Ngāti Pāoa
- 6 January 2025
My connection and journey with Ngāti Pāoa started during lockdown. A chance remark on an art workshop, "I feel sad when I cross the Hauraki Plains because I know what was there before", knocked me backwards. And very soon after, during a lockdown, I was on my parents' 10-acre block on the Coromandel, packing up the house because the property had been sold. Living on the land was also someone I had known for many years. This person belonged to Ngāti Pāoa and was starting his own journey of discovery. While packing up, he came across a University essay he wrote many years prior (it was handwritten), and the subject was the history of Ngāti Pāoa. This coincidental coming together of two discovery journeys gave my project on the Hauraki Plains a depth it possibly would not have achieved if I had worked on my own.
There are 12 Iwi in Pare Hauraki:
Ngati Hei
Ngati Porou ki Hauraki
Patukirikri
Ngati Pukenga
Ngati Whanaunga
Ngai Tai ki Tamaki
Ngāti Pāoa
Ngati Maru
Ngati Tara Tokanui
Ngati Tamatera
Ngati Hako
Ngati Rahiri_Tumutumu
But Ngāti Pāoa iwi would be the closest to where I lived on the Hauraki Plains as a child. Since then, we have shared books, articles, maps and links, and continue to do so today.
Below is the Ngāti Pāoa statement of association for Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana, as recorded in the Ngāti Pāoa Deed of Settlement (Attachments Schedule). This statement of association relates to “Ngā Tai Whakarewa Kauri”, the Marutūāhu Iwi (Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngaati Whanaunga, and Te Patukirikiri) Coastal Statutory Acknowledgement, which the Crown had committed to provide through the Marutūāhu Iwi Collective Redress Deed, with each iwi providing their own statement of association. The kōrero is written by the late Morehu Wilson.
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Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana
The coastal marine area of Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana (Firth of Thames) and the Hauraki Gulf is an integral part of Ngāti Paoa’s rohe in Hauraki and Tāmaki Makaurau. Areas of particular cultural significance include the coastal areas from the Piako River near Thames, running west to the Waitakaruru River, travelling northward along the western coast of Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana, scattered around the inner harbour coastline of Tāmaki, and proceeding north again through to Mahurangi.
Other significant interests for Ngāti Paoa lie with the many Hauraki Gulf Islands such as Karamuramu, Pākihi, Pōnui, Rātōroa, Pākatoa, Waiheke, Motuihe / Te Motu-a-lhenga, Motutapu, Rangitoto, Otata, Motuhorapapa, Rākino, Tiritiri Matangi, Motuora, Te Haupā and Kawau. Occupation of pā, kāinga and fishing stations on the coastline of Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana (Firth of Thames), the coastline of Tāmaki Makaurau, including the coastline from Te Hau Kapua (Devonport) through to Mahurangi in the north were important bastions that supported the development and vitality of Ngāti Paoa. Coastal fisheries and other resources were controlled and managed by the various Ngāti Paoa hapū, who exercised their customary kaitiaki role.
Ngāti Paoa have strong and unbroken traditional, historical, cultural and spiritual associations with the coastline and its ecosystems. These associations remain today, and are central to the identity and mauri of the iwi. A widespread complex matrix of pā, cultivations and fishing areas were located primarily at river mouths all along the coastal margin. Ngāti Paoa river-mouth settlements provided access to inland settlements and mahinga kai areas, including the flat, nutrient rich plains of Hauraki, as well as the Wharekawa west lowlands. The Pūkorokoro / Miranda inlet was a significant site for another reason. The ancestral waka Tainui briefly landed at Pūkorokoro / Miranda and left an anchor stone in the area. The Tainui waka had brought many of Ngāti Paoa’s tūpuna (ancestors) to Pare Hauraki. They travelled along the western coastline of the Firth of Thames before landing on the Wharekawa foreshore at Waihihī. Reference is made to Waihihī as a result of Hoturoa’s junior wife’s indiscretion at this place, in an ancient prayer that continues to be recited by Ngāti Paoa kaumātua, and performed and celebrated in waiata and haka with Ngāti Paoa performing groups.
Te Tāpapakanga a Puku, Ōrere, Tāwhitokino, Karaka Taupo, Te Kawakawa and their environs contained many important fishing stations and tūranga waka. Te Tāpapakanga a Puku, Pāwhetau and Koherurahi were the most important of these. They consisted of large pā sites and kāinga complex overlooking beach lands where waka could be safely landed. Extensive racks used for net repair and drying fish were notable features of these places. Ūpokotoia – a great white shark and celebrated Ngāti Paoa taniwha – lived in this area, his name then becoming the name of an important Ngāti Paoa hapū. A pā, kāinga and fishing complex occupied much of the shoreline at Kawakawa Bay. This is the burial place of the celebrated Ngāti Paoa rangatira Te Haupā (Upoko Ariki Toihau o Ngāti Paoa). It has added significance for Ngāti Paoa as Te Urikaraka, an important hapū of Ngāti Paoa, formed extensive occupation, cultivation and fishing station complexes within the immediate vicinity, including two significant pā sites. The shoreline contains burials and the last known great waka of Ngāti Paoa, Kahumauroa, Te Kotūiti and Te Raukawakawa were left on the shoreline at the end of their respective marine lives. This important coastline was significant in that Ngāti Paoa's beliefs and customary burials were commonly carried out in close proximity to tidal areas and tidal flats associated with the relevant hapū and whānau of the specific area. Further Ngāti Paoa pā, kāinga and fishing stations could be found all along the eastern coast of Tāmaki Makaurau and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf.
Among the most important of these was Waiheke, renowned for its kaimoana, fresh water sources and fertile gardens. Estuarine areas were an especially prized source of kaimoana, fish, birds and textiles such as raupō and harakeke. The large estuaries of Waiheke Island were particularly significant to supporting and nourishing important Ngāti Paoa pā and kāinga (Te Pūtiki o Kahu, Hoporata and Rangihoua). Horuhoru, a significant rock north of Waiheke, also known as Tikapa, was where the Tainui crew performed their protocols when they first arrived in the Hauraki Gulf.
The Waitematā inlet was the location of a favourite rock, Te Routu o Ureia, of the celebrated Ngāti Paoa and Hauraki taniwha, Ureia. Tradition records that Ureia would come to this rock which was situated under the southern end of the Auckland harbour bridge to scratch his back. Ngāti Paoa resided within the coastal pā of Te Tō, which was an important location for Ngāti Paoa where they were able to fulfil their obligations as kaitiaki of Te Routu o Ureia.
Papakura Pā, a Ngāti Paoa pā site located south of Te Haupā Island, at Tiritiri Matangi, was important as it both provided a site for Ngāti Paoa to develop and expand, while also doubling as a supporting base for the iwi when the Mahurangi area was inundated with waka and fisherman during the important shark fishing seasons. Te Haupā Island, near the Mahurangi Harbour, was named after the Ngāti Paoa tupuna Te Haupā. As the great great grand-son of Paoa and Tukutuku, Te Haupā is an important tūpuna who engaged with the early missionaries on their visits to Aotearoa, and lead Ngāti Paoa throughout the turbulent years of the late eighteenth century and into the early nineteenth century.
Relationships were established between the various tribes of Hauraki and the tribes associated with Mahurangi.
Marutūāhu, eponymous ancestor of the Marutūāhu confederation of tribes, and Pikirangi (of Ngāti Apakura and father of the renowned sisters Reipae and Reitū) were related. Reipae and Reitū’s descendants are of northern Rangatiratanga (Chieftainship) and indeed, associated with the Mahurangi region. Marutūāhu and Pikirangi’s grandfathers were brothers, and consequently claim common descent from their great grandfather Whatihua. Marutūāhu was a contemporary of Maki-nui, father of Manuhiri, Maraeariki and Tawhiakiterangi. Marutūāhu and Maki-nui both emigrated from Kawhia on the west coast, making their homes in distant lands. Marutūāhu, arriving at Hauraki in search of his father Hotunui who had earlier emigrated from Kāwhia, performed rites of entry to a new land on the eastern face of Kohukohunui overlooking Tīkapa Moana. Marutūāhu was also a direct descendant of Toi te Huatahi via Taneroroa and Ruapūtāhanga of the Aotea waka, Taranaki.
Marutūāhu had two wives who were sisters and of the Maruiwi and Te Tini o Toi tribal entities, as well as the latter Hauraki and Te Arawa ancestors. With the arrival of Hotunui, and Marutūāhu at Hauraki, the Tainui influence began to develop. Marutūāhu and his two wives resided at Wharekawa, Hauraki. Marutūāhu’s second son Tamaterā wed Moemoewhitia of the Mahurangi region, and their son Putahi-a-Reua / Rehua lived at Aotea.
Copied from Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust Facebook page. 6 Jan 2025
Ngāti Paoa iwi History.
By Ngāti Paoa.
Ngāti Pāoa is one of five tribes of the Marutūāhu confederation, the others being Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Rongoū, Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngāti Whanaunga.
The story of Ngāti Paoa has its origins in Tainui history. When the Te Arawa chief Pikiao came to Pirongia and married Rereiao from Waikato they had a son called Hekemaru who later married Heke i te rangi. The issue of the Hekemaru and Heke i te rangi were a girl Paretahuri, and two boys Mahuta and Paoa.
About the 1600s Paoa left his wife Tauhakari and their children Koura, Toawhana and Toapoto at his village at Kaitotehe, on the west bank of the Waikato River near Taupiri. He went to Hauraki and married Tukutuku the great grand-daughter of Marutuahu. Over time the descendants of Paoa formed numerous subtribes that dominated the western shores of Tikapa Moana o Hauraki, the Hauraki Plains and Piako River area from Kerepehi to Tahuna, Te Hoe o Tainui, Patetonga, Waitakaruru. Pukorokoro, Hauarahi, Kaiaua, Whakatiwai, Hunua, Orere and Clevedon.
As hapu of Ngati Paoa took shape they built huge waka taua and extended their footprint to the Tamaki River – Te Wai o Taiki, Kohimarama, Waitemata, Te Haukapua and Kiritai on the North Shore. From their many pa, Ngati Paoa moved throughout the islands of Waiheke, Ponui, Rataroa, Pakatoa and the wider Gulf Islands of Tikapa Moana o Hauraki to Mahurangi - "Nga Poito o te Kupenga a Taramainuku", the floats of the net of Taramainuku.
From the late 1700′s Ngāti Paoa exercised their rangatiratanga over a substantial corridor of land and coastal margins, from Mahurangi in the north to Te Hoe-o-Tainui in the south. Early European visitors described the people of Ngāti Paoa as “a powerful and wealthy tribe” and “the finest race seen in New Zealand.”
Having once occupied some of the most strategic land holdings in the Auckland, northern and eastern Waikato and western Hauraki regions, Ngāti Paoa were forced to seek refuge amongst kinsmen in the Waikato hinterland following the invasion by northern tribes in 1821. This warfare, combined with successive waves of epidemics and the land confiscations of the 1860s, conspired to seriously deplete the tribe’s influence over its former estate.
Proximity to the European settlement in Auckland during the 1850s initially gave the tribe a commercial advantage in trade; however, this same proximity brought the tribe under enormous pressure to sell land. Consequently, by 1900, the tribe had been significantly impoverished.
However, Ngāti Paoa began to rally themselves to assert their existence as an independent iwi. The Waitangi Tribunal case marked the beginning of a lengthy struggle to reassert the mana of the iwi throughout its historical domain. Today the tribal centres are based around three marae; Wharekawa Marae at Kaiaua by the western shores of Tikapa Moana; Makomako Marae at Pukorokoro near Miranda and inland at Waiti Marae, Tahuna.
DEED OF SETTLEMENT OF HISTORICAL CLAIMS.
The ancestor Paoa was the youngest child of Hekemaru from Te Arawa and Heke-i-te-Rangi of Tainui. Ngāti Paoa tradition states that the union of Hekemaru and Heke-i-te Rangi brought all of the ancestral canoes together. As an adult, Paoa lived at Kaitōtehe with his wife, Tauhākari and his children Toapoto, Toawhano and Koura. An incident occurred where Paoa was embarrassed that he could not entertain his elder brother Mahuta as befitting a chief of noble rank when the elder brother arrived at the village unannounced. Consequently, Paoa decided to leave his family and travel to Hauraki.
He followed the Mangawara River to its headwaters and then crossed over to the Piako River. Following the Piako River south he arrived at the pā site Mirimirirau. Here he was accepted as a man of noble rank among the local people. Paoa’s fame was heard throughout Hauraki and in particular by Tukutuku, the daughter of Taharua, and granddaughter of Tamaterā and Ruawehea. At the welcome request of Tukutuku, Paoa resolved to travel to her village. He and his entourage headed northward along the Piako River through to the southern shore of Tīkapa Moana, thence turning eastward toward the Waihou River where he finally met Tukutuku at Ruawehea, the place of Tukutuku’s ancestors. It was during this journey that the proverbs of Ngāti Paoa were first coined – “Paoa pukunui” and “Paoa taringa rahirahi” – proverbs that both celebrated and exalted the virtues of Paoa. At Ngahinapouri, and following a prolonged courtship, Paoa married Tukutuku, the great grand–daughter of Marutūāhu.
The children of Paoa and Tukutuku, of whom Tipa and Horowhenua were prominent rangatira, primarily lived in and around the Hauraki Plains, near their relations of Ngāti Tamaterā. Following a battle between the brothers Tipa and Horowhenua, with their half–brothers, Toapoto and Toawhano at Tikitikimaurea, they and their siblings took the name of their father, calling themselves Ngāti Paoa to honour him.
The children of Paoa and Tukutuku married with descendants of Te Uri o Pou, in particular with the noted children of Kaiwhakapae and Taurua, thus forming an alliance with these ancestors. It was these ancestors of Ngāti Paoa who combined with iwi of Marutūāhu and engaged in battle with iwi of the Tāmaki isthmus in response to the deaths of their relatives who were noted rangatira of Ngāti Maru, as well as the death of the Hauraki guardian of Tīkapa Moana, Ureia, attributed to the same Tāmaki iwi.
Ngāti Paoa would expand and develop strong customary interests on the western shores of the Firth of Thames where they lived close to other related tribes. This occurred directly after battles with resident iwi led by Kaiwhakapae and Taurua’s children, Korohura, Putohe, Kapu and Te Whiringa, along with Paoa’s grandsons, Taukiri and Manawa. Ngāti Paoa established themselves on the western shores of Tīkapa Moana, and Kohukohunui and Rātāroa became their sacred mountains. They frequented the dense forested areas of the Hunua Ranges for spiritual and physical nourishment. Tīkapa Moana provided them with fish and shellfish, and also provided them with a means of rapid and efficient transport. Their prowess on the water became a hallmark of the iwi. Ngāti Paoa expanded north and west until, by the 1700s, they established a corridor from the North Shore, extending out to the islands of the Waitematā, through Tāmaki, and along the western inland areas of Tīkapa Moana, reaching deep into the Hauraki Plains and the elevated periphery.
Ngāti Paoa’s expansion was attributed to a number of events and rangatira, beginning with Horowhenua and Tipa who retrieved their father from Waikato. The next event involved Te Uri o Pou, other iwi from southern Tāmaki and Paoa’s sons and grandsons, Taukiri and Manawa, who played particularly important roles in the warfare around the western shores of Tīkapa Moana and inland over the ranges of Hunua. Pukeko also contributed to the expansion of Ngāti Paoa, in particular the hapū of Ngāti Hura, to the eastern and northern reaches of the Coromandel, as it was he who acted in retaliation for the murder of Tipa and waged war on a long-standing resident Hauraki iwi of those areas. Likewise Tokohia and Ngaromania, who were the sons of Te Whiringa and Te Kaweinga, were prominent in Tāmaki. Tokohia and Ramaaro’s (of Ngāti Paoa) son, Te Mahia (Totokarewa), was another chief that contributed to the gradual expansion of Ngāti Paoa within Tāmaki. Finally and most notably, the grandsons of Pukeko and Te Motu, and sons of Te Mahia and Māhora were to play a significant role in the expansion of Ngāti Paoa. Their names were Te Haupa, Te Waero and Pōkai. These brothers were to engage in warfare that would result in expansion into a vast tract of land extending from Mahurangi in the north, through to Te Hoe o Tainui in the south, venturing also as far east and south as Tauranga with the Marutūāhu confederation of tribes.
Descendants of both of Paoa’smarriages with Tauhakari and Tukutuku intermarried and still maintain strong interests within the Central East Waikato region.
Around 1780, Ngāti Paoa led the Marutūāhu Confederation’s advance toward Tāmaki and the Waitematā and established a firm foothold along the western side of the Tāmaki River and at (Mokoia) Panmure. Prominent Ngāti Paoa chiefs of these settlements at that time were Te Putu, Ngaro ki te Uru, Rongomaurikura and Nohowaka.
By 1785, Te Haupa had made Te Tāpapakanga a Puku his headquarters, and subsequently further exerted his mana over the Wharekawa district following a great battle with another iwi. He and his iwi were able to consolidate their northward expansion from this base. In 1790, Te Haupa initiated war with a neighbouring iwi following a fishing expedition in the Mahurangi district, which eventually led to Ngāti Paoa using lands and fishing grounds north of Tāmaki from Takapuna to Te Arai. In 1793, Ngāti Paoa, aboard their great waka Te Kōtuiti, and Ngāti Maru, aboard Te Tai o te Puruhi, combined to successfully wage war on a northern tribe in retaliation for the deaths of the leading Marutūāhu rangatira Te Mahia, Hauāuru and Pōkere. From 1794 to 1798, Ngāti Paoa was engaged in many battles.
However, by 1805, Ngāti Paoa were wearying of war. Ngāti Paoa negotiated peace settlements with many neighbouring iwi, and marriages involving significant ancestors were used to secure peace. During this time, hapū of Ngāti Paoa continued to exercise their customary interests in the islands of the Hauraki Gulf as well as in Tāmaki where large settlements were observed along the Tāmaki Estuary through to Otahuhu. Ngāti Paoa had an enviable economy to sustain them.
In 1769, Captain Cook visited the area, as did several whalers, sealers and traders in the 1790s, and they bequeathed a vivid picture of Ngāti Paoa at that time. Cook's description of the Firth of Thames attracted a great number of ships to the area. From 1790 to 1795, sealing and whaling ships did most of their repairs at Waiheke Island, the island domain of Ngāti Paoa.
During the following six years, a number of ships looking for timber came to the Hauraki Gulf. To provide for the ships, the Māori people of the Firth of Thames grew potatoes and, by the beginning of the 1800s, were growing very large quantities. As traders flocked to these shores, they required food and water. Ngāti Paoa recognised this and were an industrious people, who provided not only for their own people, but also for the influx of travellers, whalers and sealers.
In 1801, when the ship Royal Admiral visited the Waihou River, Ngāti Paoa hapū were living at Hikutaia. The visitors rowed up the Hikutaia Stream to Kakaramea where Te Haupa lived. They commented on the quality of the dwellings there and noted about 300 residents. It was the second largest kāinga in the region they had visited.
At Waiheke, kauri spars began to emerge as a highly prized commodity by the Europeans. Ngāti Paoa engaged in the removal of these spars from the interior of the island, as well as supplying water to visiting merchant ships and the British Navy; Man o War Bay was given its name for this very reason. Seafarers also coined the phrase “The Watering Place” as a name for the area.
Later, in November 1814, the missionary Samuel Marsden arrived in the brig Active, at Tāpapakanga where Te Haupa resided. Marsden commented that when he arrived, he met some of the finest and best dressed men and women he had yet seen in New Zealand. Te Haupa and Marsden exchanged gifts. Marsden sojourned at Whakatiwai where the Ngāti Paoa headquarters were. They were welcomed with great joy and provided with many hogs and potatoes. There they observed many women and children, very fat hogs and fine plantations of potatoes.
Marsden, with another missionary, Butler, arrived on a second voyage to New Zealand in 1820. They visited Te Hiinaki, son of Rongomaurikura, at Mokoia on the Tāmaki River. Te Hinaki was a prominent Ngāti Paoa rangatira who had assumed the mantle of leadership along with his contemporary and first cousin Te Tata. The Ngāti Paoa hapū Ngāti Hura and Te Matekiwaho dwelled at Mokoia under their leadership. Ngāti Paoa tradition states that the missionaries were enthusiastically received. Mokoia was the most significant settlement in the region with Butler estimating four thousand inhabitants, while Te Hinaki stated there were seven thousand. Marsden was most impressed with Mokoia: “Their houses are superior to most I've met with. Their stores were full of potatoes containing some thousands of baskets and they had some very fine hogs.” Butler, who climbed what was probably Maungarei (Mt Wellington), saw twenty villages in the valley below and “with a single glance beheld the greatest portion of cultivated land I had ever met within one place in New Zealand.”
Shortly after Marsden’s departure, an explorer arrived at Mokoia on the Prince Regent. He described the village and the extent of the surrounding settlement and cultivations. The explorer reported that: “It was generally observed that for the harmony of their voices, the gracefulness of their movements as well as in personal appearance they had far the advantage of any other tribe we had met with ... in appearance these people were far superior to any of the New Zealanders we had hitherto seen they were fairer, taller and more athletic, their canoes were larger and more richly carved and ornamented and their houses, larger and more ornamented with carving than we had generally observed.”
Ngāti Paoa was well positioned to take advantage of the new trading opportunities offered by engagement with the European world due to their proximity to the harbour and the natural resources they controlled. But the iwi was about to be engulfed once more in war with a new type of deadly weapon. The old balance of power was about to shift dramatically with the arrival of the musket. In the bloodshed that followed, Ngāti Paoa was routed and dreadful massacres took place. The Ngāti Paoa defenders were no match for the musket and soon fled south to seek refuge with kin tribes. Ngāti Paoa occupied the main trading and raiding route of that time and after the invaders withdrew, peace settlements were negotiated, and the rohe was safe once again to occupy, Ngāti Paoa returned to their lands.
Captain D'Urville on his second visit to New Zealand in 1827, on 26 February, engaged with the Ngāti Paoa chiefs Tawhiti and Te Rangui at the entrance to the Tāmaki River. They noted, as Te Rangui and Tawhiti led them along the canoe portage to Otahuhu, toward the Manukau, that on the Eastern side of the Tāmaki they “saw the village of Ourouroa and a number of canoes with a great many inhabitants.” And that on their return, they witnessed that “crowds of natives were looking for shellfish in the mud and the rocks at the entrance were covered with men fishing.” The French evidence portrays an active reoccupation of the Tāmaki Estuary by Ngāti Paoa. D’Urville also records a great village in the Kaiaua area with many inhabitants and a great quantity of drying fish.
In the 1830s, Ngāti Paoa negotiated an agreement with the missionaries residing among them, who offered a new life, and who promised them a treaty with the white chiefs that would bring “peace and good order” and “the necessary laws and institutions”. Trade, once again, became the focus of the iwi. In 1832, a trading station was established at Pūkorokoro dealing in flax and spars. The missionaries described the people as numerous, industrious and willing to receive instruction. Ngāti Paoa resumed large scale production of food to supply the emerging European settlement at Auckland and supplied maize, onions, kūmara, cabbage, wheat, peaches, wood and flax and tended herds of pigs, goats, fowls and geese.
Ngāti Paoa regional boundaries are traditionally recorded as “Mai Matakana ki Matakana” – that is to say, Matakana at Tauranga Moana to Matakana at Mahurangi. This reflects the influence of Paoa’s descendants throughout the vast region and over many different generations. It is important to note that Ngāti Paoa and affiliate hapū traditionally exercised customary rights within their domain.