- IJ
145: The Ancient Tribes of Aotearoa
In an article published in 1893 by W.E Gudgeon for the Polynesian Society, he covers information rarely talked about by Maori these days as it refers to those here long before the Polynesians arrived - as told by Maori. Today that article would be regarded as too contentious as Maori maintain they were here first. Yet back before the Waitangi Tribunal was even considered and implemented, no one had any reason to hide the truth of the past. Here is the link -
Below is a summary of that article.
THE TANGATA WHENUA; OR, ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF THE CENTRAL DISTRICTS OF THE NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND.
December 2nd 1893
By W. E. Gudgeon.
Ngati-Kahupungapunga
Of the ancient tribes which occupied the central districts of this island, the most important was the Ngati-Kahupungapunga. Only tradition remains about these people, we do not know where they came from, who they really were but they did occupy all of the Waikato area occupied afterward by Ngati-Raukawa before Tinui crossed the Pirongia ranges from Kawhia to claim the land for themselves.
Various tales were often told back then of what started the quarrel between the tangata whenua and the descendants of Hoturoa (the captain of the Tainui canoe). A murder of a woman (Korokore, a Ngati-Raukawa woman) ensued and eventually the Ngati Rakawa killed the Kahupungapunga chief, Matanuku. At Te Ana-kai-tangata, the hunted tribe, assisted by the roughness of the country, made their first vigorous stand, and fought for three days. Most of them were however killed, including the chiefs Kaimatirei, Te Aomakinga, Tokoroa, and Te Rau-o-te-Huia. At another place all were slaughtered and burned in retaliation for the bruning of Korokore.
At Turihemo, only one man of rank was slain, viz:—Manuawhio, by Whaita. It was now evident that the strength and courage of Ngati-Kahupungapunga was broken, and that there would be no more severe fighting. The pursuers therefore divided to hunt up the stragglers. Pipito went in the direction of Te Tokoroa plains and captured many people in a cave; these were all taken to Te Ahuroa, where for the first time in this campaign people were eaten—but not until the tohungas had with many ceremonies removed the tapu caused by the death of Korokore.
the main body, 400 strong, followed the fugitive Ngati-Kahupungapunga to Rotorua and Waikuta. At the last named place they came up with the combined forces of the Arawa and the fugitives, who were about to escape in their canoes, when Ariari-te-rangi,2 son of Tutanekai3 and some women stood up in the canoe and called on the Arawa- 205 to return and fight; they did so with the result that Tama-te-hura was wounded and taken prisoner, and Ngati-Raukawa began to retire. Then Pipito was slain, and the retreat became a flight until they reached Whaita, who led on his seventy men, rallied the fugitives, and defeated the Arawa.
Such is the account given of the destruction of this once powerful tribe, of whom a remnant probably became absorbed into the Arawa, for from that time forth they ceased to be known as a triibe.
Mt Pohaturoa where they Ngati-Kahupungapunga had their 'last stand' before their final defeat.
Ngati-Manawa.
This tribe was originally known as the “heke” (migration) of Tangiharuru, and it 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. These people are now known under the names of Ngati-Whare and Ngati-Manawa. Tangiharuru's old cultivation may still be seen on the Wharepuhunga range. Fighting occurred here and there and they moved elsewhere, first east then south to Tauranga.
At Matata, and it was here that Tangiharuru conceived the idea of conquering new lands for himself and tribe; he therefore addressed his people and exhorted them to be brave in battle against the Marangaranga—the ancient tribe then occupying the Rangitaiki valley who were already a strong and numerous people when the Arawa canoe arrived. Their chief at that period was Tama-a-hoe. From these people a woman of great rank named Murirangawhenua married Tangi-hia, a son of Ngatoro-i-rangi, the chief priest of the Arawa canoe.
Tangiharuru and his warparty marched to Te Umuhika where they killed and ate the people of that place. (from this stroy it seems cannibalism was presnt long before Polynesian canoes arrived) At Ohui he sent scouts out to examine the country. They reported the Marangaranga as being very numerous. Natives seldom pay much attention to mere numbers—reputation and skill may make him apprehensive, not numbers (and this is why the Maori battalions did so well in WW2) .
Marangaranga were defeated at two places before finally Haena himself at Pukahunui. Survivors fled to their relatives among the descendants of Kurapoto. 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
This site is supposed to be linked to the Ngati Manawa tribe
Ngati-Apa.
The Ngati-Apa who are really at the present time one tribe with the Ngati-Manawa. but who claim to have sprung from Oro and Maaka, of the Arawa migration assert that they also took part in the destruction of the Marangaranga, but the genealogies prove they didn’t. These Ngati-Apa claim to be one and the same tribe with Ngati-Apa of Rangitikei. Their account is, that after the death of Apa, who was killed by the kick of a moa, while hunting that bird at Putauaki (or Mount Edgecumbe), his descendants were driven away to Lake Rotoaira. Unfortunately their verbal history doesn’t match their geneology as 6 generations of one family would have had to fight in one battle. (We can learn at alot from this and many genealogies have changed somewhat over time to fit the stories)
Human bone pendant said to belong to Ngati Apa. Yet our research shows it was found at Okains bay in Canterbury.
Ngati-Hotu.
Among other inland tribes of uncertain descent, of whom we have now only a tradition, may be mentioned the Ngati-Hotu, who at one time occupied Eastern and probably Western Taupo, and the Murimotu District, south-east of Ruapehu Mountain. It has been held (I know not on what evidence) that this tribe is descended from one of the Hotu's who came in the Tainui canoe, but this contention cannot be upheld for a moment against the Maori traditions as to the conquest of this tribe. We are told they were driven from Eastern Taupo, by Kawhia, son of Kurapoto At this early period in Maori history, the Ngati-Hotu were a strong tribe, and no doubt Kawhia following the old Maori custom allied himself with one section to destroy the other. This war took place in the second generation after the arrival of the Arawa and Tainui canoes.
About this same period came the migration of Tamakopiri, son of Tamatea, from Turanganui or Poverty Bay, and they, after much fighting, dispossessed the Ngati-Hotu of all that portion of the Murimotu district east of the Moawhanga river. Evidently the Ngati-Tamakopiri made peace with the ancient tribe of Hotu and allowed them to live unmolested on the opposite bank of Moawhanga until the generation of Tumakaurangi, when another migration of the same Tamatea stock arrived under Whiti-Kaupeka.
Ngati-Tamakopiri were evidently unwilling to divide their lands with the Ngati-Whiti,6 and as the easiest method of providing for the new arrivals they jointly attacked the Ngati-Hotu, whose chiefs were at that period Koaupari and Taranuku, and drove them finally from the district.
The fugitives retreated, some to Rangitikei, and some probably to Tuhua, or thereabouts, for we hear of them again many generations after in that district, when they joined some of the Ngati-Tama and Tini-o-awa, and attacked the upper Whanganui tribe, who were then living about Ohura—one of the tributaries of the mid-Whanganui—under the chief Tamahina. My account of this affair is derived from the old chief of that tribe (Tuao). The combined tribes invaded Ohura, and there slew Te Mata-tuahu, and all of his people. News of this raid was brought to Tamahina, who lived at Maikukutea, and that chief went alone to reconoitre the enemy; he there found the people dead and their dogs howling for their dead masters.
The Ngati-Hotu, had however left that place and had built a pa at Meremere, where they were killing and eating their prisoners. Having ascertained this much Tamahina returned to his tribe and taking his famous taiaha Te ahitahi, called on his followers to march against the enemy. Hokowhitu, (170) responded to the call, and marched against the invaders; they found the Meremere Pa abandoned in anticipation of the attack. The war-party therefore went on to Tuhua, and there found the enemy established in four pas to the number—it is said—of 8000. The pas were:—Te Pata, Te Papanokonui, Whakarewa, and Oruamoko, and here they were attacked by Tamahina and Rangitaupe. All of the pas were taken that same day, and the Ngati-Hotu fled to the immediate neighbourhood of Taumarunui.
Tamahina followed and called out to the Ngati-Hotu:—“You who have eaten men, come out and fight.” The Ngati-Hotu responded, and crossed the Kakahi stream towards the position held by Whanganui; here they were met by the two chiefs, and utterly defeated. A small plain near the battle field is to this day called Whata-raparapa, because, after the battle, a staging was erected nearly a quarter of a mile in length, on which the legs of the dead warriors were hung, with the soles of the feet upwards, hence the name Whata-raparapa.
There is of course a very great deal of exaggeration in this tale, but it appears certain that a desperate battle was fought against certain tribes, who were migrating, and that Ngati-Hotu, Te Tini-o-awa, and Ngati-Tama of Poutama, on the West Coast, were in the migration, and it seems probable that it may have been the migration of Ngati-Awa on their return from the Kaipara and northern districts. Tuao is of opinion that the chiefs of the heke were Turongo and Tamaihu, and that the former was of the Ngati-Maniapoto tribe.
Hakuhanui, fourth in descent from Tia who came here in the Arawa canoe came from Kawhia to Te Kakaho built a house and lived with the Ngati-Hotu. however a dispute arose over a woman (!) and Hakuhanui began to kill the Ngati-Hotu, and in revenge was killed by them at Maraeroa.
The death of Hakuhanui sealed the fate of the doomed tribe, for the Ngati-Tuwharetoa and Ngati-Ha in three battles, Tauraroa, Manukaruia, and Karituwhenua, destroyed the power of both Ngati-Hotu and Ngati-Ruakokiri, the two ancient tribes of Taupo.
From our knowledge of the characteristics of the tangata whenua of New Zealand, it is not to be supposed for one moment that this tribe derived their courage and mana from Ruatipua, but the inter-marriages with the descendants of Turi and Paoa has in this instance produced a race of singular courage. Though few in numbers at all times, yet the great tribe of Ngati-Maniapoto never prevailed against them, indeed it was generally defeated, and the descendants of Ruatipua can alone perhaps of all the ancient tribes boast that they are an Iwi Rangatira. There are traditions of several other ancient tribes, such as the ‘Tau-Harakeke’ who originally owned the Kawhia district. Also we hear of Haukapuanui, who—it is said—owned the country about Horohoro on the Taupo-Rotorua road, when Ngatoro-i-rangi of the Arawa migration passed through the country on his way to Tongariro, and whose descendants subsequently gave land in that neighbourhood to the heke of Tangiharuru. At the present day, it is hardly possible to mistake the descendants of these ancient tribes, for they do not in any way resemble the true Maori of the migrations; this is specially noticeable in the case of the Ngati-Hako, whose type of face is Mongolian and who bear no resemblance to the fair descendants of Hotunui among whom they live.
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From these ancient stories recorded in the late 1800’s we can see that various tribes acknowledged their possession of land and territory from battles fought with other tribes... AND those called the 'tangata whenua'. These 'tangata whenua' were those already here before the arrival of the first migration canoe; the pre-Polynesians. Maori, as we know them, did not possess an empty land as taught in the school books these days or as printed these days in the media - Polynesian's, in fact, came to a land already occupied and then they conquered it - and they know it at a higher level but deny it at a lower one.
What is inside our cave, when we finally reach the cavern part, will eventually prove this and while none of the old traditions talk of taller tribes, we will be able to show that the history of Aotearoa is somewhat different to that that that been perpetuated by many Maori in the last 70 years - and not always deliberately for many things have been hidden from the average Maori by other, usually political or academic Maori. And if there are no legends of tall tribes, we wonder how 'old' these skeletons really are! Are they from a time before what even those regarded as 'pseudo' would regard as pre-history? That would be very appropriate indeed.
And by the way, certain NZ archaeologists already know that there were Pre-Polynesian people already here. They've seen the bones themselves, discussed the fact they are 'pre', and had them removed...no archaeological dig, no analysis, no research paper. We have some names from a witness to that event already... Get ready they will named soon...
