Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
See below for English translation
He wāhi rangatira a Ngongotahā, he whenua i kaha nōhia e ngā tūpuna rangatira, whaihoki kai te nōhia tonutia e ngā uri tēnei whenua.
Ko tētehi wāhi e kaha kōrerongia ana ko Waiteti.
E ai ki ngā kaumātua ko Tura te tupuna tuatahi ki tēnei whenua.
I mā tōna waka mai ki kōnei. Ko Te Onepungapunga tōna waka haere moana.
Ko Tura tētehi o ngā tangata i rere ki uta i te otinga o Taraiwhenuakura. He riri nui nā Ngātoroirangi me Tamatekapua ki runga o Mōtītī.
Nā tēnei tupuna nā Tamatekapua ka heke iho, ka heke iho ki a Whakauekaipapa.
He rangatira nui nōna a Mokoia me ētehi atu wāhi nui o te takere waka nui o Te Arawa.
Nā Whakaue ka puta ki waho ko āna tama tokowha.
Ko te tino o rātau ko Tūtanekai. Ka roa rātau e noho atu nā i Mokoia ka toko ake te whakaaro i ngā tuakana o Tūtanekai ki a wehe atu rātau ki tuawhenua. Ko Tawakeheimoa rātau ko Tūteaiti ko Ngāraranui ēnei, he rangatira nui hoki ēnei tangata.
Ka noho ki Weriweri me te takiwā o Waiteti.
Kai Waiteti nei tētēhi whenua itiiiti ko Te Kōtukutuku. He whenua matomato, he whenua momona.
Nā Te Kōtukutuku ka raru ai te mātua tāne kaokaoroa me tana pōtiki.
E tukituki whenua ana a Tūteaiti, ka tae te rongo kōrero ki Te Whatumairangi he tamaiti nā Tūtanekai.
Ka kūreherehe te rae, ka takahia te huarahi.
Tana taenga iho ki te waerenga ka takahia e Te Whatumairangi ngā tupu, nā wai rā e nonoke ana rāua, ko Tūteaiti me tana pōtiki a Te Whatumairangi.
Inā hoki te riri o tana pōtiki, ka hikina te matua tāne kaokaoroa e Te Whatumairangi ka kurua ki te whenua, āuē ana te matua tāne ka mātika tana mātāmua ki te hahau i tana karangatahi a Te Whatumairangi, nā te kitehanga i tēnei tūāhuatanga kua hau mai te mātāmua a Te Whatumairangi ki te riri.
Kai te memeke, kai te whanawhana, kai te kuru, kai te aha noa atu. E riri ana ēnei rangatira, ka uru mai te āmaimai ki te whatumanawa o Te Whatumairangi, kai mate pea tētehi o rātau. Ka puta ia i te riri me te whakaratarata haere i ngā rangatira, he kore hiahia nōna ki a mate noa tētehi o rātau.
Ka tau iti nei te pūehu, ka hahau ki te maunga o te rongo, ka tukuna e Tūteaiti āna tamāhine tokorua hai wāhine mōna, mō Te Whatumairangi.
Ko Parehina tētehi ko Maruteao tētehi. Nā ēnei wāhine rangatira ka puta ko ngā rangatira.
Ko Taiwere rātau ko Moekaha, ko Hapeterarau, ko Hurungaterangi. Engari anō tēnei waerenga a Te Kōtukutuku, i tukia tonutia e Tūteaiti, nā wai rā ka hua ngā kai e ora ai te tini me te mārea.
Ko tō tātau tupuna a Te Whatumairangi, e hoa mā, ka nui hoki ngā tātai kōrero māna.
Taihoa ka whāia rawatia ia e tōna mātua tāne kaokaoroa a Wāhiao, wheoi anō tāria te roanga ake.
The community of Ngongotahā is an area rich in history and a significant site of the region is Waiteti.
The township’s history can be traced back to an early ancestor, Tura, who arrived on his waka Te Onepungapunga.
Tura was said to be one of few who escaped the battle of Taraiwhenuakura that took place upon Mōtītī Island against the Arawa warrior priests Ngātoroirangi and Tamatekapua.
From Tamatekapua, we trace his line of descent to the warrior chief Whakaue who was the overlord of Mokoia Island and other vital areas of the Rotorua region.
This chief had strong sons, the most prominent of whom was Tūtanekai.
His older brothers, Tawakeheimoa, Tūteaiti and Ngāraranui, would leave the island and set up their kāinga around Waiteti and Weriweri.
Located inland from the roto-moana is a patch of land named Te Kotukutuku.
Te Kotukutuku was the scene of a quarrel between an uncle of repute and his energetic nephew.
The quarrel involved Tūteaiti and Te Whatumairangi, the son of Tūtanekai.
Gardens of the past were jealously guarded and highly prized. Many stories speak of transgressions of gardens that ended in either the departure of the workers from the site or the area in general, the extreme cases of conflict resulting in the death of an individual.
Tūteaiti was heard to be working in the area of Te Kotukutuku; this act infuriated his nephew.
Te Whatumairangi went to the garden and immediately set about disturbing the site. Tūteaiti, at the time that this was taking place, was away. However, he must not have been too far off. He had arrived and caught his nephew, causing havoc. Immediately the two engaged in a scuffle.
So enraged was Te Whatumairangi that he lifted his uncle off his feet and, with great force, dashed him into the soil. This spectacle sparked a response from the son of Tūteaiti, who ran to his father’s aid, and in the same instance, the son of Te Whatumairangi ran to aid his father.
The entire scene had the potential for bloodletting. Somehow during this physical encounter, Te Whatumairangi realised that he needed to bring the situation under control smartly.
With great diplomacy, he managed to appease all men involved in the disruption, ironically, that he had caused. In due course, the fiery combatants’ tempers diminished, and gradually a solution was agreed to by the chiefs.
Te Whatumairangi may have been in the right after all, for, by the end of the day, he took the two daughters of Tūteiati as wives. They were Parehina and Maruteao.
Many influential children were born from these unions, among them the warriors Taiwere, Moekaha, Hapeterarau and Hurungaterangi.
As for the area of Te Kotukutuku, Tūteaiti could continue cultivating the site without any further interruptions. However, Te Whatumairangi, we find later that his strong-willed nature would eventually be his downfall when in a surprising twist of events, he finds himself being tracked down by the warrior chief Wāhiao.
We're celebrating the best of New Zealand as we head into the 2024-25 summer.