12/06/2026
Te Tangi a Rāwiri Tareahi mō Ahuriri -
The Lament of Rāwiri Tareahi for Ahuriri
Te Rere ā Tāwhaki is a wāhi taonga and identifying boundary landmark in Poraiti, overlooking Te Whanganui-ā-Orotū. It marks the resting place of the Ngāti Kahungunu rangatira, Rāwiri Tareahi, who was laid to rest there in the mid-19th century so that he could continually hear the sea lapping the shores of his beloved Ahuriri
- Mōteo Marae
We love Te Rere ā Tawhaki just as much as you e te Rangatira ♥️
THE AHURIRI LAMENT.
Te Tangi a Rawiri Tareahi Mo Ahuriri.
(The Lament of our ancestor Rawiri Tareahi for our beloved homeland Ahuriri)
Verse 1.
Waiho au kia takoto ki taku taumata okiokinga,
O Poraiti ki Rere a Tawhaki,
Kia rongo tonu ai maua ko taringa,
I te haruru I te papaki mai o nga tai,
Aki mai ki kuta ra ki Ahuriri e.
Leave me rest atop my special resting place,
At Poraiti at Te Rere a Tawhaki,
From whence I am continually washed
With the sound of the waves,
Lapping the shores of my beloved Ahuriri.
Verse 2.
E koingo nei a ngakau kia kotahi ano te kitenga,
Pere te titiro ki a Hine-moana ki te motu o Tapu Te Ranga,
Wahi tohinga Karauria Pupu,
Te otinga atu e.
That which I yearn to see just once more,
As I look seaward it is the Island of Tapu te Ranga,
Where baptized was Karauria Pupu,
Alas the last baptism performed on the Island.
Verse 3.
Kei mua tonu I te aroaro ko Te Taha,
Whakauenukutanga a Rangatira,
Tateatanga a Ruawharo,
Whakangotonga tapuwae hoki o Mahu Tapoanui e.
There stretched before me too is Te Taha,
The burial place of Rangatira,
The son of Ruawharo,
And the place where so often were left the footprints of Mahu Tapoanui e.
Verse 4.
Whiti I te hongere ko Mataruahou,
He whatinga mai I te pa maunga o Raukawa,
E ai ki te korero e.
I look across the channel to Mataruahou,
Said to have broken away from the Raukawa ranges
Verse 5.
Nohonga o Pania o te iwi Ponaturi mai I te moana,
Tunui o Heipipi tona uri,
Ka hoki komuri te mahara ki Tuhinapo,
O tua atu I Mataruahou
Ki te wai tuku kiri ki te puna wai Maori
Whakaahurutanga o Pania e.
And hence to become the Island home of Pania of the Ponaturi people of the sea,
Great grandmother of Tunui of Heipipi Pa,
I am reminded too of Tuhinapo where,
Nestled on the other side of Mataruahou,
Was the fresh water bathing Spring of Pania.
Verse 6.
Pohepohe kau ana I te tukawikawi I te toritori,
O roto mai o Heipipi te tohu o te mana,
O te mauri o Whatumamoa,
Hoki ana te mahara ki te Tohunga Ariki
Kia a Tunui e.
I am distracted by the hustle and bustle,
Of Heipipi Pa, the headquarters,
Of the Ngati Whatumamoa people,
I recall Tunui the Tohunga Ariki.
Verse 7.
Ko Keteketerau tona ara ki te ripi paua ki Matariki,
Ko Ruamano te kaikawe e.
Going through Keteketerau on the back,
Of his whale Ruamano to fetch paua at Matariki.
Verse 8.
Piki ana au ki T**i O Kura,
Kei te taepaepatanga o te rangi,
Ko te waka o Nga Rangi Ka Taka,
T**ia ko nga pou tarawhao e.
I begin my climb towards T**i-o-Kura,
And in the skyline before me
Is the waka of Nga Rangi ka taka,
Where below pou were erected as boundary markers.
Verse 9.
Ko Rongomaipapa, Ko, Kahungunu,
I toku taumata tiro iho ana au ki te wharuarua,
Ka hoki a mahara, ka heke a roimata,
Mo te heke o Maruiwi e.
Rongomaipapa and Kahungunu,
It is here that I look down the valley
And am reminded and mourn
Of Te Heke o Maruiwi.
Verse 10.
Tu Tonu mai ki toku aroaro,
Ko nga Pou e wha nei ara Ko,
Kaitahi, Tukapua, Hinetaumoa e,
Ko Rangi Tau Mapu e
Before I am confronted,
With four more Pou,
Kaitahi, Tukapua, Hinetaumoa,
And Rangi Tau Mapu.
Verse 11.
Kau ana au I taku awa o Mohaka ki Ranga a Tawhao,
E takoto mai ra I te take o te taupae ki Kaweka,
Haere tonu atu ki Maharakeke,
Ki te tahatika o Ngaruroro Ko,
Tumataita, Ko, Ngati Ruapirau,
Te tunga o Kohu Rau o Umukiwi e.
I travel upstream of the Mohaka river to Ranga a Tawhao,
Lying at the feet of the Kaweka ranges,
And make my way to Maharakeke,
At the edge of Ngaruroro,
Is the pa of Tumataita of the Ngati Ruapirau,
Where stands two more pou Kohu Rau and Umukiwi.
Verse 12.
Tutuki ana te haere ma Tutaekuri,
Ki Otatara nohonga o te upoko Ariki o Turauwha,
Nona nei te Tipuna I hinga I te apiti ki,
Pokopoko rohe o Te Pohue.
I end my journey down the Tutaekuri river,
To Otatara Pa to the great chief Turauwha,
Whose Ancestor Maruiwi died in the Pokopoko gorge at Te Pohue.
Verse 13.
Kati ra e Koro Rawiri,
Na to ohaki ka p**a ko te kupu,
Ka kai kino ko te aroha, me te mamae e.
And so dear Papa Rawiri,
With your passing these words were spoken,
We grieve with love and desperation.
Te Tangi a Rawiri Tareahi mo Ahuriri
Te Tangi a Rawiri Tareahi mo Ahuriri
The Lament of Ancestor Rawiri Tareahi for Ahuriri.
The lament of our beloved ancestor Rawiri Tareahi for Ahuriri serves to reaffirm the ancestral boundaries of Ahuriri and to support the cultural and traditional practices and history of our people through waiata and will be left for succeeding generations maintained and nurtured in the values of our Ancestor.
Rawiri Tareahi was born around 1820 at Te Poraiti, Wharerangi on the western shores of Te Whanganui-A-Orotu the inner harbor of present day Napier.
As a Ngati Kahungunu leader Rawiri Tareahi inherited his ancestral rights in this district from his mother, Te Huripatu of Ngati Hinepare. His father Waitaringa was of Ngai Takaha.
In the turbulent period between 1800 and 1830 the tribes of Heretaunga were either at war with one another or fighting off invaders. Because of Tareahi’s fighting qualities he shared the leadership of Ngati Hinepare with more senior men, Haemania and Pakapaka the sons of Tarewai.
Sometime before 1820 Pakapaka was killed at the battle of Pukemokimoki on the south side of the Ahuriri Hill. As Haemania was already dead it was left to Tareahi to avenge his killing and he did so with the help of the Ngai Te Upokoiri at Pukemokimoki Pa and was recognized as the principal leader of Ngati Hinepare.
In the 1820’s when northern invaders were threatening Ahuriri resulting in a number of our people withdrawing to the refuge of Nukutaurua in the Mahia Peninsula. Tareahi remained to support Te Hauwaho of Ngati Parau and after surviving a massacre at Te Pakake and being taken prisoner for 18 months he returned to live on his land near Lake Oingo.
In an era in which few war leaders lived to old age Rawiri Tareahi was unusual in that he survived to see:
Peace concluded with Ngati Tuwharetoa
The return of his people to their lands
The coming of Christianity to Heretaunga in the 1840s
The purchase of the Ahuriri Block
He spent his declining days at Te Poraiti Pa and died possibly about 1855.
Verse 1 captures Rawiri Tareahi’s dying wish to be buried by his sons within the sounds of the sea below Te Poraiti. Te Rere a Tawhaki is a burial ground on the neighbouring Te Poraiti Pa. It is also a corner point of the Wharerangi native reserve.
The earthworks of Te Poraiti still remain today with an ancient karaka tree which were often planted where Ngati Hinepare settled. Ngati Hinepare ceased occupation at Te Poraiti and moved to Omaranui after the death of Tareahi. The remains of the Pa bear testimony to another age when Tareahi and Ngati Hinepare sub tribe lived and died there.
After their return from Nukutaurua Ngati Hinepare re-occupied their ancestral land at Wharerangi and Te Poraiti.
Today it is not uncommon for urupa or burial sites to be uncovered along the Poraiti cliff line by housing developments or even children exploring.
Ahuriri itself was named after the ancestor Tūāhuriri who was a young man in the period 1760s. During a prolonged storm off the coast the Keteketerau outlet just north of the Beacons blocked up completely and the inner harbor rose dramatically, flooding the cultivations and making it difficult to gather shellfish.
Tūāhuriri and a large party of followers were passing through on their way from the South Island, where they had gathered greenstone to take to Mahia.
He observed the dilemma of the local people and he and his followers set to work with a will and opened up a new outlet near the Iron Pot. The pent up waters surged through the new channel gouging out a deep and permanent outlet. Constant tidal activity and the nearby Tutaekuri river made sure the new outlet remained open.
In appreciation for his efforts the people of the area named the outlet Ahuriri.
Although Ahuriri in more modern useage has come to include both the inner harbour and the surrounding district it refers more specifically to the outlet and the waters between the Westshore embankment bridge and the Heads.
The only means of crossing the estuary in 1851 was by boat and the Maori made great use of the internal waterway provided by Te Whanganui-a- Orotu both for transport and for gathering kaimoana.
Provision was also made for the Ahuriri canoe reserve and is represented in the Ahuriri Purchase Deed under Native Reserves number 3.
In relation to inland Ahuriri Ngati Kahungunu villages and Pa like those of their predecessors were clustered primarily along the river valley. Surveys conducted between 1976-1981 identified some 78 Pa sites and 212 settlements from all periods of Maori habitation in Hawkes Bay.
Life for our people depended in many respects on their location. Those near the coasts still relied on shellfish for much of their food. Midden heaps and hangi pits have also been found inland at Tuhirangi.
In places such as Otatara and Tuhirangi, gardens were established to allow the cultivation of domesticated plants. Remains of Maori gardens have not been well preserved in some parts of New Zealand, but in Hawkes’s Bay, shallow trenches, sometimes marked the garden borders.
One of the stable crops was Kumara. Yams and taro were also grown but difficulty to crop and something of a luxury. Gourds were mainly grown primarily for use as containers.
Fern roots and hinau were also gathered and mutton-birds were caught at Puketitiri and Te Pohue with nets and snares and by taking the young from rookeries.
Colenso himself identified forty varieties of vegetable known to the Maori.
The use of Ahuriri by Maori was in a daily quest for survival and Ahuriri was seen as a principal food source.
Our people practiced the conservation of resources ensuring that fishing was carried out on a seasonal basis, when each resource was at its best. To avoid depletion selective harvesting of crayfish, paua, etc were performed leaving the biggest specimens to breed because they produced more eggs and because their long lives indicated sound genetic makeup.
After the Ahuriri Purchase of 1851 Paoara Kauwhata, principal chief of the Ngati Hinepare, which allowed them to camp at the Ahuriri Heads, negotiated an arrangement.
The great earthquake of 1931 did not put an end to the fishing economy of Ahuriri. Living witnesses recall gathering the following species in the estuary after the quake.
Cockles – west of the Westshore embankment bridge.
Pipis – near Northerys boat buildings and around the Iron Pot.
Patiki or flounders – both sides of the embankment bridge.
Whetiko or small mollusc - mudflat top shell – along the length of the estuary.
Herrings – near the pumping station.
Koko or horse mussels – near the pumping station.
Flappers or young pre-flight ducks and swans – were also caught in season along the Ahuriri estuary.
Verse 2 refers to the Island of Tapu Te Ranga – a conical shaped Island in the inner Harbour known also as the Watchman. Tapu Te Ranga was a place of old ancestral associations a place of baptism. It was the place where the first-born sons of high-ranking chiefs were baptized. People did not usually frequent the site chosen for baptism.
The ceremony took place in the water after the afterbirth of the child had been shed. Witnesses to the baptisms had to face either north or east, which means that the Tohunga performing the rite must have been in the water on the northern or eastern side of the Island.
The baptism of Karauria Pupu was the last baptism performed on the Island. Te Matorohainga names Rawiri Tareahi principal chief of Ngati Hinepare and Te Karawa elder brother of Te Matenga as the Tohunga who performed these ceremonies. Te Wheao a grandson of Hikatoa lived on Tapu Te Ranga. Tamatea Pokaiwhenua and Kahungunu remember Tapu Te Ranga with nostalgia in the famed pepeha composed by Tamatea.
Te Karoro tangi tararau mai I runga o Tapu Te Ranga
Te Patiki tahanui o Otiere e
Te Paua patoto mai I runga o Tuhinga
Te Pupu tangi mai I runga o Matakarohirohi
Te Kiore pekenui o Rimariki
Te aruhe maomaonui o Pukekohu.
Verse 3 refers first to Te Taha the shingle beach front from Keteketerau to the Ahuriri heads said to be the burial place of Rangatira the son of Ruawharo and the place where so often were left the footprints of Mahu- Tapoanui and ancestral god who descended from Taniwha.
Verses 4 & 5 refers to Mataruahou – Napier Hill that according to Maori was said to have broken away from the Raukawa ranges and was the Island home of Pania of the sea people. The Pa site Matapane existed there along with the two other significant sites associated with Pania of the reef. One was a fresh water spring called Tuhinapo where Pania used to bathe when she came ashore. This was located at the foot of the Hukarere Cliff close by the sea. The other was at the foot of Storms Gully where she lived onshore with her husband Karitoki. Tunui or Tuniarangi was a great great grandson of Pania and the legendary Tohunga of Heipipi Pa. Surviving whakapapa show him as a descendant of Tangaroa and of Hau.
Verse 6 refers to the most significant site on the Petane Range namely the ancient and historic Heipipi Pa. Carbon dating gave reading s of earlier than 1500 confirming the site as Heipipi. A people known as the Ngati Awanuiarangi or better known, as Te Tini o Maruiwi inhabited Heipipi Pa, it was the headquarters of the Ngati Whatumamoa.
Verse 7 refers initially to Keteketerau the principal outlet from Te Whanganui-a-Orotu. It recalls that piece of History that tells of Tunui travelling through Keteketerau on the back of his pet whale, Ruamano to fetch paua at Cape Kidnappers for Taraia and his people. Tara a great grandson of Toi Kairakau discovered his dog Potaka was missing after a visit from a party who lived near Wellington. Suspecting treachery he gathered up his flute, which he used as a whistle and made his way down from Whangara to Wairoa calling his dog as he went.
Convinced the dog was killed by the visiting party he set off in pursuit landing his canoe inside the outlet, he suddenly remembered that he had left his flute at Wairoa. He expressed his annoyance by a prolonged Kete Kete or clicking of the tongue.
From that time on the entrance and the village on the bank beside it were known as Keteketerau. Nepata Puhara referred to a burial ground at Keteketerau. “The water got out at Keteketerau but it was not a continual opening. There were dead buried at the mouth of Keteketerau. When the mouth was opened on one occasion the burial ground was affected and bodies were washed away and so the old opening was abandoned and a new one made. Keteketerau was renamed Ruawharo on account of this washing away.”
Verse 8 begins the ascent to T**i-O-Kura. The mutton-bird known to the Maori as “T**i” made its home on the ranges above Te Pohue. T**i-O-Kura is said to have taken its name from the visit of a Taupo chief and his son Okura in bygone days. As they were crossing the summit, night fell and they lit a fire. The glare of the fire attracted some mutton-birds that were caught and cooked and given to Okiura to eat, hence the name T**i-O-Kura.
Maori tradition has it that the mutton-birds used to fly up the coast from the south and turn inland at Waimarama. The flight divided off to three prongs some heading for Puketitiri others for T**i-O-Kura and the rest for Maungataniwha. A colony is also known to have nestled on Te Motu-Okura (Bare Island) Wailmarama. There is reference too that the waka of Nga Rangi Ka Taka can be seen on the skyline as you ascend T**i-O-Kura.
Verse 9 – The two Pou referred to in verse 8 are Rongomaipapa and Kahungunu. It continues on to mourn the terrible tragedy of the Ngati Maruiwi there in the Pokopoko gorge at Te Pohue. The Maruiwi lived in Hawkes Bay and migrated from there to the Bay of Plenty.
Their migration route took them to Turanga to Te Kaha and eventually to Waimana. In time they were forced out of the area and migrated back to Heretaunga by way of Rangitaiki and Kaingaroa.
While camped at Okoromatakiwi they were engaged by two sons of Tuwharetoa one of who was Rongomaitengangana, in a battle called Owhakatihi and they defeated Tuwharetoa. Ngati Maruiwi transported the bodies of the victims to Te Haroto at the Tarawera end of the Mohaka Bridge.
Maruiwi and his son Kaumoana then established temporary residence on the fertile banks of the Mohaka river. Hearing of Maruiwi's occupation there the Tuwharetoa chiefs Rakeihopukia and Taringa bent on avenging the death of their tribesmen with a ritual weapon called Kete Pounamu in which a sacred fire was lit at a place called Te Ahi-a-Nga Tane and the power of the tribal god Irakewa was invoked.
Alarmed by the powers of the tribal God Irakewa Maruiwi pressed on down the eastern slopes of T**i-Okura to Mohaka past lake Te Pohue and only stopped to rest when they reached the vicinity of Rukumoana Road. It was nightfall and a scout raced in to break the news that Tuwharetoa were almost upon them. In the panic that ensued the stage was set for a tragedy of epic proportions, a tragedy that still pervades the deep and treacherous Pokopoko ravine 500 years later.
Maruiwi displaying considerable presence of mind directed his son Kaumoana to split off with a small group of followers and make for Heipipi Pa the strong hold of the powerful Tohunga Tunuiarangi.
A group of seven were destined to become the sole survivors of the Maruiwi tribe as the majority of Maruiwi’s people plunged on blindly through the night the Pokopoko ravine loomed up unseen before them. Column after column hurtled to their deaths and if any halted on the brink they were carried over by the momentum of those following. It is said that Pokopoko and Mangaone ran red with blood in the wake of the tragedy.
Verse 10 confirms the positioning of four more Pou along the boundary line from T**i-O-Kura to Te Pohu namely: Tukapua, Kaitahi, Hinetaumoa Rangitaumapu
Tukapua was positioned at the Te Pohue Pa site, located at the head of the lake on the high point where the Trig Station sits, thence the boundary ran to Puharariki Parai a Te Kaaho where Kaitahi was erected. From Ahimanawa-a-Kohipipi the boundary runs south along the Napier-Taupo Road to T**i-O-Kura. Rangitaumapu and Hinetaumoa were erected there.
Verse 11 continues on up the Mohaka River to Ranga a Tawhao lying at the foot of the Kaweka Ranges and then on to Maharakeke at the edge of the Ngaruroro River the site of the Pa of Tumataita of the Ngati Ruapirau, where stands two more Pou, Kohu Rau and Umukiwi at the south western corner of the block.
Verse 12 brings the journey to an end down the Tutaekuri River to Otatara Pa a place where the old order died and a new dynasty was forged.
So to Otatara Pa to the great chief Turauwha whose Tipuna Maruiwi died in the Pokopoko gorge at Te Pohue.
Verse 13 is a fond acknowledgement of our ancestor Tipuna Matua Rawiri Tareahi. As your descendants we remember you with love and sadness.
You live on with us as we remember you within the words of this lament.
Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc
Mana Ahuriri Trust
