Te Pohatunui a Toru: The name of a pā situated on the foothills between the Tukipo and Mangatewai streams on the Ruahine Range, and occupied by Te Whatuiapiti.
Te Pohatunui a Toru: The name of a pā situated on the foothills between the Tukipo and Mangatewai streams on the Ruahine Range, and occupied by Te Whatuiapiti.
Earlier this year, Tamaki nui-ā-Rua Dannevirke was represented on stage for the first time at the National Te Matatini Kapa Haka Festival.
It was a long journey of blood, sweat and tears by performers and their whānau, who supported the kapa haka group by raising money, making kākahu, organising kai, practices and the like.
Te Ringa Kaha is the name of the kapa haka group.
The name goes back many years to the early 19th century with the arrival of the new culture and new technology; supposedly with all that was best. But not so, as the “musket” was part of the new technology which played havoc on the battlefields of Māoridom during this period.
Expeditions from central and northern North Island iwi, armed with muskets, conducted raids across both islands to settle old scores and to seek new territories. Tamaki nui-ā-Rua was not immune from such raids.
Te Reinga-o-Mahuru: This was a defensive pā set up on the western slopes of Raikatia Range, situated on the Waikopiro block. The pā became important in the Eastern Rangitane Alliance that was established in the 19th century and was occupied by Parakiore himself.
At the time of the 1819-20 and subsequent 1821-22 Te Amio Whenua raid expeditions, Turake was the high Rangitāne chief of the time. To protect his people and safeguard Tamaki nui-ā-Rua, he set up a military alliance manning all the entrances and exits (outposts) to and from the district. The name of this Eastern Rangitāne District Alliance was Te Ringa Kaha, “The Strong Arm”.
Turake sent members of his own whānau to four strategic points at the various entrances to the district. From these outposts, they would be able to detect the arrival of invading forces into the region and alert the other outposts by a system of inter-visible fire-pit warning stations.
Turake sent his nephew Rangitotohu to Rākautātahi. Their pā was located at the foothills of the Ruahine Ranges near Norsewood. From here, war parties coming from the north could be detected.
Parakiore, a first cousin to Rangitotohu, was sent to the eastern edge of the district towards the coast. His kāinga was called Pāparataitoko and his pā Te Reinga Mahuru o Matuahakahaka, both of which were located on the western slopes of the Raikatia mountain range from where invading forces travelling in from the coast could be detected. Parakiore’s pā was Alliance Headquarters.
Across the river from Pāparataitoko was another outpost known as Te Tōanga where Matetapu and Whakawehi, the younger siblings of Rangitotohu, were stationed.
Eastern Rangitane Alliance/Te Angi Angi Gift.
Finally, at the southwestern edge of the district, was Te Koro-o-ngā-Whenua, younger brother of Rangitotohu, who watched over Te Āpiti, the Manawatū Gorge. He was always on the alert and ready to warn the eastern outposts of invaders coming in from the west either travelling up through the gorge or over the tracks of the Ruahine and Tararua ranges.
From 1819 to the 1830s, there were four known instances where the Tamaki nui-ā-Rua area was attacked. With the foresight of our ancestor Turake, the people of Rangitāne o Tamaki nui-ā-Rua survived those uncertain times. Through the Te Ringa Kaha Kapahaka group, his legacy lives on in name and in song.
