Haare Williams presents 'Voices of Gisborne - Past and Present'.
It is said the the two waka Horouta and Takitimu preceded the main fleet by four generations, or 100 years. The Horouta was commanded by Pawa, with Kiwa as priest. The waka was partly wrecked at the mouth of the Ohiwa Harbour. It cruised along, calling at different places, to beach finally at the present Gisborne Harbour.
Kiwa, as priest, was the first to land. He claimed the land by planting the Mauri, or the sacred life giving spirit, right where he stood. Kiwa declared ownership of the territory from Maungahaumia to the white cliffs of 'Young Nick's Head' - mai i Maungahaumia ki nga pari i mamae ra". He named the area "Turanganui-a-Kiwa" - the great standing place of Kiwa.
The early European settlers named it Gisborne, but Māori today still refer to the area as "Turanganui". From Ohiwa, Pawa travelled inland discovering the sources of three rivers, and during the recitation of a chant, a break - or a motu - in the recitation lead to the naming of the Motu River. He flooded the river that flowed out to the East with the waters from his body - "nga mimi o Pawa", today the Waipawa River. The other became known as the Waioeka River. It has been stated by elders that the Horouta canoe landed at Pakirikiri near Muriwai, where her voyage ended.
The Takitimu canoe was said to be impregnated with tapu, and therefore not permitted to carry women, children, or cooked food. This complementary role was said to belong to Horouta - no common person or thing could be carried in the Takitimu. According to Sir Peter Buck in his book "The Coming of the Māori" Takitimu carried a precious freight of "sacred knowledge" from Hawaiki.
Takitimu made her first landing at Awanui, near Kaitaia. There, Tamatea's son Kahungunu settled. Later, the Takitimu landed at Tauranga (the landing place), where her commander, Tamatea-mai-tawhiti, decided to remain. He handed over command to Tahu. On reaching Tauranga, Tamatea planted a sacred flax on Maunganui called "Wharawharanu". Parting with Takitimu, Tamatea built his pa on a hill named Mangatawa. Tahu left, promising that he would continue the journey in search of pounamu, the precious greenstone which was one of the principal reasons for the voyage.
The canoe travelled down the East coast and landed at Whangara. On approaching Turanganui and observing a hill similar to Titirangi in Hawaiki, they bestowed upon it the name Titirangi, today known as Kaiti Hill. It is said that pet whales accompanied the Takitimu canoe to Aotearoa. The Takitimu canoe held a precious burden of knowledge, history, and traditions. The Māori people had no written language. All history, tribal law, genealogy, and tradition were preserved in the purity of memory and the sacredness of oral traditions. The Māori universities known as the whare wananga, or 'school of knowledge', was quite different from our modern way of cramming and swatting.
Thus the two canoes, the descendants of the Gisborne tribes, Rongowhakaata Halbert, Te Kani te Ua, Rei Hamon, Witi Ihimaera, and others can with pride claim their ancestry from the tribes of Rongowhakaata and Te Aitangi-a-Mahaki. They read into the word 'canoe' or 'waka' all that is venerable in ancestry and sacred in traditions, and all that's meaningful in identity, in a world obsessed with mechanisation. The waka is their bond with their ancestral Hawaiki.
- Kaikōrero: Reverend Charles Matai
He speaks about his ancestor Kahungunu - the eponymous ancestor of the Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, and South Island tribes.
- Kaikōrero: Rei Hamon
- Waiata: Aoraki plains
- Kaikōrero: Witi Ihimaera
- Kaikōrero: Amiria Stirling talks about her greenstone tiki
- Kaikōrero: Wi Taare
- Waiata tawhito: Popo