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Maaori Fluidity-
Tommy DeSilva
The first article introduces:
The Importance of the Auckland's location (fertile volcanic field, awa and moana) to different roopuu (groups)
Tangata Maaori occupied fluid territories with overlapping usages by different groups.
Historic tangata maaori (‘ordinary people’ of these motu relative to the newly arrived Paakehaa) were diverse in thought and action. Different hapuu, iwi and waka groupings followed varying versions of te Ao Maaori.
De Silva acknowledges limitations in this research, largely English source material is used and oral history source material has been omitted.
Whakapapa of Ngaati Te Ata
Whakapapa of Ngaati Te Ata
Tommy DeSilva
The second article considers:
Whakapapa connects tangata with their tuupuna, te taiao (the natural world) and one another.
Ngaati Te Ata traces whakapapa back to Ngaa Oho and Ngaa Iwi.
The beginnings of Ngaati Te Ata were unions between descendants of the Tainui waka and early Taamaki peoples.
Upon the death of their rangatira (leader) Te Ata i Rehia, Ngaati Kahukoka was renamed Ngaati Te Ata.
Roughly three centuries ago, Ngaati Te Ata founded a primary marae at Te Pae o Kaiwaka, known later as Waiuku.
Today Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua exercises mana and kaitiakitanga in the Ngaati Kahukoka rohe from the entrance of Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa to the mouth of the Waikato.
Ngaati Te Ata has dual whakapapa, with deep connections not only to Taamaki Makaurau but to the Waikato.
The first Maaori King, Pootatau Te Wherowhero of Ngaati Mahuta from the lower Waikato, is a mokopuna (descendant) of Tapaue (husband of Te Ata i Rehia)
The article briefly covers Ngaati Te Ata history (1820- 1860)
In March of 1822, a Ngaapuhi taua (war parties), including the infamous Hongi Hika, attacked the Awhitu peninsula and was defeated by Ngaati Te Ata on the Waiuku Awa.
Ngaati Te Ata rohe and nearby areas became hubs for early missionary and trader activity. A mission station was established in January 1836 at Orua Bay (northern Awhitu).
In 1840 the Crown (the British authority) held it's first two meetings with Ngaati Te Ata, but were unable to secure any signatures to Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi.
Then in either late March or early April 1840 at the Waikato Heads, four Ngaati Te Ata rangatira, Te Katipa, Maikuku, Aperahama Ngakainga and Wairākau, signed the Treaty.
In mid-April two more rangatira, Waiohua Wiremu Ngawaro and Te Tawhā signed on the shores of Te Manukanuka, probably alongside the second signing of Te Katipa.
Ngaati Te Ata understood that by signing the Treaty, the group’s rangatiratanga and mana was being affirmed and acknowledged by the Crown
Te Tawhā and Wairākau were some of the only wahine signatories to the Treaty, carrying on the Ngaati Te Ata tradition of female leadership.
Trade opportunities also came to Ngaati Te Ata. Waiuku sat at an important position along the Waikato-Auckland trade route thanks to the nearby water transportation network.
Fluidity of Ngaati Te Ata Rohe
Fluidity of Ngaati Te Ata Rohe
Tommy DeSilva
The third article examines indigenous and foreign perceptions of land ‘ownership’.
Under tikanga, historic tangata whenua had no concept of land ownership in the Western sense.
Individual ownership of the whenua was inconceivable, and land was typically not exclusively occupied. Instead, whenua was held in common, often cooperative agriculture led to the sharing of resources.
The tangata maaori relationship with the whenua was one of responsible resource management.
The Western understanding of land ownership was very different with ideas of land ownership originating from British common law.
Under common law, ownership of property is usually the possession of an individual.
Taamaki was located at a meeting point of several ‘water highways’ due to moana to both the west and east. Transportation systems for waka that moved people, trade goods, and information across the region.
At no less than eight points in Taamaki, there were portages, places where waka were landed and transported over the land to another nearby awa or moana to continue a journey.
Taamaki’s geographic location provided its tangata maaori with easy access north, south and east.
Te Maanukanuka o Hoturoa (the Manukau Harbour) provided access southward via the Waikato Awa. Southward access was important for Ngaati Te Ata because the Te Pae o Kaiwaka portage between Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa and the Waikato Awa was near the Ngaati Te Ata heartland. Through this southward access, Ngaati Te Ata could interact with their Waikato whanaunga (relatives).
In modern terms, historic Ngaati Te Ata rohe extended from the northern Waikato, through the whole mainland-bound Auckland region to the border off Northland. There were overlapping yet recognised claims to some of the same areas by different roopuu.
The lower Waikato Awa around Te Puaha o Waikato, the northernmost section of the river that flows into the sea (Port Waikato), provides an example of overlapping claims. Ngaati Te Ata joined Ngaati Tahinga, Ngaati Karewa, Ngaati Tipa, Ngaati Kaiaua, Ngaati Amaru and Ngaati Pou in sharing the fishing rights for the lower Waikato Awa.
The Crown promoted the idea that tangata maaori groups should have the exclusive rights of occupation within small, immobile areas, in its quest to take the whenua from tangata whenua.
Different perspectives of Historic Ngaati te ata
Different perspectives of Historic Ngaati te ata
From December 1851 through to April 1854, the foundations for the Paakehaa Waiuku Village within Ngāti Te Ata rohe were laid out
From the blossoming of the Waikato-Auckland trade route, Ngaati Te Ata formed an early relationship with the Crown and other Paakehaa, such as missionaries, traders, and settlers.
Ahipene Kaihau, principal rangatira of Ngaati Te Ata around the time of the Waikato War, cared for and protected local Paakehaa.
On 4 July 1863, eight days before the Crown invaded the Waikato, Kaihau wrote to Kawana (Governor) George Grey. He asked the Crown for “protection of my Paakehaas, for I do not approve of letting my Paakehaas die.” In the same letter, he committed forty Ngaati Te Ata toa (warriors) to protect the Waiuku settlers from harm during the forthcoming conflict. Kawana Grey issued a proclamation requiring Manukau and some lower Waikato tangata māori to either take an oath of allegiance to the Crown and thereafter surrender their arms, or vacate the area and move southward beyond the Mangatawhiri stream. Yet, Ngaati Te Ata was effectively exempt from Grey’s proclamation. They listed the rōpū as friendly, meaning they were not considered an enemy during the Waikato War.
Alongside having a positive relationship with the Crown, Ngaati Te Ata also had a positive relationship with te Kiingitanga around the time of the Waikato War due to shared whakapapa with many of the Kīngitanga hapū and iwi from the Tainui waka.
Individuals or small groups within Ngāti Te Ata seemed to make their own decision as to which side they would support during the war. Some Ngaati Te Ata were prepared to fight the Crown in opposition to land and sovereignty theft.
Following the Waikato War, the Ngaati Te Ata-Crown relationship deteriorated, and the Ngaati Te Ata-Kiingitanga relationship blossomed.
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