HĪTŌRIA | HISTORY

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae 

The History of our People

Ko Tūhua te maunga
Ko Arahura te awa
Ko Uruao te waka
Ko Arahura te marae
Ko Tūhuru te wharenui
Ko Papakura te wharekai
Ko Ngāti Waewae te hapū
Ko Poutini Ngāi Tahu te iwi

The history of the region is both dynamic and dramatic – and it’s one irrevocably linked with the guardianship of Pounamu.

Tūhuru Kokare was a chief of Ngāti Waewae, a hapū (sub-tribe) of Canterbury’s Ngāi Tahu iwi. He reached adulthood in the eighteenth century – a turbulent period in the Māori history of the South Island.

During this time Ngāi Tahu went to the source of greenstone in the Arahura and Māwhera (Grey) regions of the West Coast and fought with the local people, Ngāti Wairangi. Tūhuru led this campaign, starting at Karamea in the north and gradually working his way down the coast. The final defeat of Ngāti Wairangi took place in the Paparoa Range, after which a meeting of Tūhuru and his party was held at Rūnanga.

Tūhuru and his people then established a new pa at Māwhera and settled there. They were known as Poutini Ngāi Tahu, the Ngāi Tahu people of the West Coast. The trade in greenstone was becoming more valuable and, with it, the threat from outsiders. Tūhuru defended his land and it’s Pounamu against the Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri, a tribe from the north, and later, the Ngāti Rārua from Paturau near the Whanganui. The local Māori community is still directed by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae, the council based a short distance from the township of Hokitika in Arahura.