Te Kereme:
Waitaha and Ngāti Māmoe
According to Māori oral tradition it seems that the early moa hunting tribes were in Canterbury about one thousand years ago.
The Waitaha people migrated from the east coast of the North Island to Pegasus Bay. More tribes came from the North Island as news of the riches of Te Wai Pounamu became known. Waitaha were followed by Ngāti Māmoe from Ahuriri (Napier) some time towards the end of the 16th century. They began building pā at strategic points, to secure their positions and in time Ngāti Māmoe dominated the earlier Waitaha inhabitants through conquest and intermarriage. About one hundred years after this, Ngāi Tahu began a southward migration.
Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu were a tribe originally from the eastern part of the North Island who shared common ancestry with Ngati Porou and Ngati Kahungunu.
Initially Ngāi Tahu took control of the Kaikōura district and then moved steadily south. Control of the eastern coast of Te Wai Pounamu was secured for Ngāi Tahu by Moki, the son of Tūāhuriri. With the approval of Moki's elder brother Turakautahi, the leading chiefs of this invasion each took control of parts of the new territory. Ruahikihiki took Taumutu, Mako took Wairewa, and Te Rangiwhakaputa took Whakaraupō (Lyttelton Harbour). Turakautahi himself, planned the Kaiapoi pā which was to secure Ngāi Tahu control over the new territories.
Feuds continued between the Ngāti Māmoe and Ngāi Tahu people over many years. In the second half of the 18th century, a marriage alliance between the leading families of the two contending tribes was agreed upon that would unite the tribes and finally settle their differences. Intermarriage thus drew the tribes together and by the close of the 18th century, the tribal lines were greatly blurred. Ngāi Tahu became the established name of the tribal mixture. Food and the greatly prized treasure of pounamu increasingly attracted more and more Ngāi Tahu who continued to venture into Te Wai Pounamu until about 1830.
Related link: Ngāi Tahu website
Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha was a famed Māori warrior of the Ngati Toa tribe.
He led a powerful warring machine that was to devastate Ngāi Tahu. Traditional warfare involved hand to hand combat however Te Rauparaha and his followers came armed heavily with muskets. Te Rauparaha's expedition landed north of Kaiapoi in 1832 and layed siege to the Kaiapoi pā. Many Ngāi Tahu were killed. After the capture of Kaiapoi, Te Rauparaha went on to Whakaraupō and then Akaroa. By 1832 the Māori population of the Canterbury area had been greatly reduced.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) and Te Kerēme
In May 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed at Akaroa and the following month at Ruapuke and Otakou.
Ngāi Tahu chiefs signed for and on behalf of their iwi and therefore Ngāi Tahu became a Treaty partner of the British crown.
The vast holdings of Ngāi Tahu were a compelling attraction to colonisers and throughout the 1840s and 1850s numerous land transactions were carried out. However, from the outset Crown officials failed to uphold their promises in relation to a number of agreements, and in particular, Kemp’s purchase of 1848, which secured 20,000 acres of Ngāi Tahu land including Christchurch City. The transaction and its mishandling laid much of the basis for the Ngāi Tahu claim Te Kerēme that was finally settled in 1999 under the Ngāi Tahu Settlement Act.
More about the Treaty of Waitangi
Sources:
- Evison, Harry C. Te Wai Pounamu The Greenstone Island: A History of the Southern Māori during the European Colonization of New Zealand, Aoraki Press in association with the Ngāi Tahu Māori Trust Board & Te Rūnanganui o Tahu, 1993.
- Walk Christchurch : 60 short walks that explore your city; / edited by Mark Pickering, compiled by Kjesten Nilsson, Karen Theobald and Lesley Symington. Published: [Christchurch, N.Z.] Leisure Unit, Christchurch City Council, 1998.
