1 | <html><head><title>Ngati Tahuhu</title></head><body><h2>Ngati Tahuhu</h2><p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.3pt">From the very earliest days, the shores of <em>Whangarei </em>Harbour and its environs were rich in </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.35pt">everything that made it desirable as a place to live to the <em>Maori. Tangaroa </em>had filled the sea </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.25pt">with fish and shellfish with a lavish hand. <em>Tane's </em>forests were full of good timber while feeding </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">in the treetops were fat <em>kukupa </em>and <em>tui. </em>It was indeed a land of plenty.</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.3pt">When <em>Tahuhu, </em>who came to <em>Aotearoa </em>in the canoe <em>Moekakaroa, </em>arrived in about the year 1350 he was immediately drawn to this place, and said to his men, <em>"Tena le koha O Tangaroa me </em></span><em><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Tane, hoki" - </span></em><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">behold the gifts of <em>Tangaroa </em>and <em>Tane.</em></span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.4pt">He and his people landed just south of Bream Bay at a place he called Te <em>Arai </em>because he built </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.35pt">a temporary shelter there. To safeguard his people against the <em>makutu </em>of the <em>tangata whenua, </em></span><em><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.9pt">Tahuhu </span></em><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.9pt">also set up a <em>tuahu, </em>which was a stone altar that stood a few feet high in a </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">perpendicular position.</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.3pt">Most tribes had a <em>tuahu </em>at which many rites were carried out by their <em>tohunga - </em>ceremonies for </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.25pt">christening, for childbirth, planting and harvesting of <em>kumara, </em>special fishing expeditions. In fact, </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">for anything of importance to the tribe.</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.25pt">After living at <em>Te Arai </em>for some years <em>Tahuhu </em>was filled with a desire to explore the country </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.4pt">further south so he called his people together and said, "Listen, 0 my people, a great desire to visit the lands further south fills my every thought and makes me as restless as a fantail. Day </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.35pt">and night I am consumed with a curiosity to know about the lands further south. Come, let us </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">make preparations for the journey."</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.35pt">So <em>Tahuhu </em>and his tribe journeyed to the Auckland isthmus until they found a spot that pleased him so much that he decided to live there. He set his men to work to build a <em>kainga </em>where he </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.3pt">and his people could live. He called the place after himself, <em>0-tahuhu </em>as it is known to this day. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Many of his tribe married into the <em>Wai-ohua, </em>the local people and lived there in prosperity.</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.35pt">As the tribe expanded, they laid claim to more land, and then inevitably there were quarrels with the neighbouring peoples of west <em>Tamaki. </em>This made the <em>Ngati Tahuhu </em>unpopular and it is said </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.45pt">that <em>Tahuhu </em>died because a curse was put on him by an enemy <em>tohunga. </em>On his death some of </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">his people took his body back to be buried at <em>Te Arai, </em>his original home in <em>Aotearoa.</em></span></font> </p><p style="margin: 10.8pt 7.2pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.65pt">Some of the <em>Ngati Tahuhu </em>stayed behind at <em>Otahuhu </em>but those who came north with their </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.4pt">chiefs body rebuilt their kainga at Te <em>Arai. </em>Gradually some members of the tribe spread from </span><em><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.3pt">Te Arai </span></em><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.3pt">to the shores of the <em>Whangarei </em>Harbour while others went as far inland as <em>Mangakahia </em></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Valley.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 10.8pt 7.2pt 0pt 0cm" class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Referenced from Florence Keene's <em>Tai Tokerau</em>, Northland Room, Whangarei Library</span></font></p></body></html> |
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