Our History

Pārata & Kahutianui

Kahutianui is the tūpuna that gives her name to the hapū and iwi of Ngāti Kahu. Kahutianui is the daughter of Tūmoana and Kahukura-ariki. Tūmoana was the rangatira of the Tinana waka. His mokopuna, Te Pārata, is reputed to have refashioned the Tinana at Rangiātea [Ra’iātea] after Tūmoana had returned there from Tauroa, Aotearoa. After the refashioning, Te Pārata guided the Tinana back to Aotearoa, where it was renamed Māmaru. It said that Pārata had returned with tohunga. The Māmaru landed at Rangiāwhia and was beached at Taiapā. This name refers to the ‘Taiapā’ that surrounded the kāinga now known as Taipā Point. ​

When the Māmaru arrived, Pārata married Tūmoana’s daughter, Kahutianui. The descendants and people of the Māmaru are spread through the Ōruru Valley to the base of Maunga Taniwha and along the coast to Tākou, and are said to have headed west to Whangapē. For various reasons, these people moved mainly south, and unlike other iwi and tūpuna, they were not a static and inbreeding community. At the end of Taipā Beach towards Otengi, it is said that the waka Māmaru was buried.

Ngāti Kahu was said to be called Ngāi Tamatea before Te Paatu was named. This hapū derives its name from Tamatea-iti, Kahutianui's brother. Ngāi Tamatea fell at the hands of Ngāti Tama at Kohukohu; however, the Ngāi Tamatea line still exists today through Waipuiarangi’s marriage to Moroki from the Kahutianui line.[1] The Waitangi Tribunal Mangonui Sewerage Report (1988: 13 – 15) describes how Taipā was the center of the Ngāti Kahu:

“When the Māori settlers arrived on the Māmaru canoe, possibly 700 years ago, they settled at Taipā, and the original dwelling place at Otengi headland is sacred to this day. The people’s main pā was built there. The main shellfish beds were nearby too.” [2]

“Two logs carried from the homeland to beach the canoe was then planted there. Two tawapou trees are there to this day. From cuttings, others have been established on the lands of related tribes. At Taipā an abundance of fish was found, and shellfish of great variety—toheroa, tipā (scallops), kokota (pipi), huai (cockles), karahu (periwinkles), kutai (mussels), tio (oysters), kina, pupu and koramarama (rock periwinkles), pāua, pātiotio (limpets), ngakihikihi (small mussels) and kotoremoana (shell-less pāua).”

“Fresh water was available by digging holes in the Taipā sands, a practice that continued to modern times. Otengi headland, a defensive pā was built named Mamangi, after the daughter of Pārata and Kahutianui. Pārata and Kahutianui lived alternately at three important headlands of the Bay, at Karikari to the north, Otengi at the center, and at Taemaro on the east.”

“Otengi at Taipā was the main base, where there were direct lines of sight to the other headlands and to promontories inland. As the descendants settled the whole of the Tokerau (Doubtless Bay) lands, signal fires were used to maintain contact between them.”

Over time, the people multiplied and grew, supplemented by marriages with other Māori from the many other canoes that came. Originally, there were three hapū, or clans, on the Māmaru canoe: Te Rorohuri, Patu Kōraha, and Te Whānau Moana. These names have always been maintained, but in later years numerous sub-tribal groups adopted additional tribal names that came to apply to different localities. For convenience, we refer to the sub-tribes collectively as Ngāti Kahu, although the name was not revived until the 1920s, and for much of the period described, different groups of the same people preferred their separate hapū names.

By the eighteenth century, the main settlements were broadly in three areas. At the eastern peninsula leading into Mangonui Harbour and in the surrounding valley and hills, in the central area inland from Taipā and nearby coastal places, and on the Karikari Peninsula at the northern extremity of the bay. Pā were built in all these places, and villages were everywhere.

It is likely that every coastal headland had a pā; many were built inland on well-drained hills at strategic spots on communication lines and with ready access to the resources of the dense forests and the open seas. On carefully chosen sites, they established extensive gardens.

[1] Reverend Māori Marsden. (ND).

[2] Waitangi Tribunal. (1988). Mangonui Sewerage Report: pp. 12. Wellington, New Zealand. Government Print.