Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
Click here for English translation
Kai Okawa a Motutawa e pōteretere ana, kai te tokerau o Rotorua kai te takiwā o Mourea. Ko te tuatahi e mau nei i tēnei ingoa ko Motutawa. He mea haria te ingoa hoki e Te Rangipuawhe tētehi rangatira onamata. Ka kite i a ia ka kite i te nui o Tūhourangi.
I whakatōpūngia e ia āna tangata kia heke iho rātou i te pā o Pungarehu me Te Mitimiti ki Motutawa rūnanga ai.
Nā wai rā, ka haere tēnei hūnuku ki Rotokākāhī ki reira noho ai. E riri nui ana tēnei takiwā e Te Takinga me ngā rangatira o Tūhourangi ko Motutawa tētehi o ngā pā kāore e riria ana e Te Takinga me ōna taina.
He ahakoa kua wera i a ia te nuinga o Te Rotoiti. E whia kē ngā tangata i mate, he rangatira katoa, e whia hoki ngā tangata oma ki kāinga kē atu. Whoi anō e whakatakoto riri ana ngā rangatira kia mau i a rātou te whenua me te moana katoa, ka āta wehe a Te Takinga i te rūnanga.
Ka hoea tōna waka ko Tuhitetarata te ingoa, ka tae ki Motutawa. Me tona kotahi. E mā raro ana ka ngarea te whare o Te Rangipuawhe, rokohanga atu e tūtei ana ki Te Tāiki, ka uru ki te poho o te whare inā a Te Rangipuawhe e kai ana.
Tuara kurī ana i te taenga mai o tana hoa riri, ki te māhau o tōna ake whare. Ka rua, ka pā te whakamā ki a ia. E whakamā ana i tana kainga ake i ngā tamariki a Te Takinga. Ka taumaha i te pōuri. Ka noho tahi rāua ka kōrerengia ngā take nui e pā ana ki te hunga rangatira anake.
Ko te whakatau a Te Rangipuawhe ka tukuna e ia ōna whenua katoa ki a Te Takinga hai whakamāmā i te matenga o āna tamariki. Ko ētehi anō tangata ka mea nei, i tae kē a Te Takinga, ki te whakatūpato i a Te Rangipuawhe, me te kī ake - hai te hīanga o te awatea ka wera Te Tāiki i a au! Ko te rongo kōrero i tae mai ki ōku taringa, he tino rerekē. E whakamomori ana a Te Takinga, kāore he titiro ki te ao nei, ko te take i haere atu ia ki Motutawa, kia patua ia e te hoa-riri.
Kātahi nā ka whati te whatumanawa o Te Rangipuawhe ka puta te aroha ki a Te Takinga ka wehe katoa tana hūnuku, ka heke ki Rotokākāhī. Koia tēnei ko te maunga o te rongo ki a Te Takinga me Te Rangiuawhe.
Kia hau, ki a tātou ki a Ngāti Te Takinga ko Te Tāiki te tihi o te pā whakairo. Ko Motutawa te ingoa o te whenua katoa. He pā whakairo nā ngā tuatahi i hanga, he pā tūwatawata, he pā maioro. He ahakoa kua kore ngā whare me ngā taumaihi, me ngā tūwatawata, kai te kitea tonutia ngā maioro, he mea karikari e te tangata.
I mahue a Motutawa i te taenga mai o Hongi Hika i te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau, e rua tekau mā toru. Ka ngaro a Hongi, ka hoki mai te iwi ki te pā. Nō te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau, e toru tekau mā rima ka huihui katoa ngā waru pūmanawa o Te Arawa ki kōnei i mua i te eketanga o Maketu me Te Tumu. Ko Ngai Te Rangi me Ngāti Hauā te hoa whawhai.
Nō te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau, e ono tekau mā wha, ka tōpū anō ngā waru pūmanawa ki Motutawa he whakatakoto riri ki te kaupare i te Kīngitanga, ka tere te kāhu waka ki Te Tūārae ki reri riri atu ai.
He ahakoa ngā kōrero onamata, me te tini hoki, ināianei he urupā a Motutawa. Ko te okiokinga whakamutunga tēnei e takoto ai ngā tini o Ngāti Te Takinga tētehi o ngā hapū nui o Ngāti Pikiao.
Motutawa Island sits in the bay of Okawa, located north of the Rotorua township.
The name was also transferred to the green lake by the great Tuhourangi chief Te Rangipuawhe, an earlier occupant of the island located at Okawa.
One day he called his people from the surrounding citadels of Pungarehu and Te Mitimiti and led them from Mourea to re-establishing themselves at Rotokākāhī, The Green Lake. The island at Okawa has seen much in its day.
A long time ago, the warrior chief Te Takinga, a son of Pikiao the second, was at war with the people of Taketakehikuroa, slowly expanding his land boundaries and incrementally overwhelming the strongholds that dotted the northern and western headlands of lake Te Rotoiti.
The loss of life was significant, many chiefs were killed, and many more were forced to find shelter elsewhere.
But as Te Takinga, accompanied by his brothers, Hinekura, Te Moho, and Te Rangiunuora, took time to lay plans for a final push that would secure the entire lake region - Te Takinga decided that he would leave the war assembly of chiefs.
Alone, Te Takinga boarded his waka, Te Tuhitetarata and paddled towards the stronghold of Motutawa, one of the last strongholds that had not yet been tested. Arriving unarmed, alone, he made his way to Te Tāiki, where the great Te Rangipuawhe was feasting.
Two things happened to Te Rangipuawhe when Te Takinga arrived; first, he was shocked that his enemy was before him; secondly, he was embarrassed as he was caught eating.
Te Rangipuawhe immediately apologized after what can only be imagined as a long uncomfortable conversation when Te Rangipuawhe concluded that he would offer up the last lands that belonged to his people to compensate for Te Takingas' loss.
Another version was that Te Takinga grieving his loss, had resigned himself to fall by the weapon of the chief – he was careless of his life and wished to walk amongst the living no more – seeing this pain caused the departure of Te Rangipuawhe from the region.
Te Rangipuawhe carried the island name Motutawa with him in remembrance of his old home, where that island today to serves as an urupā for his descendants.
Te Takinga assumed control over the entire lake Te Rotoiti district and immediately commenced subdividing the great area. The island Motutawa was handed to his son Kiore where he continued occupation on behalf of his father.
Te Tāiki is the name of the top of Motutawa, where these two long-ago chiefs amicably ended the wars between their two tribes.
Motutawa was a well-fortified pā, described as a pā whakairo; it was encircled by a great wall of solid palisading that supported the many terraces manually fashioned to protect the inhabitants.
Lastly, a great network of trenches surrounded the entire kāinga.Some of which can still be seen from the roadside today. In the later time, it was abandoned when Hongi Hika and his war party overwhelmed all Te Arawa with their musket superiority in 1823; reoccupied after the invasion of Hongi, it was re-strengthened when Te Arawa was warring with the tribes of Ngai Te Rangi and the Ngāti Hauā, Motutawa was one of a handful of great pā that all hapū visited in the year 1835/36 before departing to sack the strongholds of both Maketu and Te Tumu.
When the war-faring tribes of the East Coast wished to cut through the boundaries of Te Arawa to meet with the Kīngitanga in 1864, again, it was at the ancient stronghold of Motutawa that the united chiefs of Te Arawa met before travelling to repel the forces at Te Tūārae.
Today, Motutawa is the last resting place for the descendants of Te Takinga - the lone chief who was mourning the death of his children and, incidentally, in his grief, helped bring peace to the area.
The Rotorua law student who authored it says the support was 'overwhelming but inspiring'.