TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 34, 3 September 1952, Page 1

TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

TALES OF THE TAUPO COUNTRY

(By

R.H

.W.)

A striking feature of Lake Rotoaira is the peninsula of ,Motu-o-Phui, jutting into the western end of the lake.. a rounded hill connected to the mainland hy a low swampy stirip. To-day it is deserted and overgrown, but in the twenties of last century the hapu of the chief Wharerangi occupied a large village on the headland. About the year 1S30 there occurred an evgnt which was indirectly connected with the first acquisition of fire-arms by Ngapuhi people of North Auckland, a few 1 years earlier. Armed with the pakehas deadly w^apon, Hongi Hika had swept down from the North on the almost defenceless people of Hauraki and Thames, the Nga timaru. Not yet equippel with fireams, they had .lost several hundreds killed, and many taken away as prisoners. By 1830, however, they had ohtained muskets themselves, and riow wero eager to try their new weapons on some tribe less well prepared. Between Ngati-maru and NgatiTuwharetoa there was no quarrel, no friction. The only fault of the Tuwharetoa people was that they were unprepared for defence against the new arras, a state of affairs wiiich was an invitation to those to whom might was right. In due course a war party of about a hundred and forty warriors set out and m&de their way round the western side of Lake Taupo, passing through the territory of the Ngati- Raukawa people. Though these people were related to the people of Te Heuheu, they were led by some of their chiefs to assist the taua of Ngatimaru, whom they guided through the unfamiliar country, informing them as to the strength of the various ,fortified places of Southern Taupo. The Ngati-maru sent for ward messengers to say that they were. 011 their way to attack the people of Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa, who were old enemies of the Tuwharetoa people, and with professions of friendship and reference $0 their kinship with Te Heuheu asked for a promise of safe conduct through his country. As a result they were welcomed at Te Heuheu's great palisaded pa of Waitahanui, a little east of the mouth of the Tongariro river, with the ceremony customary on the arrival of friends and kinsmen. After staying several days and enjoying the hospitality for which Te Heuheu was famed they set forth as though to take the track via Rangipo toward Waiouru, and thence by way of the Murimotu. But once they had passed the base of Pihanga mountain the pretence was dropped. They turned to the right toward Roto-aira and surprised the small village of Mapouriki, slaughtering the inhabitants, among them a chieftainess, Te Maari, the mother of Wharerangi, the chief of Motu-o-irahi. They remained at Mapouriki until after dark and then set out to surround Motu-o-puhi, paddling up the lake in canoes secured from a sub- tribe called Ngattf-Waewae. At the first trace of dawn the raiders dasbed ashore and with their muskets spread death and desolation. Many of the people sought safety by swimming from the headland to the shore, but Wharerangi and about a hundred of his men were captured. The victors with their guns forced

, ■ . 1 TJ?. ^ " . 1 them into a row, and then deliberately killed them one by one with stone meres. Wharerangi,, as his tuni approached, attempted to escape. With a bound he cleared the short space to the bank, leaped into the water and struck out for the shore. But he was pursued by the relentless Ngati-maru in canoes, killed as he swam, and later cooked and eaten with others of his people. Soon the village was set on fire, and high in the still air rose the smoke of (Motu-O-Puhi. \ As it rose above the intervening range it was seen at Te Heuheu's pa of Waitahanui, and as the meaning of the portent flashed upon the people the cry arose, "Kua horo! Kua horo a Motu~o-Puhi!" "Motu-o-Puhi has fallen!" Te Heuheu at once gathpered a party of armed men to avenge the treacherous destruction of the village, and xnarched over the Ponanga saddle, the dip in the range 4 just west of Pihanga Mountain, j From the cover of ihe bush they j could see the scene of the disaster, j but Te Heuheu realising that a t frontal attack without firearms ' would be doomed to 'failure led his men back to Waitahanui. Later, when Ngati-maru had left Motu-o-puhi, he again led his men through the bush, and surprised ihe raiders at Ngongo, near the western end of the Lake. So fierce was the attack that few of Ngati-maru were able to use their gun3, and tnose who escaped were but a small numbor.