Exploring Ancestral Landscapes

I am organising an outdoor education trip for a group of 30 Māori students. The purpose of the trip is to introduce the students to local history. We will visit cultural sites of significance to the Ngāti Pāoa iwi. There are three main aims associated with this trip. The three aims are: Whakapapa Empower rangatahi with knowledge and understanding of their whakapapa, pepeha and identity.

Hauora Provide opportunities for taiohi to actively engage in te ao Māori experiences that foster their sense of belonging to whānau, hapū, iwi, marae and ancestral whenua.

Rangatiratanga (Leadership) Grow and strengthen rangatahi leadership through te ao Māori experiences that build cultural resilience for lifelong learning.

The students will be placed into groups of 4-6 people. At each location they will have to participate in a physical group challenge that connects them to the location and/or utilises the natural environment and its resources. The group challenge must develop leadership skills, whanaungatanga and mahitahi while also nurturing their wairua. All groups must complete the challenge as a team. No one must be left behind. Everyone must participate.

The first location is Maungarei which is accessible by foot. The second location is Te Kai-a-Hiku (Panmure basin). This lagoon is associated with Mokoikahikuwaru, a lizard face taniwha with eight tails. Students will not be permitted to enter the water. There is a bridge over the lagoon that faces directly up at Maungarei. There is also a playground area that has Māori artwork representing sea creatures found in the lagoon and a large stone sculpture of a waka anchor in it. The third location is Karaka Bay in Glendowie. This is a secluded bay facing Motu Korea/Browns Island and Rangitoto in the distance. It is a sandy/shelly bay with a steep pathway leading down to it from the road. There are a lot of native trees, in particular kawakawa trees on the way down. This is where 13 Ngāti Pāoa chiefs signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi on the 4 March 1840. Here's some information for each of the locations. He Kōrero mō Maungarei | Maungarei and its Stories Maungarei is a maunga rangatira, a chiefly mountain. It is an important maunga to the people of Ngāti Pāoa, the local iwi. Maungarei is so tall and wide that it can be seen from as far away as Waiheke Island. Maungarei means the ‘watchful mountain’ because the people who lived on the maunga in ancient times could watch out for visitors from the top of the maunga. Maungarei was a safe place to live. It is also known as Te Maunga-ā-Reipae. Reipae was a well known ancestress who lived on the maunga in ancient times. In those days, people lived in villages on the rim of the mountain and around the sides. They grew food like kumara and potatoes on the sunny slopes of the maunga in tāpapa. You can still see the special places such as old rua kumara or kumara pits and terraces where houses once stood on the sides of the maunga. The people of the villages worked very hard and helped each other to build their villages, rua kumara and terraces using traditional tools such as kō, kaheru, hoto and toki. Many villages and massive potato and kumara gardens surrounded the base of the maunga. Hue or gourd fruit was also grown in the area. Hue could be used to carry water and make musical instruments when they were dried out. A lot of harakeke growing in the area was used for making mats, clothing, string, rope and fishing nets to catch fish in Te Wai Mokoia, the Tāmaki river. From the top of Maungarei, it is easy to see many places of importance to Ngāti Pāoa. Can you find these places? Ngāhue, Maunga Uika, Te Motu o Waiheke, Te Motu-ā-Ihenga, Motukorehu, Te Wai o Taiki, Te Wai Mokoia, Te Kai-ā-Hiku. Maungarei has two craters and lava caves which were created over 10,000 years ago when it erupted. It is a sacred ancestor that is cared for and respected by the people of Ngāti Pāoa. Te Kai-a-Hiku Mokoia Pā is an ancient village on a headland near the entrance to Te Wai-roto-o-Mokoika, the Panmure Lagoon. In the early 1800s, it was an important place to the seven thousand people of Ngāti Pāoa that lived there. One important story associated with the name Mokoia Pā, formerly known as Te Mokoika, says it is a shorter version of the name, Te Wai-roto-o-Mokoika, meaning The Lagoon of Mokoika. This name refers to Moko-ika-hiku-waru, the eight-tailed lizard fish taniwha (a powerful water guardian) who travelled with the Tainui waka over seven hundred years ago from Hawaiki, the ancient homeland of the people of Ngāti Pāoa. When Moko-ika-hiku-waru made his den in the deep pool known as Te Kopua o Hiku, at the entrance to the lagoon, the lagoon was abundant with aua (herrings), tuna (eels), and pātiki (flounder). Hence the lagoon was also known as Te Kai-a-hiku, the food basket of Hiku. Another story concerned with the name Mokoia, is the name of a very special island in a big lake, Te-Rotorua-nui-ā-Kahumatamomoe, that we know today as Lake Rotorua. Kahumatamomoe, was a great explorer! He gave names to many places around Auckland, like Ō-Kahu Bay and Te Pūtiki-o-Kahu on Waiheke Island. It is possible that Mokoia Pā also got its name from the adventures of Kahumatamomoe, the son of the Tama-te-kapua, captain of the Te Arawa waka that made the journey to Aotearoa from Hawaiki with the Tainui waka.
One final story is that Mokoia Pā is an ancient name from Hawaiki. To the people of Ngāti Pāoa, Mokoia pā and the neighbouring village of Mauinaina, meaning to ‘bask in the sun’, served as a home and a gathering place for their people to live a traditional, customary way of life. The people of the village were industrious. They built massive potato and kumara gardens in the fertile land surrounding Maungarei, and gathered food in Te Wai-Mokoia, also known today as the Tāmaki river. They used local resources such as harakeke to make everyday items such as clothing, mats and fishing nets. They made important decisions together to ensure everyone in the village was looked after. They supported each other during difficult times. In 1820, visitors from overseas arrived at Mokoia Pā. When they landed, they were greeted by an immense number of people. One visitor described a village that was about a mile long and half a mile wide, with houses that were bigger and more beautifully carved than any he had seen before. Each family had their own area which was well cared for, and surrounded by strong fences. They saw thousands of baskets full of potatoes.
When one visitor climbed to the top of Maungarei with a local rangatira (chief), he saw something truly amazing. He saw twenty villages and vast gardens stretched as far as the eye could see. Eventually, Ngāti Pāoa were forced to move away from Mokoia Pā in 1821 due to a dispute with Ngā Puhi, a tribe from the North who had come to Tāmaki Makaurau. By 1827, Ngāti Pāoa had returned and 16 Ngāti Pāoa rangatira signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Te Waiorohe, Karaka Bay on the western shore of the Tāmaki River at Glendowie, on the 4th of March, 1840. A short time after the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840, numerous British settlers arrived in Aotearoa and built new towns and farms on Ngāti Pāoa land, changing their traditional way of living. Ngāti Pāoa were forced to leave their land and their homes again. Even though these times were very hard, the spirit of Ngāti Pāoa was never broken. Slowly, but surely, more and more Ngāti Pāoa people are coming back to their ancestral lands! Mokoia Pā has changed a lot since the 1800s. But it is a living, breathing part of Ngāti Pāoa's story – a story of ancient journeys, strong communities, challenges, and incredible resilience. The pūrākau | stories and hītori | histories show us that even when things are tough, a people's connection to their land and their history can never truly be broken.