1000 YEAR OLD WHAKATANE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 70, 4 October 1939, Page 2

1000 YEAR OLD WHAKATANE

SETTLED SINCE TENTH CEXTURY

EARLY VOYAGERS FROM

HAWAIKI

The many trenched pa sit.s on the surrounding hills, and the presence of many relies buric'J in the Hal ground, ready to jump out if! the earth is tickled with a spade, show" that Whakatanc has been the home of man for many hundreds of years. Probably town is the oldest human settlement in New Zcaalnd.

There can, naturally, be no proof I of this, but it seems likely that the' district was first settled about 950 A.D. by one who came from Hawaiki, that is to say the isles of Polynesia, in a vessel named Tc Ara-tauwhaiti, and, with his folremained here, giving th~. name of Kakoho-roa. This was the town's name in olden times. The island was then uninhabited, but as time rolled on. his people increased in numbers until, in the 'time of Toi, about 300 years later, thev formed many tribes, occupying the lands as far inland as Lake Taupo.

It is impossible to say from what part of Polynesia, these early settlers came, if they ever did so come, though there is a tradition that they came from the land Mataora, the Polynesian resting place before that people reached the Hawaiki in the Society Isles. ANOTHER VOYAGER. When Tiwakawaka was in residence one Maku, a voyager from Hawaiki or Mataora, reached this land and found him living with his wife tt : ~ T<*o _

Hauima-nri m tne ancient pa of Ka-pu-te-rangi, on the hill above the Whaka.tane pa. It is stated by Ngati-<awa authorities that it was Maku who gave the name Aotea-roa to New Zealand, the origin ofi the name being at Ka-pu-tc-rangi, pos sibly the name of a place at that classic spot. Maku did not remain, here, but is said to have returned to Mataora and reported having reached a far land. The people enquired "What land is that from which you come?" He replied "I come from Aotea-roa." They asked "Where is that Jand?" Maku said "It is i.n the south-westWher" upon he was asked if he proposed to revisit Aotea-roa, find rcpl'ecl "Maku returns but once/' which remark is vet quoted among the descendants I of Toi.

Probably the above conversation is fictitious, and an invention of the Maori, unless some later vovager reported it says Best. It illustrates the loo.se manner in Avhich names of tho primal homes of the Polynesian are mentioned, as it locates Alataora to the north-car,t of Ne-.v Zealand,

which is improbable, though it is likely that Maku came from that quarter. If Matnora lies there it must be one of the isles of Polynesia

POTIKI FROM TAHITI. There are record of other voyagers ianding in the Bay of Plenty in, very early times and before the wellknown fleet came. One was Potilci-mai-Tawhiti (Potiki from Tawhiti) who arrived in very early times. A pond of water on the hill above the bcach between Waiotahi and Taw-hiti-nui pa was named Opotiki after him and in after times the surround

ing district became known as Opotiki, and, later still, the Europeans erroneously applied it to the settlement of O'potiki, the proper name of which is Pa-kowhai.

This spring or pond was said to contain a taniwha and it was very tapu. Potiki was said to have placed in the spring a fish -called Tangahangalia which he brought from Hawailri with him. These Hsli were said to disappear for years, and then

reappear,

Another early immigrant was Tam-atea-mai-Tawniti 011 Tamatea from Tawhiti, who is said to have come here in a vessel called Tuwhcnua. He found a 'tribe of the descendants of the very early settlers living at Mot u.

Oturcreao was another ennoe which I reached these shores from Hawaiki. It landed at Qhiwa, where immigrants settled under their chief Tairongo, and heenme known as the Tairongo clan. The Rakuraku 'family of Waimana are descendants. The vessel is said to be one that brought the ante shrub here. BLACK SKINNED SLAVES.. The Nukutere also came to these narts. On her came the taro, the ti, and seeds of the karak.i. The ti. or cabbage tree was a cultivated variety, and with the knraka was frst planted near interesting story connectcd with Nukutere is that a number of black skinned persons were on board her. Probably they were Melancsian slaves brought to work the vessel. They were said to have settled at Oniencu on the left bank cf the Raugi,:aiki Rive; between Matata and Te Teko. and later to have been slain by the ancestors of the Ngnti-awa. It is said that their skin was vcvv black and their •peech different from that of the Maori people.

Horouta was another old canoe whose arrival preceded thai of Matatua and she is also said lo > lave blacks on board hef.

Te Paepae ki Rarotonga is said to have made the land near Matata some time before the arrival of Mata fcua. The principal chief on hoard was one Waitahi-ariki-kore who had an, encounter with Tama-o-hoi, or

Te Mahoihoi, an aboriginal wizard.

The wizard attempted to slay Waitaha by means of magic spells, but

the latter warded off the dread shafts by means of counter charms ) 4UL the warlock became alarmed and appeared under ground } or, as sonie say, fled to Taupo. Waitahi is said to have had his jaw broken at a place on Moutoki islec, one of Ihe Rurima rocks, since known a? Te Kauae o Waitaha (the Jawbone of Waitaha. The eanoc was a very tapu. one unlike Matatua. She is beli^ved^

to have brought back some of' the Whakatane people who went to Hawaiki in Te Ara-tawhao to obtain the kumara.

Te Rangi-Matoru, and Talcitumu were other canoes which came before the great immigration.

MANY VOYAGES

All these facts show that there was a fair amount of intercourse between New Zealand and the islands of Polynesia in the days last and it is; clear. the majority of the voyages were not chance ventures, or the result of ves sels being driven off land by storms. The daring voyagers of old knew the water-roads of the Pacific and the many islands spread across its waters. They knew how to reach those isles and return therefrom, "for they were bold and skilful navigators, ]acfc"~ ing only the compass. Their knowledge of the stars was extensive ancl they had maps oS the oceans on which were shown many islands and the principal currents. Then, too, they used a form of sextant, consisting of a hollow gourd pierced with holes which, though not of the accuracy, was sufficient to the searovers to make fairly preciselandfalls, ,as is proved by the way the great bulk of the canoes hit the coast along the Bay of. Plenty. Thus., when the New Zealand traditions are read in conjunction with those of Raroionga, and other isles, it is plain that ? prior to the dawn of the l. r ith century, there was fairly frequent communication between the isles of Polynesia and New Zealand. Particulars of some of these have been preserved while others arc doubtless forgotten. Th? Maoris have retained many particulars of the sailing of the Ara-tawhao and Totara-karia canoes to Hawaiki, and several tribes speak of other sols that left these shores for iforthern, isles in times past. The NgaiTporou have an account of a vessel that left their part of the East Coast and there is a story of a canoe th%.t? left Tan rang a early in the 19th century and put boldly forth to sea to visit Hawaiki, though it is said that this venture -failed • and lhat the vessel was driven back to the Bay of i Plenty.