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See below for English translation
Kai te ihu o te ngāhuru tātau. E ai ki ngā pakeke ka kitea a Whānui i te atatū e tere nā ki runga o Rangitoto ka haere te iwi ki te hauhake kūmara.
Kai te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau e ono tekau mā wha ki te hiku o Apereira ka tū te riri ki te moana o Toi-te-huatahi. Ko te kōrerotanga tēnei mō te wā i pakanga ai a Te Arawa me ngā toa o Te Tai Rāwhiti ki te takutai moana.
He whakaaro pōhēhē nō rātau ka whakawhitia ngā whenua o Te Arawa e tae ai rātau ki ngā whenua o Kīngi Tāwhiao e tukituki ana ki te mana o te Kawanatanga nōna e apu whenua Māori ana hai whenua mōna.
Ko te kupu kōrero a Te Arawa ki te mana o Te Tai Rawhiti, ehara a Te Arawa i te waka eke noa. Me uaua kē e whiti ai kotou i te tāhūhū roa o Rangitihi.Nā reira i riri ai ēnei iwi ki Te Rotoiti ki Te Tūārae.
Ko te omanga tēnā a Te Tai Rāwhiti i Te Rotoiti. Ka tū te kōrero a tētehi, ka haere mā Maketu ai tātau, ka kā taku ahi ki runga o Maketu. Ka kī atu a Te Mapu Te Amotu, he rangatira nō Te Arawa, “Ki Maketu tātau whakaoti ai tēnei pitopito whawhai”.
Nō te whakatahinga o Te Tairawhiti i Te Rotoiti ka haere mā Te Rotoehu ai rātau ka tae ki te akau o te moana ki Otamarakau.
He pā tino tawhito tēnei nō Waitaha. Ko Ngai Tama, ko Ngai Tūhoe ko ētehi rangatira hoki nō Ngāti Makino, ā, ko te uho o te tauā he Ngāti Porou. Ka rewa ko ngā rau o Ngai Te Arawa kāore i tino mōhiotia i mā hea atu ai rātau. Kai te huarahi tonu rātau e haere ana ka riria te pā o Pukemaire.
The battle site at Maketu.
Ko ngā iwi i rokohanga mai i kōnei e Te Tai Rāwhiti he hoia Pākehā anahe, ka whawhaingia rātau e te mano o Te Tai Rāwhiti. Ka pau ngā rangi e toru i a rātau e whawhai ana, ka riri a Pukemaire he pā maioro, ko Kakiherea he pā maioro hoki tēnei me Te Rāhui.E kaha nōhia nei ēnei wāhi e Te Tai Rāwhiti. Nō te rangi tuatoru o te whaiwhai ka puta mai e rua poti tauā ko te Sandfly me te H.M.S Falcon ka riria nuitia ngā pā o te hoariri e ēnei poti tauā.
Ka uaina rātau ki ngā mata kaitā e tukuna atu nā ki ua e ngā poti tauā.Ka whati te hoariri ka heke iho mā ngā pari o te kūmore ki te wahapū o Waihi. He ahakoa te pakeke o te uho ngākau o ngā ika a Whiro, whati, ka whati. Ka tae ki raro ka aruhia rātau e te tauā a Te Pokiha Taranui rātau ko tana hokowhitu me ā rātau pū parera.
Kai te pupuhi ngā pū ka nui hoki te whawhai, kai te whati ētehi nā te mea he whenua torehapehape te oneroa, ka uaua te haere ka puta ki Waeheke wāhi tata nei ki Pukehina ka pāhūngia anōngia rātau e ngā poti tauā o te Pākehā, me oma ka tika engari me oma ki whea e ora ai te tangata?
Mārara kau ana te ope tauā a Te Tai Rāwhiti huakina rawatia e oma rārangi kau ana me te puhipuhi poka noa kūware kau ana. Nā reira i hinga ai ngā rangatira. Koia tēnei ko timatatanga o Te Kaokaoroa he wāhi nui e toro atu ai ki Te Awa o te atua.
He urupā hoki. I kī mai tō tātau matua tāne a Terry Ngawhika, nōna e itiiti ai ka porohīanga haere rātau i te oneone, ā, kai ētehi taima ka puta mai he angaanga tupuna.
Engari kai te māharatia rātau ki ngā tohutohu a ngā mātua i kī ai. Waihongia atu, tanumia tonutia ki te whenua.
Tāria te roanga atu.
English Translation
As we move into April, we see Vega rising in the morning, a sign to commence lifting the kumara.
It was also in the later part of this month in the year 1864, not long after a combined force of Te Arawa had successfully repelled a body of fighting men from the Tai Rawhiti who were attempting to cross through the lands of Te Arawa to join with the Kingitanga who were engaged in hand to hand combat with the Imperial and Colonial forces trying to suppress the rise of the Māori King.
Before retreating from Te Rotoiti, the defeated east coast forces announced that they would continue their fight at Maketu, ' I shall kindle my fires at Maketu!’, the venerable leader Te Mapu Te Amotu replied, “That is well; we shall finish our battle there”.
Withdrawing from the Te Rotoiti, the Tai Rāwhiti force returned to Te Rotoehu, heading north through the bush before exiting at Otamarakau, an ancient pā site of the Waitaha tribe.
The invading party included Ngai Tama, Ngai Tūhoe, sections of Ngāti Makino and a great body comprised of warriors of Ngāti Porou.
As the force regrouped, the Arawa men had time to bolster their numbers before undertaking the war trail and heading to their ancestral home of Maketu to conclude the fighting with the Kingite forces.
The Arawa had not yet reached the coast when the Tai Rawhiti attacked the refortified site of Pukemaire, an ancient pā site overlooking Maketu. Fighting continued around this site pushing north towards the point of Te Kūrei.
With engagements at Kaki-herea and Te Rāhui, where the old site of Te Whare o te Rangi marere once stood, the Kingite fighters dug themselves in preparing for a hard fight.
Unfortunately they had to contend with the gunboats Sandfly and the H.M.S Falcon, who had by this time arrived in the area.
From the sea, the invading war party was attacked, and to the south, with the aid of two field guns set up at Pukemaire, Te Whare-o-Te Rangi Marere, took a great deal of shelling.
It was enough to eject even the most stubborn of hearts.
Maketu. Whakaahua/Raimona Inia
As the fighters from the East Coast scrambled down the cliff face into the lagoon of Waihi, they found themselves under fire from Te Pokiha Taranui and his band of Arawa fighters.
The gruesome part of the battle now lay ahead as the remaining forces of Te Arawa arrived in time to pursue the invaders across the dunes towards Waeheke near Pukehina back towards Otamarakau and along the stretch of coast that the elders of Te Arawa have always pointed out as an ancient battlefield known as Te Kaokaoroa.
It was shared by my neighbour, Uncle Terry Ngawhika, that when they were kids playing along this shoreline, on the odd occasion, it wasn’t unusual to come upon skulls of past fighters.
However, they were forewarned by their parents that if they came across such sites, the remains should be immediately reburied where they were found.
