Kāhu ki Rotorua: Te Koutu a feature of Te Arawa history

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See below for English translation

He ahakoa he pā iti, ka nui āna kōrero hītoria

Tērā tetehi puke āhua iti e tū māia tonu nei i tahaki o ngā wai marino o Te Rotorua- nui-a-Kahu-matamomoe. He nohanga tawhito tēnei nō Uwenukukopako, he rangaira nui onamata.

Whaka-te-tokerau te titiro ko te hāpori o Kāwaha, whaka-te-uru te titiro ko Te Pākārito me Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Koutu, whaka-te-hiwa iho ngā kanohi ko te toa hoko kai.

E ai ki ngā tātai kōrero nō ngā uri o Tuhoromatakaka tēnei whenua, ko tana mokopuna ko Tamakauwhata. He kōrero anō tēnei ā tōna wā. Na Tamakauwhata ngā mahi nui onamata i tu ai te pā me ngā waerenga kei tona pūtake. Kua kore noa atu ēnei waerenga i enei rangi. He ahakoa he pā iti, ka nui āna kōrero hītoria.

Nō te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau, e rua tekau mā toru ka whakarerea te pā e ngā rangatira. Ko Hongi Hika te take, nō te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau, e toru tekau mā ono, ka huaki a Ngāti Haua. Ko Te Waharoa te rangatira he taua toto te take i tau mai ai ia ki ngā waiariki ki te ngaki i te matenga o tāna pōtiki ko Te Hunga. Nā Haerehuka i patu.

Ka māhuetia te pā o Te Koutu, ka noho ngā rangatira o Te Arawa ki Te Pukeroa. Ka noho mārie te takiwā tae noa ki te ono tekau.

Ko te wā o te riri whenua, ko te Kawanatanga tēnei e apu whenua ana. Ko ngā iwi kīhai i whakaae ki tēnei mahi āna, ka hikina te pū me ngā akerautangata a ngā tūpuna ki te whakakāhore i āna mamingatanga. Ko Te Arawa ka noho ki te Kawanatanga hai hoa whawhai māna.

Tērā tetehi ope taua a Te Kīngitanga ko Pareturanga te rangatira. Ka puta rātau i ngā tetekura o te nehenehe, kai te whētero te arero, e pīkari kau ana te amokura o te pōkaitara.He wahine a Pareturanga. Ka kitea rātau e Tawa me ngā toa o Ngai Te Arawa, kai Mahora rātau e mātakitaki kau ana i te matua. Ka kōkirihia te hoa ngangare ko Te Koutu te whāinga. Ko te tangata ki a nōhia te pā ki a ia te mana nui ki te patu i te hoa riri.

Nō ngā uri o Tuhoromata-kaka tēnei whenua o Te Koutu.

Ka huaki te riri, ka uaua te whawhai, pakō kau ana ngā pū, ka hinga te tangata i ngā matā. E mea ana te kōrero kīhai i hohoro te maoa o te pipi, e rite tahi nei ki te whawhai. Nā wai e tutū ana te puehu, ka kake i te kakenga, ka haere i waenga i ngā maioro, ka tomo i roto i te pā. Kai runga ko Pareturanga me tana taiaha kai te whakahau i ngā toa kia ururoatia te whawhai.

He ahakoa te pakari o te ngākau ki te whawhai, ko te kawenga a te riri i a Te Arawa he rite ki te ngaru o te moana.

Horomia kau te oneone, ka ngaro, ka timu te tai, he tupapaku kau. Ka hamama te waha o te hoa riri, kia oma ki te nehenehe, ka manukāwhaki te ope, marara kau ana me he rite ki te popokorua ūpoko kore.

Ko Pareturanga te manu ngangahu e whakawatea i tana huarahi e ngaro atu ai ia i te nehenehe, e tīkapokapo ana me tana taiaha, ka tahi hokinga whakamuri, ka rua, kua ngaro i te kanohi tangata. Ka haere a Te Tawa ki te aru i te hoa ngangare, tae noa rā ki Te Puna-ā-Tūhoe, ka ngaro te Te Kīngitanga i ngā riu o te whenua. Ka tanu ai ngā tupapaku ki te pā maioro ki raro i ngā taketake o te rākau Wiro.

Ka roa te tūnga o te pāmaioro ki te taumata, ka huri ngā tau, ka heke ngā tangata ki te pūtake noho ai. He ahakoa te pai o ngā maioro me ngā parepare ka ngaro te pā i te otaota. Kua kore enei tūāhuatanga ināianei, tū kē mai ko ngā whare o te mātauranga me ngā kāinga o ngā uri whakatupu. Nō reira kai te oneone i āpoa e ngā koromātua i ora ai ngā puna rau a Atuamatua. Tēnā koe.

English Translation

Overlooking the community of Te Koutu sits a site where the great chief Uenukukopako made a home.

To the north sits the community of Kawaha, to the west we find the full immersion school Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Koutu, which takes its name from the hill site, just beyond this sits Te Pākārito.

To the east, at the base, sits the famous fish and chip shop.

Te Koutu has a long history that stretches back to the time of Tuhoromatakaka. His descendant Tamakauwhata is rumoured to have begun the occupation of the pā. It is a site that would, throughout time, shelter the many hapū of Te Arawa.

However, although it may have been relatively small compared to the grand fortified pā of the area, Te Koutu features significantly in the history of the Arawa people.

It was abandoned during the raids of 1823 by Hongi Hika and occupied by the chief Te Waharoa and his warriors of Ngāti Haua in 1836 before it again served as a place of refuge. During the land war periods of New Zealand around the mid-1860s, it was a site hotly contested by the Kīngitanga and the Arawa.

Te Koutu was once the site of fierce battles. Photo / Raimona Inia

An invading war party under a warrior priestess named Pareturanga attempted to storm and take Te Koutu pā, providing their fighters a base within the region. Adorned in a great huaki cloak with huia feathers adorning her hair, Pareturanga led her men valiantly with her taiaha against the forces of Gilbert Mair, who had only just returned to Rotorua suspecting such an attack.

It was apparent that allowing the followers of The Kīngitanga to embed themselves within such a stronghold would cause significant difficulty to the area during such a turbulent time. With the support of Henare Te Pukuatua and other warriors of Te Arawa, the men of Te Arawa launched an immediate attack on the site.

The fighting was fierce, to the point where it was near hand-to-hand combat as each opposing force struggled to secure certain sections of the trenches that had been obtained. Under the warrior chiefs of Te Arawa, the home fighters would evict Pareturanga and her entourage not only from Te Koutu but the area altogether, chasing them as far as the base of Ngongotahā mountain to Te Puna-a-Tūhoe.

As she had been the first to enter the pā, she was also said to be the last to leave the battlefield, grimacing with her taiaha, taunting her enemy and daring them to follow her into the thick manuka brush, where she disappeared.

Those who died on the site were buried in the urupā that was once marked by a large willow tree that stood prominently in the highest part of the pā.

It is recalled that Te Koutu was a pā maioro. A site purposely surrounded with trenchwork and ramparts designed to protect the inhabitants from attackers. The trenches and parapets have long vanished, replaced by the schools and houses of descendants of those long-ago ancestors.