Kei te tomokanga ki te whanga o Tauranga i Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi, ko te maunga a Mauao. Kei ōna taketake ngā rohe o Ngāti Ranginui, o Ngāi Te Rangi, o Ngāti Pūkenga. He nui te whanaungatanga i waenganui i ngā iwi i roto i ngā tau – ngā heke, ngā pakanga, ngā hononga tahi. I te tau 1864, i toa ngā iwi nei i tētahi pakanga nui ki ngā hōia Pākehā. Ka noho te pakanga o Pukehinahina hei whakaata i te māia me te mōhio o ngā iwi kaha o Tauranga.
Ka tīmata atu te rohe o Tauranga Moana i Ngā Kurī-a-Whārei ahu atu ki Wairākei i Pāpāmoa, hoki whakauta ki Ōtawa, ki Ōtānewainuku, whakapae atu i te pae maunga o Kaimai, heke iho ana ki Ngā Kurī-a-Whārei. Ko Ngāi Te Rangi, ko Ngāti Ranginui, ko Ngāti Pūkenga ngā iwi tāngata whenua o tēnei rohe.
Ko Mauao (Maunganui) te maunga tapu e tū ana i te wahapū o Te Awanui, e ai ki ngā kōrero, he maunga kore ingoa i ōna wā e noho ana i raro i te maru o ngā maunga teitei o te wao nui o Hautere. Ka whakaparahakotia a ia e te puke ātaahua e Pūwhenua, he hiahia nōna ki a Ōtānewainuku. I te nui o tōna mate kanehe ka tangi atu a ia ki te iwi tūrehu, kia tōia a ia ki te moana kia mutu ake ai te aroha i a ia. Nō te tatanga atu ki te takutai moana, ka tākiri te ata, ka taki rere te iwi tūrehu, nā te mea he mate kei roto i ngā hihi o te rā mō te hunga hanga atua nei. Nō te mautanga i te pūaotanga o te ata, ka whai mana tēnei toka tū-tahi ā, hei whakamaumaharatanga mō te piki o tōna mana, ka tapaa ia ki te ingoa ‘Mau-ao’, hei whakamaharatanga ake ki tōna ‘mautanga i te ao’.
Ko Te Arawa tētahi waka ka whai wāhi ki te moana o Tauranga. I a ia e tere ana i waho o Tauranga ka taunahatia e Hei te rohe o Tauranga hei nohonga mō tana tama mō Waitaha. Nō ngā whakatupuranga i muri i a Waitaha i whakaea tēnei kupu āna.
I te taunga o Tākitimu (ko Takitimu te whakahua ki ngā iwi o Tauranga Moana) ki Tauranga, i reira ko ngā iwi o Ngā Mārama – mai i a Tainui – rātou ko Te Purukupenga, ko ētahi wāhanga o Te Tini-o-Toi. He waka tapu nui a Tākitimu ā, e ai ki te kōrero, ko ngā ariki, ko ngā tohunga anahe ngā tāngata i haere mai mā runga i a ia.
I tau mai a Mataatua ki Te Mānuka-tū-tahi i Kākahoroa (Whakatāne). I haere a Muriwai te tuahine o Toroa ki te moana o Tauranga, i reira ka toremi ana tama tokorua. Koirā te puakitanga o tana kupu whakarāhui i Te Moana-a-Toi mai i Ngā Kurī-a-Whārei i te uru ki Tihirau i te rāwhiti; e mōhiotia nuitia ana ko tēnei te rohe o Mataatua. Heke iho ai i tēnei waka ngā iwi o Ngāi Te Rangi rāua ko Ngāti Pūkenga.
Nā Tamatea-arikinui i hoatu te ingoa ‘Maunganui’ hei ingoa anō mō Mauao, hei whakamaharatanga ake ki tētahi maunga hanga rite i Hawaiki. Ka pikitia te maunga, ka whakatōkia tētahi mauri ki runga ā, kei reira tonu.
I Te Mangatawa tōna kāinga tuatahi, e noho ana ki ana tamariki ki a Whaene rātou ko Ranginui, ko Kahungunu. Nō tōna matenga ka tanumia a ia ki reira.
Nā Tamatea-arikinui (te kaihautū o te waka a Tākitimu) te ingoa o Maunganui i uhi ki te maunga tapu a Mauao. He tohu whakamaumahara te ingoa nei ki tētahi maunga rite kei Hawaiki. Kei te tomokanga ki te whanga o Tauranga te maunga e tū ana. Ka piki a Tamatea i te maunga, ka whakatō i te mauri; kei reira tonu i tēnei rā. Ko tōna nōhanga tuatahi ko Te Mangatawa, he puke, he nōhanga iti kei te taha rāwhiti o Maunganui. I tōna matenga ka tanumia ia ki reira.
Nō tētahi rā ka haere te iwi o Tamatea ki te hao ika i Ōtira, takiwā ki Ōmanu. Nā, ka hapa a Kahungunu i reira, he tiki atu nōna i te tāmure rahi māna i mua i te kawanga. Ka riri a Whaene, ka tāia a Kahungunu ki te tāmure, ka tū i te tara. Ka mate a Kahungunu i te whakamā, ko tana hekenga atu tērā ki Te Tai Rāwhiti. Nā wai ā, ka haere a Whaene ki Taupō, ko Ranginui i noho tonu ki Pukewhanake, ki te tahatika o te awa o Wairoa i Tauranga.
Nā Tamatea-pōkai-whenua ko Ranginui, nā Ranginui ko Ngāti Ranginui nui tonu e noho nei i ngā pāpāringa o te moana o Tauranga me te tuawhenua. He maha ōna marae me ōna hapū.
Ko Ōpōtiki te kāinga o ngā tupuna o Ngāi Te Rangi i mua. Nā te riri ka heke rātou ki Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa. Kāore i roa i reira ka puta anō te riri, ka heke haere anō te iwi nei mā Tōrere, mā Whakatāne, tau rawa atu ki Te Awa-a-Te-Atua (Matatā). Nō taua wā ka mōhiotia rātou ko Ngāi Te Rangihouhiri.
I a rātou i reira, ka mātoro a Tamapahore ki ōna huānga i Maketū. Ahakoa tukuna mai ana he whenua mō rātou, kāore i roa ka taki pakanga. Ka hinga a Tūtengaehe, te mātāmua a Te Rangihouhiri. I te nui o te aroha ka puta tana kupu ōhākī: ‘Haere rā koe e tama, mōu tai ahiahi, mōku tai ata’.
Aoake ka mate a Te Rangihouhiri ki Poporohuamea i Waihi. I tōna matenga, ka mōhiotia tōna iwi ko ‘Ngāi Te Rangi’, ka tahuri ki te ngaki i tōna mate, ki te raupatu hoki i te takiwā.
Ka toko i konei te hiahia o Ngāi Te Rangi kia whai tūrangawaewae ki te moana o Tauranga, te kāinga o tō rātou tupuna a Whaene. He nui ngā pakanga, nā wai rā ā, ka tūturu te noho i Tauranga Moana, ka tutea a Ngāti Ranginui ki uta.
He iwi toa a Ngāti Pūkenga ki te pakanga, i hau tōna rongo ki tawhiti ā, tono mai ētahi atu iwi ki a rātou hei ringa kaha mō rātou. He nui ngā whenua ka tukua ki a rātou, nā i tēnei rā i tua atu i ngā pānga i Tauranga, kei Manaia i Hauraki, kei Pakikaikutu i Whāngārei, kei Maketū, kei ētahi atu wāhi ōna pānga.
Ko Rūātoki te kāinga tupu o Pūkenga tangata, i mate hoki ia ki reira. E ai ki ngā kōrero, i tae anō a Pūkenga rāua ko tana teina a Te Āhuru ki Tauranga ā, nāna te pae maunga o Kaimai i tapa.
Nō te matenga o Pūkenga ka wehe ōna uri i Rūātoki, ka noho ki Ōpōtiki i raro i te karangatanga o Ngāti Hā. Ka tupu te whanaungatanga ki a Ngāti Te Rangihouhiri, te ingoa tawhito o Ngāti Rangihouhiri. Heoi ka tipu te raruraru ki reira, ka wehe mai a Ngāti Te Rangihouhiri i taua takiwā.
Heoi, ka takatū a Ngāti Te Rangihouhiri ki te whakaeke i a Maketū, ka tono āwhina rātou i a Ngāti Hā. Ko Te Kohokino rāua ko Te Tini-o-Awa ngā rangatira o te taua o Ngāti Hā i haere ki te pakanga. Ka toa rātou. He nui ngā pakanga, ā, kātahi anō ka tau te noho a Ngāti Pūkenga (kua kore kē a Ngāti Hā) ki te takiwā o Rangataua i Tauranga.
Kei Ngāpeke tētahi wāhanga o Ngāti Pūkenga e noho ana ināianei. He whenua tuku tēnei nā Ngāti Hē hapū o Ngāi Te Rangi ki a Ngāti Pūkenga mō tana tautoko i roto i ngā riri. Ko Ngāpeke me Manaia i Hauraki ngā kāinga matua o Ngāti Pūkenga i tēnei rā.
Nō te marama o Maehe i te tau 1864 ka werohia e ngā iwi o te moana o Tauranga ngā hōia Pākehā e puni ana i Te Papa kia riri. I reira ngā hōia hei aukati i ngā iwi ka tautoko i te Kīngitanga ki Waikato. Kāore i arohia e ngā hōia te wero a ngā iwi, nō reira ka nekehia e ngā Māori te pae o te riri kia tata ake ki ngā hōia; whāia, ka tū tō rātou pā ki Pukehinahina.
Ko Rāwiri Puhirake o Ngāi Te Rangi te rangatira i Pukehinahina, ko Hēnare Taratoa te minita Karaitiana nāna ngā tikanga mō te pakanga i whakatakoto, inarā he whakahau i ngā kaiwawao kia manaakitia te hoariri, kia kauaka ngā kaiākiko e tūkinotia.
Ka pakaru mai te riri i te 29 o Āperira 1864. E 1700 ngā hōia, e 230 ngā toa Māori. Ka takapapa te pā i te mahi a ngā pū repo, ka tomo ngā hōia e 300 ki roto; e huna ana ngā toa i ngā maioro. Ka parekuratia ngā hōia, ka mauri rere ngā mōrehu. Ka whakarērea e ngā toa Māori te pā i toa ai rātou.
Ko te utu o ngā hōia mō Pukehinahina, ko Te Ranga. I te 21 o Hune 1864, ka kōkiritia e rātou te pā o Te Ranga. I ngā Māori e hanga ana i tō rātou pā, ka mau i te whana tukutahi a ngā hōia, ka parekuratia rātou. Ki te whakaaro Māori, he patu kōhuru tēnei, nā te mea i manaakitia e ngā Māori ngā kaiākiko Pākehā i taotu ki Pukehinahina.
Koinei te mutunga o ngā pakanga i Tauranga Moana, me te tīmatanga o te raupatu a te Karauna i ngā rau mano eka. Kua roa e tohe ana te iwi kāinga kia whakatikangia tēnei hē.
Ko te riri ki Pukehinahina tētahi o ngā pakanga torutoru i toa te Māori i nga whawhai ki te Pākehā mō te whenua. I tatari ngā toa Māori i ō ratou rua, kia mutu rā anō te pakū o te pū repo. I hangaia te pā ki te whakawai i ngā hōia Pākehā kia kuhu. I te mutunga o ngā pakanga, tikina atu ai e ngā Pākehā ngā maioro o te pā o Pukehinahina hei tauira mō ō rātou pakanga ka whai. Inarā, ka kitea tōna whakamahinga i te pakanga tuatahi o te ao.
Kia tae ki te tau 2001, e 11,184 ngā tāngata o ngā iwi o te moana o Tauranga. Kei te ngana tonu rātou ki te pupuri i ngā taonga tuku iho a ngā tūpuna, ki te hāpai hoki i ngā āhuatanga o te iwi o nāianei. He uaua anō tēnei mahi nā te kaha o te waipuke o te ao Pākehā. Ko Tauranga Moana tētahi o ngā tāone nui o Aotearoa, tere ake tōna tipu i ō ētahi atu, nō reira ia rā ka nui haere ngā taumahatanga e tāmi nei i te whenua, te moana, te tangata, ngā taonga katoa e toe nei. Kei te kaha tonu te iwi kia whakatikangia ngā hē o mua, kia ora anō te reo, kia whakamutua rawatia te takahi i te mana o ngā iwi.
Inā te pepeha hei whakamanawanui i a rātou:
Ko Mauao te maunga
Ko Tauranga te moana
Ko Ngāi Te Rangi, ko Ngāti Ranginui, ko Ngāti Pūkenga ngā iwi.
Hei whakamaumahara i ngā iwi o Te Moana, rite tonu rātou ki ō rātou maunga, wai – e kore e ngaro.
In the New Zealand censuses since 1991, residents of Māori descent were asked to indicate the tribe to which they were affiliated. The figures below show the number who indicated the Tauranga Moana tribes (including those who indicated more than one tribe), and the regions where they were found in the greatest numbers.
Belich, James. The New Zealand wars and the Victorian interpretation of racial conflict. Auckland: Penguin, 1988.
Mead, Hirini Moko, and Neil Grove. Ngā pēpeha a ngā tīpuna. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2001.
Mitchell, J. H. Takitimu. Christchurch: Kiwi, 1997 (originally published 1944).
Stafford, D. M. Te Arawa: a history of the Arawa people. Auckland: Reed, 2002 (originally published 1967).
Steedman, John Aramete Wairehu. Known genealogies and history of the Maori families of Tauranga and surrounding districts. New ed. Tauranga: J. A. W. Steedman, 1986.
Stokes, Evelyn. A history of Tauranga County. Palmerston North: Dunmore, 1980.
He kōrero, whakaahua mō te hītori o Ngāi Te Rangi me ngā whakahaere a te iwi i ēnei rā.