Ko Hauhungaroa ngā Paemaunga (6)

Ko Whanganui te awa e whriwhiria ki Taupō Moana

Ko Tūwharetoa te Iwi

Ko Te Heuheu te Tangata

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Ko te wai ki te kohatu (7)

Ko te kohatu ki te oneone

Ko te oneone ki te otaota

Ko te otaota ki te totara

Ko tātou o Ngāti Te Maunga e tū mai rā 

 

The Pepeha (6) above has only been declared in recent times and is followed by the Whakatauākī (7) above composed by Kahurangi Hepi son of Hepi Te Huia and speaks of the boundaries of Ngāti Te Maunga from the western waters of Taupo Moana where the 5 islands of Motuwhara and Heruiwi lay as sentinels, reminders of the Pātuwatawata that once stood there, protecting the entrance into the mana whenua of Ngāti Te Maunga.

 

From there we move westwards into Whanganui Bay surrounded by the ampitheatre of cliffs starting from Karangahape in the south around to Whekenui then on to the Parikarangaranga o Whanganui where the Whakarawa Ahuwhenua Block sits above. Then moving around to the northern end of the Bay to Rukumoana and then on to Te Tiroa point where Te Rekereke and Awakino Block sit above. From the shoreline where Te Whekenui and Taupiri lay we begin to move westward up into the paemaunga of Hauhungaroa where Whenuakura (Hauhungaroa 2D and 2D1) and Hauhungaroa 2C sit.

It is there at Ruahine the highest peak of the Hauhungaroa range that Parekaawa and her husband Ngahianga lay interred.

 

This Whakatauākī (7) is of course also encoded with sacred esoteric knowledge from the kauae runga and will be discussed at wānanga at the appropriate times.

 

Parekaawa the eldest daughter of Te Rangiita and Waitapu and the Tapaeru of Tūwharetoa passed the mana whenua of these lands and waters to her son Nauatu and Great Granddaughter, Te Maunga.

 

The tracts of land were vast as they reached from the northern end of the Hauhungaroa Ranges along the western shores of Taupo Moana to Kuratau and further inland to Moerangi, Hohotaka then down into Ngāpuke thence onto the Taringamotu Valley. However, decisions made by the tupuna since then saw much of the mana whenua pass onto other hapū so that by the time Te Waaiti made the claims to the Native Land Court in 1901 he claimed the whenua where the Ngāti Te Maunga ahikaaroa or long burning fires of occupation had been lit since the time of Te Maunga and Parekaawa, which is still a significant amount of land to call Home.