Ruātoki and Tauarau marae take their name. Rongokārae came from Ngāti Awa and married two women from Tūhoe.
Rongokarae Marae, Ruatoki
A later descendant Tāwhaki is the ancestor from whom Ngāti Tāwhaki of Ruātoki and Ngāhina marae take their name. It is more than likely that we can connect whakapapa-wise with all hapū of Tūhoe whānui.
The Tūhoe nation has been ravaged by war, land confiscations, Māori land commissions and the scorched earth policies of the Crown, aided by the advent of the Māori Land Court.3, 4
The records of the Māori Land Court show how land shares passed from one generation to the next. For example, Tuwhiti received land shares in Ruatoki B from his father, Te Weehi. View a copy of the original hand written Court minutes and these transcripts (because the handwritten records can be difficult to read):5
"Ruatoki B Section 36 - Te Weehi Toki
application to succeed
Rawinia Rangi - sworn - deceased my father, died 24th July 1949, no will, issue:-
Rawinia Rangi f.a. [female adult]
Tuwhiti Weehi Toki m.a.
no objections, order accordingly
Ruatoki B Sec 73 - Potahi Toki
Ruatoki B Sec 36 - ditto - ditto -
appln to succ.
Rawini Rangi - on former oath - dec'd my father's sister, died 26th March 1945 - no will - no issue - land from mother - Roka - she had:
Hinewaho Toki d.no will, no issue
Te Weehi Toki d.no will, issue above
Potahi Toki dec'd in this case
Kokouri Toki m.a.
no obj
order accly
Kokouri Toki m.a. 1/2
Rawinia Rangi f.a.1/4
Tuwhiti Weehi Toki m.a. 1/4"
Te Weehi Toki (or Te Wehioterangi) married Tarere and Tuwhiti was their youngest child. Te Weehi's father Toki Pirini received land shares in Maungapohatu from his mother Harema Wharetapu. View a copy of the Court minutes and these transcripts:6
"Maungapohatu succn to Harema Wharetapu
Toki Pirini, Sworn
I knew decd when alive. She died on 27 June 1904. No Will. Children
Ku Maiterangi Te Harawira fa
Toki Pirini ma
Pakawe Pirini fa
Taiki Pirini fa
Pa Pirini ma
I ask that they be appointed successors in equal shares
No objections
Order accordingly"
The records of the Māori Land Court contain detailed evidence of whakapapa, tikanga and traditional rights of Ngāi Tūhoe to their ancestral lands. Our tīpuna gave sworn evidence (under oath) before the Court setting out their right to land through discovery, conquest, ancestry (whakapapa) and occupation (living, hunting and growing food on the land) and defending the land against enemies. In 1913, Toki Pirini appeared before the court to give evidence in support of his claim in the Te Whāiti enquiry. View a copy of the original hand written Court minutes and these transcripts:7
"Toki Pirini Sworn
£1 2/- pd I can trace the persons in my list from
[Whakapapa]
Wharepakau
Iwikoru
Takapunui
Te Rahui
Haukiwaho
Hineko
Harema = 1st husband (Harawira)
|- Ku, Rawinia, Peehi, Paki
Harema = 2nd husband (Pirini Toki)
|- Toki, Taiki, Pakawe, Paa
|- Hinewaho |- etc |- etc
|- Potahi
|- Te Wehi
|- Kokouri
|- Anihia
|- Tipihau
I was on Tuhoe's side before the first and second Commission. The correct claim to the land was set up by Ngati Whare and Ngati Manawa. The claim set up by Tuhoe was not the proper claim.
Haukiwaho was killed at Ngatahuna. Hineko used to live on this block for sometime lived then she returned to Tarapounamu). My mother Harema was born at Otoko.
She married both her husbands on the block.
I was born on Tarapounamu block.
I was very young when I came back to Te Whaiti.
I lived at Ahikereru in the West of Whirinaki.
Afterwards I lived at Te Pahou which was a large kainga of Ngati Whare.
Maraetai was another kainga below Pahou.
From there I came and lived at Te Puhi a Kapa.
By that time only a few Ngati Whare lived there.
They went and lived at Harema.8
I was fighting for the Hauhau at the time.
I escaped and then left Te Whaiti.
It was not on account of the fighting I went in the first place.
Cross examined by Raimona Heretaunga
At the time of the second commission I was in Gisborne waiting for the king." 9
Transcripts re: Tarapounamu-Matawhero land block10
Witness: Te Oti Tukuaterangi
[Whakapapa]
"Tawhaki
Tutonga
Tumanawapohatu
Te Whatupe
Te Rahui
Haukiwaho
Hineko
Harema
The four first children of Hineko are included... Harema married into Ngati Tawhaki, and her children were born here. The occupation ceased in the time of Haukiwaho - when he died his children went to Maungapohatu and have not returned. Harema occupied the block ... Okeroa would visit Harema at Tieke Kainga and stay there. (Mehaka cross examines):
Q What place on the block did Hineko live?
A I heard she lived at Matawhero
Q Is the sign of her occupation as plain as those of Rotohiko?
A These are the people who lived with her.
Q Point out those places.
A I have not been to those kaingas but I have been told by my elders.
... I said Harema lived there.
Q Don't you know Harema married Pirini who belonged to Tieke?
A I know that Harema and Pirini both had interests in the land."
Transcripts re: Ranga a Ruanuku land block, claimed for Ngati Ha:11
Witness: Iwikino
[Whakapapa]
"Ha
Rangipo
Te Kurahapainga
Te Whatupe
Te Rahui
Haukiwaho
Iwikino: The woman Kurahapainga lived at Pakakau on the block. She married Tumanawapohatu at that kainga. Their child Te Whatupe was born there - he died at Ruhakupenga on the block. That was a permanent place of his. He was killed there by a war party of Whakatohea. His child was Te Rahui, he also lived at that kainga. He died on the Matawhero block. I don't know the name. It was on the western side of Whakatane. He was killed in a squabble among themselves. His child was Haukiwaho - she grew up at that kainga, Ruhakupenga. She married Mokonui of Nga Potiki. Then she moved away to Maungapohatu. Taken away by her husband. When her husband died, she returned to the block. She died just outside the block (on the Ohaua te Rangi) and is buried there. ... Ngati Rongo and Ngati Ha lived together at this kainga."
View a copy of the original hand written Court minutes and these transcripts re: Waikarewhenua land block
Witness: Tutakangahau
12
"Mokonui I went to Whakatane. his permanent kainga was at Omahuia. on Maungapohatu - Tamatua lived permanently on. Maungapohatu but came on this land to get birds - Mokonui II lived mostly at Ruatahuna and Maungapohatu - he had no permanent kainga on this block - I have no permanent kainga on this block. only temporary houses when catching birds."
Transcripts re: Ruatoki 1, 2 & 3 land blocks:13
Witness: Tutakangahau
[Whakapapa]
"Mokonui
Tapui
Tutakangahau
These are Ngati Rongo - the descendants of Kura-ariki who came back to this land. Mokonui lived at Owakatope pa. His wife was Matarae of Ngapotiki. Taken prisoner here by Whakatohea with some Ngati Rongo women. Mokonui afterwards lived at Tunanui. Tapuihina lived at Tapuae when Ngati Rongo reoccupied Ruātoki.
[Whakapapa]
Hukai = Taunaha
Wharetapu
Kopae
Kenana
Rua
This family have occupied permanently. Hukai was killed at Kohipi, his wife Taunaha at Maringiawai. Wharetapu was one of the chiefs of this place and of Ngati Rongo. Kopae ... resided here, Rua is now at Maungapohatu, went there from here."
View a copy of the original hand written Court minutes and these translated transcripts re: Ruatoki South land block14
Witness: Numia
"Start with Koau, who married Komiri from Ngati Manawa, Koau was from Ngati Hinekura, had no shares in this land block, they had Pakokai, who married Te Whatuarerorua from Ngati Koura, they had Moni who had Iraia. Moni married Hapai from Te Urewera. Iraia married Te Piriti from Ngati Kumara. Mania Moni married into Ngati Pukeko but no children. Te Piriti is still alive and her children and granchildren
[Whakapapa]
Koau = Komiri
Pakokai = Te Whatureorua
Moni = Hapai
Iraia = Te Piriti
Iraia is deceased. They did not live on the block. However, Moni lived at the places I have spoken about, her and Iraia, from Te Waitapu they went to Waipuna. They lived there working at the saw mill. At the time of the Hauhau wars, Moni stopped living there and went to Ruatahuna. And Iraia finished at that place and went to the coast. Moni died there, but Iraia came back out, Iraia died at Ruatahuna and their children are still there, some are at Waikaremoana. Mania is at Ngati Pukeko, not in the block. Not a single person lives there."
Numia responds to Tupara: "Moni did not live here before Christianity. Moni and the others lived there at the time of Christianity. Iraia had a house at Te Waipuna, they had nowhere to stay before the Kaunga [a battle where Tūhoe defeated Ngāti Awa]. I did not hear that Moni erected the pa at Ohinenaenae, at Ohauware. Te Hira worked there. Iraia and everyone lived at Waitapu. Whakatane, Te Totara and Ruatahuna were the villages of Mania. He did not work on the block"
Notes:
Whakataukī
Nō Toi nō Pōtiki te whenua
Nō Tūhoe te mana rangatira
Kia tāwharautia a Mātaatua
E kore e hoki i te wae tuki noa
Mā te ūpoko pakaru rāanō
He kotahi nā Tūhoe
E kata te pō
Tūhoe moumou kai
Moumou taonga
Moumou tangata ki te pō