WAI – water       UKU – clay  

Waiuku derives its name from the story of twin brothers, Tamakae and Tamakau, who lived on the shores of Waiuku. 

Brian Muir gives this account of the story in his book 'Old Waiuku and District' (1980): 

In the days when the Ngatikahukoka tribe occupied the region, a chieftainess came from Waikato to Te Pai [Pae]-o-Kaiwaka (now Waiuku) to choose a husband. 

Two chiefs were suitable. Tamakau, good-looking but lazy, and his brother Tamakae, a hard worker. She met Tamakau, and unimpressed asked for Tamakae who was in the kumara gardens. 

Acting fast, the elders took him to the estuary where a spring gushed from the bank. Washed in the 'wai' (water) with 'uku', the soft white clay used as soap, he was the chosen one. The inlet became known as 'Waiuku'. 

Ngaati Te Ata are one of many iwi and hapuu who trace their ancestry back to the crew of Tainui waka. Te Ata-i-Rehia is connected by whakapapa through her ancestor Poutuukeka, the son of Hoturoa who was captain of Tainui waka. Her husband Tapaue, a Waikato chief from the hapuu of Ngaati Mahuta, was also a descendant of Tainui waka. 

Tainui waka was named after an infant who did not survive childbirth. At the burial site of this child, at a place in Hawaiki (the ancestral pacific homeland) known then as Maungaroa, a great tree grew. This was the tree used to build the ocean-going waka (canoe). Tainui waka was launched from Raiatea (Rangiatea) at the same time as Te Arawa waka, commanded by the rangatira (chief) Hoturoa. Rakataura was the tohunga (maatauranga expert) aboard.

Tainui waka landed first at Whangaparaoa then travelled down to Whitianga in the Coromandel before entering the Hauraki gulf and the Waitemata. Some members of the waka settled on the isthmus of Taamaki-makau-rau and others continued the journey, dragging the waka across land and into the Manukau harbour - Te Maanukanua o Hoturoa. After passing through the Manukau heads, Tainui waka continued down the west coast, visiting a few harbours before reaching Taranaki. Heading north again, the waka eventually settled at Mokau and the crew travelled to Kawhia. Tainui waka was eventually pulled ashore at Kawhia and was buried in its final resting place. 

Tapaue was a fearsome chief of the Ngaati Mahuta hapuu who had many villages in the Waikato including Taupiri. Te Ata-i-rehia was one of his four wives who are remembered today, and it was their son Paapaka who eventually avenged his death and became the leader of Ngaati Te Ata. 

Pei Te Hurinui Jones recounts some of Tapaue’s exploits in his book ‘Ngaa iwi o Tainui’. He describes the alliance between Tapaue and Whare-Tiipeti, who together attacked the Waikato river tribes and captured much of the land on the western side of the river. They settled permanently with their people at Kaitotehe. Here they gained a reputation for murder and cannibalism among their own relatives which led several groups, including the relatives of Te Ata-i-Rehia, to turn against him. Tapaue was eventually killed by a Waikato man named Toa-angina. 

Following the battle where Tapaue was killed, Ngaati Te Ata returned to Waiuku with some of Tapaue’s bones, which they turned into fish hooks, and his dried head, which was used as a fishing talisman on the Manukau harbour. As a child, his son Paapaka would go fishing with his uncles and hear them speak to the head “Oh, son of Ue, when will we be lucky?’. They would turn their backs on Paapaka and throw the heads and tails of the fish to him, so he decided to avenge his father. Paapaka travelled down the Waikato River recruiting a war party and was joined by his half-brother Te Putu.

The war party paddled their waka down the Waikato River and turned up the Awaroa Creek, continuing their journey until they reached the Ngaati Te Ata stronghold at Te Kauri paa. Te Ata-i-Rehia and her children had been instructed by Paapaka to climb up on top of the house so that they would not be killed. Paapaka killed his uncles as utu for their ill treatment of him and their part in his father’s death. 

After the battle, Paapaka remained in Waiuku with his mother, Te Ata-i-Rehia, as chief of Ngaati Te Ata. Later assisting Te Horeta to avenge his father-in-law’s death, and that of Tapaue, by killing Toa-angina

Tapaue was a tupuna (ancestor) of Pootatau te Wherowhero, the first Maaori King, thus the close ties between Ngaati Te Ata and the Kiingitanga.