Kāhu ki Rotorua: Te Kaokaoroa: The death of Tohi Te Ururangi

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See below for English translation

Te matenga o Tohi Te Ururangi

Ka mahi te popokorua.

Kāti te haere pokanoa ki te riri, tika tonu koe ki Maketu. Anei tō tangata e tatari mai na i a koe.

Nā Tohi Te Ururangi tēnei kōrero nui, tēnei kōrero rangatira ki ngā toa o Te Tai Rawhiti.

Ka rokohanga iho te rau o Ngāti Porou e Te Arawa e nono mai nā i ngā pā maioro o Te Kūrei.

Ka whawhaitia rātau ka hinga haere te tokomaha o ngā rangatira o Te Tai Rawhiti. Ko te omanga tēnā o te iwi i oma ai. Ka pūhia haeretia e ngā poti Pākehā a Ngāti Porou e oma haere ana i te takutai o Te Kaokaoroa.

Ka tu te riri ki Waeheke, ko Otamarakau anō he riri, ki Pukehina hoki, whawhaitia nuitia te oneroa o Te Kaokaoroa. He rangatira anahe i mate.

Ka tu ngā amokura nui o te pōkaitara o Te Arawa me ā rātau pū, ko Kepa Te Rangipuawhe, ko Te Waata me tona taina a Te Pokiha Taranui, ko Petera Te Pukuatua, ko Tohi Te Ururangi me etehi atu rangatira nui, hāunga enei toa ko ngā wahine mau pū. Ko Mata tētehi , ko Riwa Tukere me Heni Pore te wahine toa o Orakau.

Kāti. Ka tae ngā tauā ki Te Pua Kowhai e rua ngā tino kaupapa o tēnei wāhi.

Ko te tuatahi ko te mahi rangatira a Paora Pahupahu. He Rangatira nō Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Ka kōkiringia e ia te ngohi tauā he taiaha anahe te rākau.

Ka ū ki te puku o te hoariri, e haehae tangata ana a Paora me tana taiaha, ka mate he rangatira, ka mate he rangatira. Nā tēnei tūāhuatanga ka kipakipa te puku o Ngai Te Arawa ka aru i a rātau a Paora Pahupahu e papatu toa ana.

Kai runga ko Tohi Te Ururangi e whakahauā ana i ona toa kia kāua rātau e titiro ki te ao marama, e hamama ana tana waha, kātahi, ka hinga te korokē nei. Kua taotu a Tohi Te Ururangi. Kua pūhia tō tātau toa e te hoa ngangare. Kai raro e takoto ana.

Ka wahaina te tupapaku e Mata ki te wahapu o Te Pua Kowhai, ka pōngia te ao ka mate a Tohi Te Ururangi.

Te oneroa o Te Kaokaoroa. Whakaahua/Raimona Inia

E whakangākau ana a Mata ki tona rangatira, ka naohia te pū a tetehi, ka pūhia kia mate noa atu a Te Aporotanga.

Engari i mua i tana pupuhitanga, ka kī atu a Mata ki a ia, ' Kua ea a Ohinemutu e Rawhiti, takoto ana koe i a au hai utu mō Tohi Te Ururangi!”. Ko te kiko o tana kauwhau, nō te tau 1835 ka patua a Te Arawa e Te Waharoa, ko Te Aporotanga te kanohi kitea. Nā reira i pūhia ai tēnei rangatira.Ka rua, ko te pupuhitanga o Te Aporotanga hai utu mō te matenga o Tohi Te Ururangi.

Ko Te Murirangaranga hoki ki te tupapaku o Tohi.

Ka hunaia e Mata, ka awatea te rā, ka tukuna ki a Te Ngahuruhuru. Nāna ki a Te Mea, ara a Tawa, ko te take nāna i ora ai a Ohinemutu i a Te Kooti. He kotahi anahe te tupapaku rangatira o Te Arawa. Ko Tohi Te Ururangi.

Ko ngā tupapaku o Te Tai Rawhiti he huhua engari kāore i eke ki te rau. Ka tanumia ngā tupapaku ki te Awatarariki.

Kai reira ngā toa e takoto ana. Ka waipuketia nuitia tēnei takiwā ka puta mai he angaanga tupuna. Ko te mea kē, tanumia tonutia. Waihongia atu. Ko te onamata ēnei e takoto pai marie ana.

Ko ngā toa o te ao tawhito te hunga kāore rawa nei e piko e hakeke te tūara ki te mana o Ingarangi.

Nō reira e ngā kahika tūwao e moe.

English Translation

“How good is the work of the ant”.

Cease to go on to fight in a contrary direction; come straight here to Maketu. Here is the man you have long wished to meet.

These are words that Tohi Te Ururangi promptly dispatched as news of an impending attempt by the forces of Te Tai Rawhiti to cross through the territory of Te Arawa were aired.

Having successfully taken sites of importance upon the ridge of Te Kurei, the East Coast forces were met with excellent resistance that forced them to evacuate their areas and dash back along the coastline east towards Matata. Fighting took place below Waihi cliffs, further east at Waeheke, Otamarakau Pukehina, all along the white sands of Te Kaokaoroa.

The many Arawa, led valiantly by their hereditary leaders, relentlessly chased down their foe. Among them were the venerated leaders Kepa Te Rangipuawhe, Te Pokiha and his brother Te Waata Taranui, Petera Te Pukuatua, Mita Taupopoki, Tohi Te Ururangi and their wives.

Mata, the wife of Tohi, was on the battlefield, and so was Riwa Tukere, the wife of Motuoha.

Also, we hear of the bravery of Heni Pori, the famed fighter from Orakau. It is recorded that near Te Puakowhai, two remarkable incidents took place.

The first was the display of courage by the Tuwharetoa chief Paora Te Pahupahu. Armed only with his taiaha, Paora dashed at the Kingite line, penetrating it with great ferocity as he hacked his way through the fighters, felling many warriors.

This action encouraged the Arawa, who see Paora as the wedge of their phalanx managed to force their way into their enemy’s lines, causing great commotion.

It was here near Te Pua Kowhai that Tohi Te Ururangi was laid low by an enemy bullet. He was atop the dunes with his taiaha directing his relations, urging them forward as the enemy ran towards Matata.

Comforted by his wife Mata, who had carried her husband to a site of safety, he passed away at night.

The white sands of Te Kaokaoroa.

Upon the body of the old chief was the famed kōauau of Tutanekai. The kōauau was passed to Te Ngahuruhuru, who then handed it to Gilbert Mair, where it would form an integral part of his exhibition.

Te Aporotanga, a leading rangatira of the invading forces, was executed by Mata as revenge for the passing of her husband; her words were brief, “Ohinemutu has been avenged, and I send you to the afterlife as payment for my husband”.

The reference to Ohinemutu refers to Te Aporotanga, who had attacked Ohinemutu with the Ngāti Haua chief in 1835, where many people of Ohinemutu / Te Pukeroa were killed. Tohi Te Ururangi was the only Te Arawa rangatira casualty of the day, compared to many on the East Coast who had been killed.

The Kingite forces could not penetrate the stubborn Arawa, and their efforts to bolster the King’s forces would impact the Kingitanga significantly as it was around this time, we hear that the great battle of Gate Pa took place where no more than 300 Māori fighters defeated an overwhelming force of Imperial troops three times its size.

Those who had died at Te Kaokaorora were buried near the Awatarariki stream, a site prone to flooding.

On odd occasions, this site gives up the remains of those past patriot fighters—serving as a reminder to us all of the rich history of our backyard.