Legend of Te Mata Peak is a tragic love story

Legend has it that Te Mata Peak's contour is the prostrate body of the chief Rongokako. Photo File

The well-recited legend of Te Mata Peak portrays the hill as the prostrate body of the chief Rongokako, the grandfather of Kahungunu and ancestor of all iwi of Ngati Kahungunu.

Many centuries ago the people living in pa (fortified villages) on the Heretaunga Plains were under constant threat of war from the coastal tribes of Waimarama.

At a gathering at Pakipaki to discuss the problem, the solution came when a kuia sought permission to speak in the marae: "He ai na te wahine, ka horahia te po," she said. (The ways of a woman can sometimes overcome the effects of darkness).

Hinerakau, the beautiful daughter of a Pakipaki chief, was to be the focal point of a plan. She would get the leader of the Waimarama tribes, a giant named Te Mata, to fall in love with her, turning his thoughts from war to peace. But she too fell in love.

The people of Heretaunga, however, had not forgotten the past and with revenge the motive, demanded that Hinerakau make Te Mata prove his devotion by performing seemingly impossible tasks.

The last task was to bite his way through the hills between the coast and the plains so that people could come and go with greater ease.

Te Mata died proving his love when he choked on the earth of Te Mata Peak and today his half-accomplished work can be seen in the hills in what is known as The Gap or Pari Karangaranga "echoing cliffs".

His prostrate body forms Te Mata Peak.

Looking towards the Peak from Hastings, the huge bite that choked Rongokako can be seen.

The outline of his body forms the skyline, with his head to the south and his feet to the north.

The peak was then known as Te Mata O Rongokako meaning "The Face of Rongokako", but has been shortened to the more familiar Te Mata Peak over time.

European settlers also thought the hills resembled a man lying down and called him the "Sleeping Giant".

- Courtesy Te Mata Park Trust