Te Arai o Wairau

Ko Tainui te Waka

Ko Tokomaru te maunga

Ko Wairau te awa

Ko Wairau Pā te marae

Ko Ngāti Toa te iwi

Ngāti Toa Rangatira (Ngāti Toa) is descended from an ancestor named Toa Rangatira, from the Tainui tribes of Kāwhia. The name Toa Rangatira originates from a significant event involving his paternal grandfather, Tūpāhau, who engaged in battle with a rival tohunga named Tāmure. Although Tūpāhau was heavily outnumbered, he emerged victorious. At that time, it was customary to seek utu by killing a defeated enemy, but instead, Tūpāhau chose to show restraint and make peace. In response, Tāmure acknowledged the noble conduct of Tūpāhau by saying, “Tēnā koe Tūpāhau, te toa rangatira.” Soon after, a mokopuna was born to Tūpāhau and was named Toa Rangatira in honour of this act of chiefly courage and restraint. 

Toa Rangatira was known as a formidable warrior and enthusiastic gardener. He was famed for his ability to provide protection and sustenance to the people of Kāwhia. He displayed unique skill with taiaha and possessed unmatched leadership qualities and military prowess. Because of this, his descendants and others coalesced into the Ngāti Toa tribe. 

Descendants of Toa Rangatira migrated from Kāwhia in the early 19th century in a series of migrations collectively known as Te Heke Mai i Raro. The migration and subsequent conquests, under the leadership of Te Rauparaha, included the allied tribes of Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Koata, and Ngāti Raukawa of the Tainui/Waikato region, and Ngāti Mutunga, Te Āti Awa, and Ngāti Tama of the Taranaki region. Together, they established dominion throughout the Cook Strait region. 

Ngāti Toa later established settlements in the Wairau district, centred on the coastal sections of Karauripē (Cloudy Bay) and along the fertile mouth and banks of the Wairau River. Among these settlements were Wairau Pā in the Wairau Valley and Ōtauira Pā in Waikutakuta (Robin Hood Bay). Ngāti Toa, alongside Ngāti Rārua and Rangitāne, occupied various parts of Port Underwood — not only Ōtauira Pā, but many other Ngāti Toa settlements were established throughout the port area. 

Cultivations and food-gathering areas were located throughout Karauripē and Wairau, particularly at Waikārapi (Vernon Lagoons), Kaparatehau (Lake Grassmere), and Ōraumoa. Some important battle sites are located at Te Kōwhai, Te Karaka, Ōpua, and Tuamarino. 

The proximity of these settlements to anchorages and natural resources reflected the strong trade relationships Ngāti Toa had with early European whalers and pioneers. Ngāti Toa were commercially successful, trading flax, timber, fresh water, food, and labour in exchange for muskets, gunpowder, tobacco, and new technologies. Land was also leased or gifted, particularly to those who had married into the iwi. 

One notorious land deal was the Blenkinsop Indenture of 1832, in which Captain John Blenkinsop negotiated permission to draw sufficient water and timber from the Wairau in exchange for a one-off payment of an 18-pound cannon. The agreement, signed by Te Rauparaha, Te Rangihaeata, Te Whiti and others, was later claimed by the New Zealand Company to be a deed of sale for the entire Wairau Valley. Enraged, Te Rauparaha tore up the deed. The cannon is now placed outside the Marlborough District Council offices. 

On 17 June 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti) was brought to Karauripē by Thomas Bunbury aboard the HMS Herald. Nine rangatira signed Te Tiriti including Nohorua, Te Kanae, Te Whāiti, Pūkeko, Te Wī, Eka Hare, Puke and Māui Pū, and Ihaia Kaikōura from Rangitāne. Nohorua also had his son-in-law, Joseph Thoms, sign Te Tiriti so he would share the blame if his children lost their land because of signing Te Tiriti. Ngāti Toa Rangatira hoped that by signing Te Tiriti the British would halt duplicitous land deals.  

The first major test of British justice came in 1842, with the rape and murder of Rangiawa Kuika and her young son by a Pākehā man named Dick Cook. Kuika was a niece of Te Rauparaha and the sister of Wairau chiefs Wī Te Kanae and Rāwiri Puaha. Her infant son was also gravely injured during the attack. Though he initially survived, he too later passed away. Despite Cook’s wife being willing to testify to his guilt, she was legally disqualified from giving evidence. This failure of justice led Ngāti Toa to lose faith in the British Crown’s ability to deliver fair and impartial outcomes for Māori. 

Te Arai i Wairau 

The Blenkinsop Deed resurfaced when Colonel Wakefield of the New Zealand Company bought it from Blenkinsop’s widow, Heni Te Huahua, for £300. Claiming it gave them ownership of the Wairau, the Company began surveying the land with the intention of selling it to immigrants from England. Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata rejected this, declaring the land had never been sold. Hapareta Rore Pukekohatu, the mokopuna of Heni Te Huahua later confirmed she was never paid — the land was simply taken. 

A group of armed settlers from Nelson traveled to Wairau to arrest Te Rauparaha. After a tense standoff, the first shot was fired intentionally. Rore Pukekohatu, the son-in-law of Heni Te Huahua, was present at the incident and confirmed that the order to shoot came from the settler side. During the confrontation, another Ngāti Toa woman, Te Rongo — the wife of Te Rangihaeata — was killed by a stray bullet. Enraged, Te Rangihaeata demanded utu, which resulted in the deaths of 22 British settlers. Four Ngāti Toa were also killed in the ensuing musket battle. This incident occurred on the banks of the Tuamarino River on 17 June 1843 — exactly three years after the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Karauripē. 

Governors Shortland and FitzRoy, investigating the incident, later exonerated Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata, and in 1844 declared that the Wairau had not been sold. Despite this, in 1846 Governor Grey ordered the military to forcefully expel Te Rangihaeata from Ngāti Toa territory and illegally detained Te Rauparaha, keeping him under house arrest without trial in Auckland. 

Ngāti Toa were forced to secure the release of Te Rauparaha by selling over 600,000 acres of land in Wairau and beyond to the Crown for £3,000, and about 70,000 acres in the Porirua district for £2,000. Further forced land alienations in the following decades left Ngāti Toa virtually landless. Additional Crown policies severely undermined the rangatiratanga of Ngāti Toa, reducing the power and influence of senior chiefs and their ability to determine tribal authority. Combined, these actions had a profound impact on the trust Ngāti Toa had in the British regime. 

In 2014, Ngāti Toa settled historic Crown breaches of Te Tiriti, including land seizures, the illegal detention of Te Rauparaha, and the Crown’s part in the events leading up to the Wairau incident. Ngāti Toa is now in a better position to partner with the Crown, its local body agencies — including the Ministry of Education — and other departments to reaffirm the rangatiratanga of Ngāti Toa within its rohe. 

Ngāti Toa are now key players in local and economic affairs through negotiated Statutory Acknowledgements, Deeds of Recognition, and commercial redress. The iwi is now better able to reclaim its authority in the cultural, social, political, and economic spheres of Wairau and beyond.