RONGOWHAKAATA

To fully appreciate the southern boundaries of Ngai Tamanuhiri one must have some knowledge of the wider history and the oral traditions of Turanga-tangata-rite. It also requires a basic understanding of the whakapapa-lines that underpin the whanau alliances in the area. Tahu Potiki’s arrival at the Turanganui river heralded a new era in iwi development. Tahu’s crossing saw a simple fishing rock ‘Te Toka-a-Taiau’ suddenly symbolise a ‘line in the sand’ between the tuakana and the teina.. To the north Porou-Ariki and his whanau claim absolute-mana with a very catchy… “mai Potikirua tae noa ki Te Toka-a-Taiau”. Porou and Tahu were born and raised at Whangara. After the trouble between these brothers (over Hamo) and the demise of Porou-Ariki himself, Tahu settled at Turanganui with his new wife (and brothers widow) Hamoterangi. However the people of Turanganui are linked to both brothers by whakapapa...

RONGOWHAKAATA 
For the Rongowhakaata people, whakapapa to Tahu... the link is made through the marriage of Rongomairatahi and Uekanihi. Rongomairatahi is the only son of Rongowhakaata and Turahiri. He is a pivotal ancestor of this iwi and even the tribal proverb implies access to the iwi-proper is by way of Rongomairatahi and his three children Turourou, Ruawhetuki and Hinetuwaiwai. These three form the foundation of Rongowhakaata, the iwi, but access their Tahu whakapapa, not through their father, but their mother Uekanihi, daughter of Tapui-Paraheka. He was a Ngai Tahu chief, who held mana around Te Arai and occupied the Puketapu pa. Uekanihi married Rongomairatahi and they lived at Puketapu with her father. Tapui-Paraheka was a grandson of Karimoi. Mrs Nona Haronga (daughter of Rongowhakaata Halbert) makes the following statement regarding Rongomairatahi. 

Rongomairatahi lived on the slopes of Puketapu hill with his wife Uekanihi and her father, Tapui Paraheka, who belonged to the Karimoi branch of Ngai Tahu. Karimoi was one of the four children of Hamoterangi and Tahu-Potiki. Rongomairatahi and Uekanihi had three children. The two eldest, Hinetuwaiwai and Ruawhetuki left Gisborne with their husbands Rongomaiawhio and Haukiore. Their brother Turourou, remained at Puketapu…
She then goes on to explain the tribal whakatauki… 

The Rongowhakaata tribe or Ngati Rongowhakaata as it has sometimes been called, is confined to those who descend from Turahiri’s only child Rongomairatahi. We have the tribal proverb “Te kotahi na Turahiri, ripo ana te moana” which means “The one child only of Turahiri, who causes the rippling of the sea…
…It means that Turahiri was the ancestress of the Rongowhakaata tribe and that any of her descendants must be impressive. It means that numbers do not always count and that it is quality that matters. This Turahiri saying probably came into vogue about the end of the seventeenth century, and after the formation of the three main sub-tribes”

Whakapapa of Rongowhakaata and Tapui-Paraheka






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