Hauraki Iwi History

Te Paki o Matariki, Volume 9, 1893  

Cook and the crew of the Endeavour arrived into Hauraki on Friday the 3rd of November 1769 after passing Tuhua (Mayor Island), near Tauranga. They arrived at a group of rocks and islands called Te Rua-o-Māhua. Cook named this collection of rocks and islets, The Court of Aldermen. Today, these islands are known as the Aldermen Islands. They continued further and came to Te Whitianganui-a-Kupe where, on Thursday the 9th of November, Cook observed the transit of Mercury. He subsequently named the area Mercury Bay. It was while they were making these observations that a Ngāti Whanaunga man was killed. Cook's journal records the event as follows: While we were making these observations five Canoes came along side of the Ship, two large and three small ones, in one were 47 people but in the others not so many. They were wholy strangers to us and to all appearances they came with a hostal intention, being compleatly arm'd with Pikes, Darts, Stones & ca h...

Although 19th-century open conflict between the Crown and Hauraki iwi did not generally take place within Hauraki itself, Hauraki was not unaffected by conflict during the Waikato War. Various sections of Hauraki iwi - particularly Ngāti Whanaunga and Ngāti Pāoa - became involved in aspects of the war on the Waikato side of the Hūnua Ranges and elsewhere too (such as at Rangiriri). In their report on the Hauraki claim, the Waitangi Tribunal relates two events which were direct conflicts with Hauraki people. The first was the well known shelling of  Pūkorokoro-Miranda . The second was the less well known attack on the Te Koheriki-Ngāti Pāoa encampment at Paparata in the Hūnua Ranges on 13 December 1863. The Tribunal also mentions that they heard evidence from elders of Ngāti Rongoū that Papaaroha in Coromandel was also shelled. Here is what the Tribunal says: From The Hauraki Report, Vol 1,   p. 207, Waitangi Tribunal A report of the attack lead by 'Captain Jackson' a...

This is a version of the story of Marutūahu's journey to Hauraki in search of his father Hotunui. This version is sourced in a manuscript written by Tukumana Te Taniwha of Ngāti Whanaunga. It was edited and translated by George Graham of Auckland Museum and published in the  Journal of the Polynesian Society , Volume 50, No. 199, pp. 120-133. KA HEKE MAI A MARUTUAHU KI HAURAKI NEI. 1. Ka mahue atu a Kawhia i a Marutuahu. Ka haere mai ki Hauraki ki te kimi i tona matua. He hoa tona i to raua haerenga mai. 2. Ka haere mai i runga i nga maunga. I te haerenga mai, ta raua mahi he wero haere i te manu hei kai ma raua, huahua ake. 3. Ka tae mai ki Waikato, ara ki Tuakau, ka whiti i te awa o Waikato. Haeremai i runga i te maunga o Tirikohua, wero haere mai i te manu, kuku, tui, kaka. 4. A tae mai ki Otau, ka whiti mai i te awa o Te Wairoa, ka piki mai i te maunga i Kohukohunui ka eke mai i te tau, ka titiro ki Tikapa, ki te moana o Hauraki. Heke tonu i runga i te tau, ka...

Waka Maori, Volume 12, Issue 15, 25 July 1876 Here is a whakapapa for Rāpana Maungaroa of Ngāti Maru, taken from the Minute Books of the Native Land Court, Hauraki Minute Book 3, p. 286 Hape Ngangaia Pareputa Tuairangi Rāpana Maungaroa

Taken from The Thames Journals of Vicesimus Lush ,  pp. 96, 97 ‘When Sir William Martin was Chief Justice of New Zealand and living with his wife in Auckland, his wife brought up a Maori girl whom they had adopted, and that child was taken to England. This girl was sent to the best large schools. When she returned to New Zealand this Maori girl knew three languages and her appearance and all her ways were those of a true Pakeha woman. She married a leading Hauraki chief, Nikorima Poutotara, and because her husband was a great man and because she too was a gracious person this woman was made much of by the Pakeha people of Hauraki and Auckland. She had a lovely singing voice and consequently Nikorima’s wife was in demand to sing at soirees. Eventually this woman decided to return to the free-and-easy ways of her people. Her learning of Pakeha ways proved to be only skin deep. She gave up her desire to do things in the Pakeha way. Soon she had given up having anything ...

The following account in English of the life of Hotunui, ancestor of the Marutūahu peoples, was extracted from  The Ancient History of the Maori  by John White, Vol IX, Tainui, pp194-203.  It is a translation of a Māori language text found in the same book. The Māori text can be read here:  Hotunui, an account in Māori taken from 'The Ancient History of the Maori' by John White, Vol IX, Tainui, pp.187-196. The account of Hotu-nui (great sob) only shall be given in this part of this history. Hotu-nui took to wife a woman of the Kawhia tribes, who were descended from people who migrated to New Zealand before those who came in Tai-nui. When his wife expected her first-born he prepared his ground to plant a crop of kumara, but he could not complete his work for want of the kumara-tubers to set in his field. He went to plunder the storehouse of Mahanga, to procure some kumara. The big toe of Hotu-nui's foot was crooked and turned outwards. When Mahanga discov...