165: Moriori Origins

From the journal of the Polynesian Society can be found the following from 1910. Make sure you get to the piece at the very end; after the artifacts.

The manuscripts from which these particulars are taken state that after Kupe's discovery of New Zealand there arrived there several canoes, which made the land on the coast north of Taranaki, coming from a south-west direction, and that they had been blown away from their own islands, named Horanui-a-Tau and Hau-papa-nui-a-Tau, in a gale of wind. They were apparently carried away to the south, and on their return towards the north made the New Zealand coast at the place mentioned above. Here they settled down, building many of the fortified pas still existing; and when Toi arrived they had spread along the West Coast from the North Cape to Wai-ngongoro River, in the South Taranaki Bight, and on the East Coast from the North Cape to near the East Cape. They were, by the middle of the twelfth century, a very numerous people, and differed a good deal from the Eastern Polynesians, to which branch Toi belonged, and had a fairly strong Melanesian element in them, as is very evident from the description of them preserved in the before-mentioned MSS., though they spoke the Polynesian language. Evidently they came from the Western Pacific. Toi-te-huatahi's crew was composed almost entirely of men—indeed, it is not certain that any women came with him. The consequence was that intermarriage between the crew and the tangata-whenua at once took place, and after Toi had settled down and built his pa of Kapu-te-rangi at Whakatane, in the Bay of Plenty, these marriages were not long in causing strife to arise between the two peoples, leading to wars in which Toi's people invariably obtained the upper hand.

Many years after these events Toi's grandson Whatonga found his way back to Tahiti from Ra'iatea, and there learnt that Toi had gone in search of him to Tiritiri-o-te-moana (New Zealand). He gathered a strong crew, and manning the “Kura-haupo” 2 canoe, came on his way in search of his grandfather, whom he eventually found living, a very old man, at Kapu-te-rangi, Whakatane, New Zealand. After Whatonga's arrival further intermarriages took place with the tangata-whenua, and then serious troubles arose between the two peoples, which eventuated later in wars of extermination, in which the later migrants appear always to have obtained the upper hand, and during which most of the tangata-whenua males were killed, the women of marriageable age and the children spared, to become incorporated in the tribes of Toi-te-huatahi and his companions.

These wars seem to have prevailed most extensively in the times of the children of Te Awa-nui-a-rangi (Toi's youngest grandson), many of whom had migrated to North Taranaki from Whakatane through intermarriage with the tangata-whenua descendants of Pohokura, Maru-iwi, Pananehu, Rua-tamore, and others, and who were then known by the tribal names of Te Tini-o-Rua-tamore, Te Tini-o-Maru-iwi, Te Tini-o-Tai-tawaro, etc.

It was the latter tribe that principally occupied North Taranaki, and as we shall see, were the ancestors of the original Moriori people of the Chathams. A great war is mentioned during which the Tini-o-Awa tribe (descendants of Te Awa-nui-a-rangi, Toi's grandson, now known as Ngati-Awa and Te Ati-Awa) completely overcame the tangata-whenua people of North Taranaki, and finally expelled them. This defeated people crossed Cook's Straits and occupied D'Urville Island, at the north end of the South Island. Te Tini-o-Awa followed them across the Straits, and in a final battle again inflicted a severe defeat on Te Tini-o-Tai-tawaro, the last of whom were seen making their way south in several canoes, “on their way to the Chatham Islands,” as the narrative says.

A briefer version of this can be set out as follows...

They were, by the middle of the twelfth century, a very numerous people, and differed a good deal from the Eastern Polynesians, to which branch Toi belonged, and had a fairly strong Melanesian element in them, as is very evident from the description of them preserved in the stories handed down by Maori. Evidently they came from the Western Pacific and in time intermarriage between Toi's crew and the tangata whenua took place but eventually the nature of the two different types of people lead to wars in which Toi's people invariably obtained the upper hand and later eventuated in wars of extermination, in which the later immigrants appear always to have obtained the upper hand, and during which most of the tangata-whenua males were killed, the women of marriageable age and the children spared, to become incorporated in the tribes of Toi-te-huatahi and his companions.

It was the latter tribe that principally occupied North Taranaki, and as we shall see, were the ancestors of the original Moriori people of the Chathams. A great war is mentioned during which the Tini-o-Awa tribe (descendants of Te Awa-nui-a-rangi, Toi's grandson, now known as Ngati-Awa and Te Ati-Awa) completely overcame the tangata-whenua people of North Taranaki, and finally expelled them. This defeated people crossed Cook's Straits and occupied *D'Urville Island, at the north end of the South Island. Te Tini-o-Awa followed them across the Straits, and in a final battle again inflicted a severe defeat on Te Tini-o-Tai-tawaro, the last of whom were seen making their way south in several canoes, “on their way to the Chatham Islands,” as the narrative says.

* Note above, that the stories said the tangata whenua were forced to D'Urville Island. That location is where the most un-Polynesian artifacts have been found. Yes, these items below belong to the true tangata whenua; those here before Polynesians and Toi. Here are some of them from marlborough area or ones looking close to those described.

The next post will be controversial for it tackles the truth about the colonisation of The Chatham Islands and I call out an author for their cultural racism. Maybe one day we will get the chance in a court of law to challenge all this academic and educational one- sided racism. After all, there are new laws coming out soon are their not. What better time to make a claim and be tackled for it, only to find the evidence in a court of law is not only factual but shows what racism has been hidden under the guise of old customs no longer used... (for both Maori and Pakeha). You see you can't challenge theWT, but a normal court of law is public and has to follow its own laws.

Postscript:

In November I was contacted by someone who knows of another on the Chatham Islands with native ancestry who did a DNA test... and has Melanesian blood. Wow! What have we been saying the last four years while the 'academic' patsies bleated 'pseudo' to anyone who would dare suggest they were not just Polynesian. There's much more to be revealed yet, we just need a much wider public knowledge for more stories to arrive and be collected... we need to show the tall bones...