Maps and Images

The Polynesian explorer Kupe is said to have returned on his canoe Matawhaorua to Hawaiki from Hokianga – hence the original name Te Hokianga-a-Kupe (the returning place of Kupe). In preparation for the return voyage his people made an earth oven on the harbour shore, but the food was cold, and Kupe cursed and banished them. This place was named Kohukohu (curse). Kupe left behind his taniwha, Ārai-te-uru, in the form of a reef. He also hurled his son Tuputupuwhenua into a spring, where he became a protective taniwha. Kupe named other rocks and places: Ngā Kurī-a-Kupe (Kupe’s dog), Pori Here (genealogical ties) and Ākiha (a taniwha at the mouth of the harbour).

Te Umu Wheke is where part of Muturangi’s octopus was cooked in an earth oven. Te Kupenga-a-Kupe is Kupe’s net, named after the cliffs on Cape Jackson that resemble nets hung out to dry. Te Taonui-a-Kupe, Cape Jackson itself, is Kupe’s large spear – no doubt a reference to its lance-like form. Te Ope-a-Kupe near Port Gore is named after marks resembling footprints in the rocks there. Te Mimi-o-Kupe is where Kupe urinated. Names such as these created an enduring relationship between ancestors, the land and subsequent generations.

Kupe and his followers stayed for a time on the Wairarapa coast at Kawakawa, named after a mourning wreath his daughter made from the kawakawa shrub. He named the rocks from which he could see Te Tapuae-o-Uenuku (the highest mountain in the South Island’s Kaikōura Range) Mātakitaki (gazing out). Kupe eventually moved to Wellington Harbour. Barrett Reef, at the harbour entrance, is known as Te Tangihanga-o-Kupe (the mourning of Kupe) in reference to the sorrowful sound of the waters around it.