ABOUT THE TOWN

Chronicle (Levin), 11 January 1947, Page 3

ABOUT THE TOWN

T.S.D.)

SHANNON SIDE-LIGHTS

(By

Continuing the tale of Toi, the Warrior, who left Rarotonga to search for his granrison, Whatonga, who became lost in a canoe race, we find that Whatonga eventually arrived at New Zeaiana and found that the people of the country had a knowledge of the gods which Whatonga's people worshipped, and this established a kinship which 1 made the new arrivals very wel- | come. He remained for some time with the people of the land and then yearned to revisit Hawaiiki, a yearning which culminated in his return, together with Tu-rahui, his i nephew, who had accompanied him I to ITcw Zcaland. I In the meantime, Toi, who was known as Toi-Kai-Rakau (Toi, the wood-eater) and later as Toi-Te-Huatahi (Toi, the only son), sailed down the ocean and arrived at Tamaka (Auckland), and later proceeded to the Bay of Plenty, finally settling at Whakatane. Back in Hawaiiki, Whatonga enquired about his illustrious ancestor and the suggestion was volunteered that he had probably been lost at sea. Whatonga was much grieved i to hear this and decided that he i should go in search of Toi, who ' might have reached the land of \ Kupe. Arrangements were at once made for the equipping of an ocean-going canoe, the name of | ' which was Te Hawai. After the various ceremonies were performed | over the vessel she was given the i ' new name of Kura-hau-po, a name ; ailuding to the safe return of . Whatonga and the fulfilment of signs which had indicated that happy event. The Kura-hau-po : journeyed down the great ocean to arrive on the coast of Aotea Roa and finally to land at Whakatane, where Whatonga found his ances- I ' tor Toi. • In the intervening time following Whatonga's departure from New Zealand, Toi's people had set1 tled themselves among the abor1 iginals, and when Whatonga arrived once again he found the great tribe of Awa, Ngata Awa, estab- , lished. Toi's influence had been so great that he and his people had overcome the Maruiwi, or Moriori, with whom inter-marriage had taken place. Whatonga found that i there was l'ittle room for him at j Whakatane, so he dfeparted and j found settlement of his own. But before he took his departure from Whakatane the. Maruiwi people, had broken up into tribes, and in ! consequence of intqr-tribal wars | these tribes became scattered about 1 the countryside, some proceeding : north and others south to settle : upon new land. Among those were : the Ngati Mamoe who proceeded down the East Coast, where they established themselves in Hawke's Bay.

When Whatonga and his people decided to move off from Whakatane they resolved to proceed south in the wake of these tribes, who were originally part of the Maruiwi, or Moriori. Time came when Whatonga grew strong. He had married Hotu-waipara, a lady from Toi's hapu, as well as Reretua of the Pana-nehu (aboriginal people), and a woman of Ngati Awa, named Tara-wahai. By Hotu-waipara he had an only son named Tara, and it was from this Tara that the tribe Ngati Tara originated, and after whom Wellington's harbour takes its name of Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara ) . By Reretua he had Tautoki- : ihunui-a-Whatonga who was the father of Rangitane, whence the name of that tribe is derived.

As the vears weighed heavily upon the illustrious Whatonga, his sons Tara and Rangitane grew into power, and with their separate tribes commenced hostilities against the occupants of the land — the sec- , tions of Moriori who had departed . from the Bay of Plenty to escape the warriors from Polynesia. Down j throuqh the Hawke's Bay and the ' Wairarapa the ancient people fled : and in time Tara and Rangitane owned, bv conquest, all the country on the East Coast to Wellington. Over on the West Coast the 1 remnant of the Ngati Mamoe lived on, ever expectant that some day 1 they would be exterminated br' ! their vigorous Polynesian assail- ; ants.

Therefore, the Ngati Mamoe ivere the first in occupation of the country known as the Manawatu, 3, vast fertile area under heavy bush, which was yet to see invasion by Rangitane and still later the Important invasion of the Waikato tribes, who laid claim to awnership of the land when Edward Gibbon Wakefield's colonisation scheme was launched. The Great Migration Many generations passed and time was rolling on to the period when the Great Migration took place: the time of the arrival of the canoes of the Fleet from Hawaiiki. Tara and Rangitane had advanced into the West Coast, the people of Tara proceeding down through the Wairarapa to Wellington and the people' of Rangitane passing down through Dannevirke into the Gorge, and in their canoes through this cleft in the ranges on to the Horowhenua, Otaki and Paekakariki, where they came to rest. Along the coast further south contact was made with Tara and it was here that the two tribes agreed on the tribal boundaries.

The great harbour of Wellington and all the land up to Porirua fell to Tara's share. He also included the islands of Mana and Kapiti. The Maori names of these islands gave clue to those ancient associations. _ Kapiti was known as TeWaewak - kapiti - o - Tararua - ko-Rangitane, a father long name which means where the boundaries of Tara and Rangitane join. The ancient Maori name of Mana Island is Te-Mana-o-Kupe-ki-Aotea-roa, meaning the ability of Kupe to cross the ocean to Aotea Roa. -