Monday 27 September 2021

He tangi - A Lament by Te Mamanga (aka. Numanga) of Ngati Maru - with translation by Dr Raukura Roa.

We are fortunate to have this moteatea by a tupuna of our own Iwi and equally  fortunate for the translation by Dr Raukura Roa who included this moteatea in the analysis work for her PhD thesis.  
I've included the full copy here as I make a reference to part of this waiata in my notes about the Kahui groups (in this blog).

1. Tēnei au te hi hiri nei, te keu nei,
2. Ki te whare taka mate
3. O tō kuia, o Apakura, e i.
4. E moe, e tama, i te whare o te ika,
5. Ki tomo atu koe ki roto Punga-tatara;
6. Ko te whare o Uru-ngā-ngana,
7. I tīkina atu ai ngā waka uru mate.
8. Ka pine he uira, ka hoka i te rangi;
9. Ko te tohu o te mate ka hoki mai ki au, e i.
10. Māu e kimi atu he tapuae rako,
11. Ko te tapuae o Monoa
12. I awhitia ai e te kāhui tara,
13. Ka rewa a Tara i Whenua-kura, e i.
14. Ko hea tō ara i haere ai koe?
15. Ko te ara o aitu, e i.
16. E tu, e pā, i te kei o te waka.
17. Nāu tē tatari te hau whenua tangi roa;
18. Ka pā te kihau ki te rā tukupū,
19. Ka rewa ō tohu ki te hiwi ki Raukawa, e i.
20. E iri, e hine, i runga Te Rangi-aoao-nunui;
21. Ko te waka tēnā o Tiki-te-pou-rangi,
22. Ka ma’ a ki te ao, e,
23. Ka tau te punga, ka tau ki raro.
24. Hiwia mai, kia rewa ai, e i.
25. He punga whakarewaina i te punga i Hawaiki,
26. E tau ana te pai o te moana, e i.
27. Ku’ rongo noa koe, i tu ki ro’ te moana,
28. He tū kōpiri, e i,
29. Ka ū ki uta he tapuae hikitia,
30. He tapuae heuea.
31. Ka ngaro koutou ki Whiti-a-naunau,
32. Ki Whiti-a-korekore,
33. Ki ngā taua i mate ai
34. A Tupua rāua ko Tawhito, e i.
35. Tūiri ki runga ra, ka ngaehe kei raro,
36. He ao tamawahine, he ao o Whaitiri.
37. Kaua taku ipo e haria pukutia;
38. Haria ka whakawai iho.
39. Ko te mokopuna tēnā a Hau-tae-pō,
40. A Rua-pū-tahanga, e i
41. Ka maea ki roto te Rama-nui,
42. Whare hanga a Porou, i tākina mai ai;
43. Nōna te waha tapu, no Kai-hamu, 
44. E tama, e i. 
45. Ka riro ra, e, ngā tama toa o Tū-te-ngana-hau. 
46. Māu e hume atu te maro o Whakatau, 
47. Tō waha ra ki te riri, e i. 

Saturday 25 September 2021

Wirihana Te Hihimua - Extracts from Cowan's "The Bush Explorers"

THE NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS MAGAZINE, VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 (AUGUST 1, 1930), THE BUSH EXPLORERS — STORY OF THE STRATFORD MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY ROUTE,The Bush Explorers, STORY OF THE STRATFORD MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY ROUTE .

(Written for the “New Zealand Railways Magazine” by JAMES COWAN.)

And “Wirihana!” I see him now, with the eye of memory—big, straight-backed, bearded “Wirihana,” squatting by the fire blanketed like a Maori, pipe in the corner of his mouth, a shrewdly humorous twinkle in the tail of his eye, though his face retains the gravity of a Maori tohunga. What a store of bush lore and war adventure he had crammed into his fifty-odd years of life! Like the immortal Jim Bludso, “a keerless man in his talk” was “Wirihana” when he relaxed, but there was always sound wisdom in his most whimsical mood. He was a captain in the line of stout fellows who blazed the way and made this land fit for peaceful settlement.
Well, that was thirty-six years ago. All the old hands are gone; “Wirihana” and Cadman, Surveyor Munro Wilson, and the rest of them have carried their last pikaus, crossed the last range. Nearly all; out of the eight pakehas, Julian and myself are left; I haven't heard of faithful swagman Puhi for many a year, but I hope he is still above ground.
“Wirihana” predicted, as we climbed the steep papa ridges between the various valleys, that the railway builders of the future would find the job a slow one, because of the numerous long tunnels required. He was right; but the back of the job has been broken, and before long we shall see the triumphant finish of the line for which Auckland and Taranaki fought so strenuously with voice and pen in the young ‘Nineties

Ngakorako | Rako | Korako

Turi found the Patea district occupied by a white race of people who were called "Korako" (albino) the males of whom he killed and took the women and girls as members of his tribe and as wives. Extract from White, p.138, 148 
______________________________________________________________

A Lament, Ngāti Maru - Waitara, by Te Mamanga (Ngata & Jones, 1970, pp. 348-355).

Māu e kimi atu he tapuae rako,
Ko te tapuae o Monoa
I awhitia ai e te kāhui tara,
Ka rewa a Tara i Whenua-kura, e i.
Ko hea tō ara i haere ai koe?

Seek thou for the footprints of the rako, 
Also the footprints of Monoa 
Who was guarded by the tara flock, 
Hence the name Tara at Whenua-kura, e i. 
By what pathway hast thou gone?







Nga Kahui - A Collection of notes about the Kahui Descent groups of Taranaki

Before the Ngati Groups, there were Kahui Groups in Taranaki.  Notes that follow have been taken from the following texts:

  • John White, Ancient Maori. 
  • Apirana Ngata, He Tangi by Te Mamangu|Te Mamanga| Te Numanga 
  • Smith citing Rev.Taylor Wharekura

The following Kahui Groups (in alphabetical order) are mentioned: 

#Kahui Kapua #Kahui Kauika  #Kahui Maru #Kahui Pou, #Kahui Rangi, #Kahui Rere #Kahui Rua, #Kahui Tara, #Kahui Tawake, #Kahui Toka, #Kahui Tu #Kapua Whata


Will also add details of #Kahui_Mounga in the near future.

Sunday 4 July 2021

Ngati Te Ika Chiefs assisted Ihaia Kirikumara - An account by Wiremu Kingi Korowhiti Sept 1858


This letter goes to the Maori Messenger of New Zealand located in Wellington.   Sharing the thoughts in my heart to my relatives, living both above and below the north coast of our  island.  If you do wrong, laugh at it, you know otherwise, do it.

On my first visit to Ihaia's dispute - Eruini died there.  This man has many iwi affilliations.

                TRANSLATION IN PROGRESS


 

Wednesday 2 December 2020

Hapu of Ngati Maru - Matua Pono's List

In 1995,  Dennis Patuwairua provided a list of 12 Hapu of Ngati Maru to Aroha Waetford, a researcher for the Waitangi Tribunal.    Waetford outlined in her report that the list had been compiled by Pono Whakaruru and Dennis Patuwairua with the use of papers belonging to Pono's Father, Makimi Whakaruru.   That list is below.  

In the last 3 years, during the course of my involvement in the negotiations of Ngati Maru's Treaty Settlement, research was conducted in an attempt to collect as much information as possible about all or any of the hapu on this list.   

From time to time, I plan to add info on the hapu in these blogs; and may refer to hapu from this list as being from Matua Pono's list, especially because a few other hapu names were located during the research process. 
  

Wednesday 13 November 2019

Gudgeon's FLAWED Maruwharanui Table

In the last blog, I referred to a "flawed"genealogy table of Maruwharanui that had been compiled by Native Land Court Judge Walter Gudgeon around 1905 and was first published in the Journal of the Polynesian Society in 1908 and then used by Percy Smith in his book History and Traditions of The Maoris of The West Coast, North Island of New Zealand, Prior To 1840.   Author Tony Sole reproduced Gudgeon's table in his work - Ngati Ruanui: A History in 2005.   Both tables are included below, stamped as being "invalid" by the Blog Author.

Gudgeon's table in 'no way' aligned with tables that were in the whakapapa books held by various whanau of note.  There was a huge difference!    Tribal Whakapapa Books indicated that Maruwharanui was of the original *tangata whenua* stock (autochthones) and was alive around the arrival of the Aotea Waka (from Hawaiiki). By stark contrast, Gudgeon's table stated that Maruwharanui lived 12 generations later and claimed he was of Tainui Descent

Unfortunately for us, Gudgeon's table was "published" and in the public domain and therefore became the dominant version misinforming readers everywhere and bringing our actual whakapapa into question by others.   Yet Gudgeon's table was a fabrication and the purpose of this blog post is to prove that point.


Gudgeon's Table

Sole's reproduction of Gudgeon's table

Debunking Gudgeon

According to Historian, Monty Soutar, Gudgeon derived all of his material from the Native Land Court Minute Books.  Gudgeon's provided a descent line from Maruwharanui down to Hakiaha Tawhiao of Taumarunui.   

Incidentally Hakiaha Tawhiao was Ngati Haaua and whilst he may have had Maru connections (because of the nature of whakapapa), he was NOT particularly known as belonging to Ngati Maru.   This fact alone made Gudgeon's chart seem suspect; surely a Ngati Maru whakapapa should have been a descent line to an actual 'known' Ngati Maru person! 

Checking the validity of Gudgeon's table was a simple task of locating evidence given by Hakiaha Tawhiao.  With the use of the Maori Land Court Minute Book Index (MLCMBI), produced by the Auckland University, Hakiaha's evidence was found in the Investigation of Title for the OTIRANUI BLOCK.   The whakapapa as it was recited by Hakiaha is in the image below.

Wanganui Minute Book 31 
24th August 1896
Native Land Court Wanganui
Judge Robert Ward 
Claim no 27  OTIRANUI area 5150 acres, plan WD 760




A comparison with the line in Gudgeon's table and Hakiaha's evidence quite plainly shows that Gudgeon replaced the name of the Wanganui tupuna TAMATUNA with PANEWERA.  

PANIWERA was a Ngati Maru Chief, referred to a number of times by Ngati Maru witnesses before the Native Land Court in the Whitianga Rehearing held in 1895.  Although, at no time was he referred to as the offspring of Rauroha or as the parent of Kahuparenga.

Wanganui Appellate Minute Book 4 
11th October 1895
Wanganui Appellate Court, Wanganui
Claim: Whitianga Rehearing

The fact that he consulted the Minutes for the Whitianga Rehearing, seems to indicate he was specifically looking for Ngati Maru whakapapa.   Although this case had substantial evidence by Ngati Maru people, no descent lines were given from Maruwharanui down to the witnesses. 
Historian, Angela Ballara stated that Judges favoured Hawaiiki whakapapa over Autochthone whakapapa, which is likely to be the reason that Maruwharanui lineage wasn't provided. 

In the absence of whakapapa, clearly Gudgeon created his own.  Gudgeon's table - a fabrication!






He tangi - A Lament by Te Mamanga (aka. Numanga) of Ngati Maru - with translation by Dr Raukura Roa.

We are fortunate to have this moteatea by a tupuna of our own Iwi and equally  fortunate for the translation by Dr Raukura Roa who included ...