Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri

Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri a numerous and fierce tribe, dominated the north-western quadrant of the South Island for at least 200 years.  Their ancestors arrived in Aotearoa from Hawaiki on the Kurahaupo waka, settling initially in the Bay of Plenty.  After moving inland to the Taupo district for a time, Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri travelled down the Whanganui River to the coast, eventually making their way to the Marlborough Sounds in the sixteenth century.  From there they were harried westwards by competing tribes, and established themselves from Rangitoto (D'Urville Island)  to Mohua (Golden Bay) and south to as far as Māwhera (Greymouth).

Kurahaupo waka at Kurahaupo Waka Festival on Lake Horowhenua - Photograph taken by Phil Reid, ca 14 January 1991. Alexander Turnbull Library: EP/1991/0099/19
http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=40841.

Through their Kurahaupo whakapapa, Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri were related to other Te Tau Ihu tribes, Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne, and to Ngāi Tara who controlled the strategic districts of Te Whanganui-a-Tara and the Kapiti Coast for generations.

Gilsemans, Isaac, fl 1630s-ca 1645 :Baye des Meurtriers. De Moordenaars Baay / J V Schley direx. [ca 1726?]. Alexander Turnbull Library: A-353-003. http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=64281 [A view of the attack on Abel Tasman's ships in Tasman Bay or Murderer's Bay in December 1642, with a manned Maori waka in the foreground, and the two sailing ships behind, surrounded by other waka, one with a triangular sail]

Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri clashed with Abel Tasman's crewmen in Mohua in 1642, killing four with hand weapons despite Dutch cannons and muskets.  Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri's violent attack leaves unanswered questions:  did Tūmatakōkiri interpret the musical exchange on the first evening as a Dutch willingness to fight?  Did Tūmatakōkiri see the Dutch as ghosts or evil spirits?  Did the Dutch break a tapu or insult the locals in some way?

Another question which bothers historians is how so many Tūmatakōkiri (probably 200 plus warriors required to man 22 waka) assembled in such a short time.  The answer probably lies in the fires recorded by the Dutch as they sailed into Mohua - a universal method of warning neighbouring communities of threat;  or perhaps the Zeehaen and the Heemskerck unwittingly stumbled into an important ceremonial occasion, such as the tangi for a chief for which Tūmatakōkiri had already gathered.  Tasman sailed away without landing on Aotearoa.

Letter from Hohepa Enewire Te Kiaka to McLean, 7 Apr 1863. Alexander Turnbull Library: MS-Papers-0032-0687B-16.  http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=1031120

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Tūmatakōkiri lost control of their large domain.  They were assaulted and harassed by Ngāti Kuia in the east, Ngāti Apa from the Kapiti Coast in the north, and Ngāi Tahu in the south.  Although they fought valiantly Tūmatakōkiri, as an iwi, were finally annihilated during battles in the Paparoa Ranges north of Greymouth in about 1810-1812.  Ngāti Apa assumed authority over north-west Nelson, Ngāi Tahu dominated their former West Coast lands, and Ngāti Kuia controlled eastern Tasman Bay.

The few Tūmatakōkiri survivors were enslaved.

Ngāti Apa was itself almost destroyed during the Tainui-Taranaki conquest of Te Tau Ihu 1828-1832, and Tūmatakōkiri slaves were transferred to new masters of Toa, Koata, Rarua, Atiawa or Tama.

Some Tūmatakōkiri survived into colonial times:  Kehu (Hone Mokehakeha), slave to Rarua chiefs at Motueka, was a superb guide to early European explorers, Brunner and Heaphy;  Pikiwati, slave to Te Rapa of Rarua, and known as Cotterell's "Man Friday", witnessed the Wairau confrontation where Cotterell was killed, and accompanied Kehu on Brunner's epic 1846-1848 expedition;  Eruera Te Whatapakoko (also known as Te Puhiohio) slave to Hohepa Tamaihengia of Toa, unsuccessfully claimed land at Maruia;  Pirihira Waikeri married Wipiti Tukihono, son of a Rarua/Tama chief; and Hohepa Te Kiaka lived with Koata at Rangitoto and Whangarae .

There are descendants of Tūmatakōkiri alive today, but they have lost authority over their former vast estate.

2012 

Updated April 2020

Story by: John and Hilary Mitchell