'TOKE WĀTENE INTERVIEW ON TAINUI CANOE AND THE HAURAKI TRIBES', audio recording at Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision

Toke Watene (1881-1955) was a kaumātua of Ngāti Maru. Linked below is a recording of him talking about various Tainui and Hauraki traditions.

00:00- 31:42 Toke Wātene talks [in English] about the arrival of Tainui waka from Hawaiki in December (Hohua) on a spring tide. Hoturoa was the tohunga and Hotunui the commander. He also retells the journey of Tainui around the Waitematā, Manukau, and onto Kāwhia where the canoe was turned to stone.

Hotunui was accused of stealing kūmara and went to live at Hauraki. Marutūahu went in search of him and married two women of the area from whom the various Hauraki tribes descend. Toke outlines the various tribes of the area, from whom they descend and gives various pepeha relating to them, and traces his whakapapa.

Notes from this audio:
  • Tainui means high or great tide
  • Tainui left Hawaiki in a spring tide
  • Ohoata, spring time 
  • They were told not to go during the days of Tamatea as this was the time of storms
  • Hotunui was the priest, Hoturoa was the commander, they risked it and left during the days of Tamatea
  • Hauraki was the name of the northern wind that brought Tainui 'down' into the 
  • Anchored outside the Shortland wharf
  • 'Ruahine takunga' was the name of the anchor
  • Anchor of the bow was called Pungapunga (left between the Waihou and Piako Rivers)
  • Reuben Connor picked up this anchor, handed over to the Museum
  • 'Manukau' refers to the refloating the Tainui waka on that harbour
  • Tainui turned into a stone at Kāwhia
  • Hotunui went from Kāwhia to Pātea to meet with Turi, the commander of Aotea
  • Hotunui married a woman there called Murirāwhiti and had two sons called Maruwharanui and Marukōpiri. A third son, Marutūahu, was still in his mother's womb when Hotunui was accused of stealing some seedlings from a kumara pit. Hotunui was identified by his foot marks left by his clubbed foot.
  • Hotunui said to his wife that he would leave. He then said to her that should their new baby be a boy, then call him Marutūahu, if a girl, call her Paretūahu. The tūahu refers to the 'furrying up' of teh ground ready for kumara planting. He then left.
  • He came via Kāwhia and landed at Whakatīwai. 
  • At a pā called Pūanoano, the pā of Te Ruahiore of Te Uri-o-Pou
  • When Hotunui arrived at Whakatīwai, it was populated by people who came with Kupe - Ngāti Huarere, Te Uri-o-Pou, Waitaha, Ngā Marama, Ngāiwi
  • Years later when Marutūahu was a young adult, he was playing with some friends when someone said to him that he was illegitimate. He asked his mother who replied by saying that his father had gone in the direction of the rising sun.
  • Marutūahu came to Whakatīwai. He met two sisters, the daughters of Te Ruahiore.
  • The sisters took Marutūahu their father's pā. Marutūahu entered over the parapets rather than through the gate.
  • When kai was prepared Marutūahu sat next to Hotunui. When kai was put before Hotunui, Marutūahu would allow Hotunui to select some kai for himself. Hotunui saw this and thought that Marutūahu must be a chief of some kind.
  • After the meal, Hotunui asked his companion whether he was Marutūahu at which he replied "Yes"
  • Hotunui then 'endowed' Marutūahu with some 'power' which was 'the Māori custom'
  • Marutūahu then married the two sisters, Paremoehau and Hineurunga (By Paremoehau he had Tamatepō, Tamaterā and Whanaunga, by Hineurunga he had Te Ngako and Tāurukapakapa)
  • The first son (Tamatepō) was the ancestor of Te Uringahu and Ngāti Rongoū
  • The descendants of Tamaterā are called Ngāti Tamaterā
  • The descendants of Whanaunga are called Ngāti Whanaunga
  • From Te Ngako came Ngāti Maru 
  • Tāurukapakapa married in the Te Arawa canoe
  • Ngāti Paoa is one of the Hauraki tribes. Tamaterā had Taharua who had Tukutuku who married Paoa.
  • Tamatekapua, Kahumatamomoe, Tawakemoetahanga, Uenuku, Rangitihi, Kawatapuarangi, Pikiao, Hekemaru who had Mahuta and Paoa (the last two being brothers)
  • Proverbs of the Hauraki tribes
    • Whakatuketuke? Whakatukituki? (disorderly?), for Ngāti Tamaterā
    • For Ngāti Whanaunga, he kī tahi, 'their word was their bond'
    • Paoa-taringa-rahirahi - tender ears, sensitive, alert
    • Hauraki is the land, Tikapa the sea, (Tīkapa means 'the vast area of the individual rippling of the waves'), Ngāti Maru is the people.
  • There's a hill at Pārāwai (race course) called Hauraki
  • Proverb for that hill: 'The hill at Hauraki is covered in mist, it greets the earth and weeps for its people'. The meaning of this is that hill in olden times, it would get covered in mist and was populated with people. Now used to farewell the dead.
  • Settlement of the various iwi
  • He offers a whakapapa from Ranginui and Papatuanuku to himself through various kāwai within Ngāti Maru

See link below:




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