Waitaha

Waitaha are an ancient tribe who descend from Hei and his son Waitaha who arrived on
the waka Te Arawa. According to Waitaha tradition, ka huri mai a Te Arawa i te Rae o
Papamoa, Hei stood and claimed the land for his son Waitaha, te takapu o taku tama,
Waitahanui a Hei. In time, some of the sons of Waitaha settled along the coast
extending from Katikati to Otamarakau and the island of Tuhua. Waitaha had close
whakapapa links with other iwi of Tauranga, Waikato, Ngai Tahu, Ngati Porou,
Kahungungu and Te Arawa. By the 1840s, Waitaha primarily occupied the land
between Tauranga harbour in the west, and the Waiari River in the east, as well as
staying inland. Waitaha also stayed for periods of time with their Te Arawa kin.

Waitaha never agreed to cede their mana to the Crown. Most Waitaha rangatira did not
sign the Treaty of Waitangi. Only Te Kou o Rehua of Ngati Te Puku o Hakoma signed
the Treaty when it was brought to Tauranga. In October 1840 the Crown asserted
sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand. In the period prior to 1864, the Crown’s
presence in the Tauranga district was limited, and tikanga Maori (customary law) largely
prevailed.

Waitaha the son of Hei settled the Otawa and Tauranga area which was then occupied by Ngamarama, fulfilling his father’s wishes.

The tribe's ancestor and namesake was Waitaha. He was a son of Hei who was the uncle of Tamatekapua. Their tribe was Ngāti Ohomairangi of Ra'iātea Island. After engaging in war with Uenuku, over 30 members of the tribe migrated to New Zealand on board the Ngā rākau rua a Atuamatua, named in honour of Waitaha and Tamatekapua's grandfather.[4]

They encountered the sea creature named Te Parata that was summoned by the people on the Tainui. They were saved from it by a great mythical shark, and in its honour renamed their canoe and themselves to Te Arawa.[4]

Upon arriving to the North Island, they explored the coast from Cape Runaway to the Hauraki Gulf. The priest Ngātoroirangi performed rituals to conceal the tribe's atua and guardians in the landscape, brought to the new island from the old marae at Taputapuātea. They gathered new supplies and moved on, deciding that the western Bay of Plenty would be the best place to settle. The crew began claiming parts of the land for their descendants. Hei claimed the area between the Pāpāmoa mountain and the Coromandel Range for his son Waitaha.[4] Waitaha indeed lived close to Maketū, along with Tapuika.[5]

Relationship with Ngāi Te Rangi Over 13 generations ago, Te Arawa iwi including the Waitaha were pushed out of Maketū by Te Rangihouhiri. It took several generations before Ngāti Whakaue and the descendants of Waitaha and Tapuika managed to win back Maketū, and negotiate an uneasy truce.[6]

The early 1820s saw continued arrivals of many European migrants to New Zealand, bringing diseases which the native Māori had no immunity to, owing to the fact that the two groups had been separated for all of history up until that point. These diseases would wipe out entire villages, and many bodies would lie untouched and unburied out of fear of contagion and infection. These places today are tapu, or used as cemeteries. These plagues such as the coughing death, or Te Rewharewha, impacted Te Arawa even though no Europeans had yet visited their region; so too did the arrival of muskets offset their way of life, when Ngāpuhi under Hongi Hika slaughtered many Te Arawa tribes at Lake Rotoehu in 1823. Ngāpuhi were assisted by Te Rangihouhiri's descendants, Ngāi Te Rangi. Te Arawa were so demoralised during these times, that they considered moving south to Kapiti Island for protection under Ngāti Toa.[7]

In 1829, five generations after the battle with Te Rangihouhiri, the first European migrant to the region, Phillip Tapsell, brought muskets to the iwi.[7] Te Arawa worked against Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Awa in jealousy and competition for the muskets. All tribes would be constantly working to weave flax the fastest, the weavings in exchange for the weapons. One skirmish between the tribes resulted in the Ngāti Hauā chief Te Waharoa destroying the trading station at Maketū.[6]

Many such skirmishes all culminated into the battle of Te Tūmū on 20 April 1836. Te Arawa suffered greatly, but defeated Ngāi Te Rangi and regained Maketū. They extended their territory from Wairaki at Pāpāmoa to Te Kaokaoroa at Matatā. Some months later, Te Waharoa tried to avenge the battle on Ngāi Te Rangi's behalf by attacking Te Arawa's Te Mātaipuku–Ōhinemutu pā, the gateway of which was named Pūkākī.[6]

Sources

Harrison, R. D. (2007). Pushing the process: A whānau journey through the Treaty of Waitangi claims process. [Thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts]. The University of Waikato.
http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/4805/th...

Waitaha., The Trustess of Te Kapu o Waitaha., & The Crown. (2011, September 20). Deed of settlement of historical claims [Deed]. New Zealand Government.
https://www.govt.nz/assets/Documents/OTS/Waitaha/Waitaha-Deed-of-Se...