This tauparapara was written by Megan Ellison for the Wānaka we had at Sinclair
Wetlands in July 2009. It is about our claim to Ōtākou’s rohe/area that extends
through to Lake Whakatipu and includes the whakapapa of our ancestress Hā-ki-te-
kura.
Ōtākou
This was written by Tahu Potiki in 1996 and explains who Ōtākou are. This is in
our Incorporated society rules of Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou.
1. Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou acknowledges the principles of Mana Whenua and their
importance to the whanau who affiliate to Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou.
2. These principles are well known and they include concepts such as:
2.1. Take Tupuna a right which can be established because an ancestor has
asserted himself over land or resource using any of the tikanga below.
2.2. Umu Takata rights through conquest.
2.3. Tapatapa or Mahi Taunaha an ancestral right proven because of the
discovery and subsequent naming of the land or resource.
2.4. Tūturu Te Noho rights of settlement which are only valid if there is an
established intergenerational permanence or Ahi Kā.
2.5. Kāi Taoka exchange of land or resource for taoka.
2.6. Tuku Whenua the gifting of land.
3. The Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Act 1996 defines the Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou
takiwā thus:
3.1. ‘The takiwā of Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou centres on Ōtākou and extends
from Pūrehurehu to Te Mata-au and inland, sharing an interest in the lakes and
mountains to the western coast with Runanga to the North and South.’
4. The origins of these rights are easily traced and extend back to the times of
the Waitaha people which includes such callings as Kāti Hāwea and Te
Rapuwai.
5. There is much traditional evidence of occupation by these early people and
they are particularly remembered in local placenames.
5.1. The prominent hill standing alongside the Marae reserve is known as Te
Atua O Taiehu. Taiehu was the kaihautū of the Waka-A-Raki, a canoe
contemporaneous with Uruao, and is therefore associated with the earliest
period of occupation.
5.2. When Waitaha arrived in the south Rākaihautū was responsible for the
creation of the inland lakes and lagoons including Waihola, Whakatipu and
Hāwea as well as the naming of the Kaikarae stream (Kaikorai).
5.3. The pepeha associated with Rākaihautū are:
Ka Puna Karikari O Rākaihautū The Lakes Dug by Rākaihautū He Puna
Hauaitu The Freezing Cold Lakes He Puna Waimarie; The Bountiful Lakes
He Puna Karikari. The Lakes which have been dug by the hand of Man.
5.4. These pepeha serve to illustrate the traditional principle of Tapatapa.
5.5. The Waitaha were successfully subsumed in to subsequent migrations
but the marriages into Waitaha lines are acknowledged as particularly
important as they embody the principle of Ahi Kā.
(See Whakapapa 1 as an example of Waitaha whakapapa that extends to
Ōtākou families).
6. Waitaha led a peaceful existence in the south until the arrival of Kāti
Māmoe. The Māmoe people originally claim descent from the ancestress
Hotu Māmoe who is believed to have lived in the Heretaunga area of the
North Island.
6.1. In traditional korero the name Kāti Māmoe was taken to include all
those who were here before the final wave of Kāi Tahu. Therefore all the
Waitaha and Māmoe hapū were often known as Kāti Māmoe simply because
their identity was subsumed through inter-marriage and they were traditional
occupants before Kāi Tahu.
6.2. Often those who claimed direct descent from Whatiua and Porouraki
were also labelled as Kāti Māmoe although there was no obvious descent
from Hotu Māmoe.
6.3. This included important Kāti Māmoe rakatira such as Tukiauau from
whom many Ōtākou affiliates descend.
(See Whakapapa 2)
7. Other rakatira of Kāti Māmoe maintained their mana in the inland areas.
7.1. Rākitauhopū had built his pā around Lake Ōhau, Tuwiriroa was
established at Lake Whakatipu and Tutemakohu in Central Southland. All
three of these chiefs were offspring of Nukutauraro, a senior descendant of
Hotu Māmoe.
7.2. Te Rakitauneke, another cousin, was the ancestor of many of the
women whom ultimately married into the invading Kāi Tahu.
7.3. It is clear from local tradition that Te Rakitauneke was living at, or near,
Ōtākou during the first Kāi Tahu occupation by Waitai.
7.4. A direct descendant of Te Rakitauneke, Hikapaki, married into a
principal tupuna of the Ōtākou people, Pokohiwi. Hikapaki was taken
captive in a battle at Kaka Point.
7.5. Another Te Rakitauneke descendant, Koraki, also married back into the
Ōtākou lines and Tūhawaiki is descended from this union.
7.6. These, and other similar marriages, determine the boundaries of our
shared interest in central Te Waipounamu. This right embodies the
principles of Take Tupuna, Tuturu Te Noho and Ahi Kā.
(See Whakapapa 3)
8. The Kāti Māmoe were slowly displaced by the incoming Kāti Kuri hapū of
Kāi Tahu descendants of Tahu Potiki.
(See Whakapapa 4)
8.1. Rakaimomona was defeated in the battle of Puhirau and his son,
Tukiauau, was pushed south to Rakiura.
8.2. Waitai made his way south from Kaikōura and was quickly followed by
Maru, Te Aoparaki and their nephew, Tarewai.
8.3. The Tarewai chapter is important as it sees the final expulsion of Kāti
Māmoe from the Ōtākou district. Whakatakanewha and Rakiamoamohia are
defeated and forced into the Te Anau and Fiordland area with the mana,
embodied in the principle of Umu Takata, ultimately resting with Kāti Kuri.
9. Following the defeat of Kāti Māmoe Moki, the son of Te Ruahikihiki,
migrated south with his hapū to maintain the occupation right at Pukekura.
9.1. Moki’s son, Tūkitaharaki, passed away under suspicious circumstances
and Te Wera, a cousin from the hapū of Kāi Te Kauae, was blamed for
whaiwhaia.
9.2. Tūki warned his whānau to not seek revenge for his death as his death
was natural (mate tara-whare).
9.3. The warning went unheeded and as a result an inter-hapū feud
developed which climaxed with a violent confrontation on the Otago
Peninsula.
9.4. Both Moki and Kāpō were killed and Kāpō’s ōhāki is remembered in
his fateful words;
‘Purupuru te tarika. Kore e whakaroko i te takata mate’ ‘Block your ears.
Never listen to the words of a dead man’.
9.5. Kāpō met his demise in a grotesque manner at the hands of Te Wera
with Te Wera saying;
‘Waiho te irāmutu hei irāmutu, waiho te papa hei papa, waiho te hākoro hei
hākoro, tahuri tonu mai patu tonu nei. Ākuanei māhaku mai anō i runga i
tona upoko, ona waewae rawa.’ ‘Leave the nephew for a nephew, father for
a father, uncle for an uncle as they may fall in battle. Soon I shall consume
my relation from his head to his feet.’
10.The mana was transferred to Kāi Te Kauae for a very brief period until
Taoka, a brother to Moki, expelled Te Wera from the area following a
lengthy siege at Huriawa.
10.1. Taoka then placed his nephew, Te Pahi, as rakatira of Pukekura and
the greater Ōtākou area.
10.2. Te Pahi married Hakuiao, who is a Rapuwai descendant.
10.3. This marriage become of great significance to the people of Ōtākou as
it is symbolic of an undisturbed claim to Mana Whenua through the
principles of Umu Takata and Ahi Kā.
(See Whakapapa 5)
11.Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou acknowledge the special status of Kāi Te Pahi due to the
descendants of Te Pahi and Hakuiao enjoying an undisturbed Mana Whenua
right as of 1840.
12.Despite the status of Kāi Te Pahi it is also acknowledged that the principle,
and more inclusive, tupuna of Ōtākou are Taoka and Moki therefore Kāi
Taoka and Kāti Moki are the primary hapū for affiliation to Te Rūnaka
o Ōtākou.
(See Whakapapa 5 & 6)
13.It is acknowledged that the descendants of Taoka and Moki have traditional
Mana Whenua rights in areas other than the takiwā of Ōtākou and that within
the takiwā of Ōtākou certain traditional rights are shared with other whānau,
hapū and rūnaka.