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E pōhēhē nei ētehi o tātou ki te ingoa o Rangitoto e mea ana nō te moutere e pōtere ra ra tata ana ki a Tamaki Makaurau me te roanga atu o taua ingoa ko Te Rangi i totongia ai te ihu o Tamatekapua.
He take anō i ingoatia ai taua moutere ki tēnā ingoa rā, i hinga ai a Tamatekapua nā te kaha me te māia o Ruaeo he toa nui nō Hawaiki Tawhitiareare. Kāti hā he kōrero kē atu. Ko Rangitoto tētehi o ngā tihi ki runga o Whakapoungakau nō te wā i a Murimanu te ingoa nei.
Ko Murimanu he tamaiti nā Rākeiao. Ko Rākeiao tētehi o ngā pūmanawa e waru a Rangitihi, te ūpoko whakaharahara o Te Arawa i tākaia tōna mahunga ki te akatea ehara mā te aitanga a Tiki !
Ko ia hoki he uri nō Tamatekapua otīā nō Tiki ahu mai i Hāwaiki. Ka whānui noa atu te mana o Rangitihi ka tae ki ngā koko huhua o te waiariki atu i Te Rotoiti ka tapatapahi e ia ōna whenua hai whenua mō ōna uri.
Ka riro atu i a Kawatapuarangi rāua ko tōna tuakana a Rākeiao ētehi whenua e takoto noa ki ngā rekereke o Whakapoungakau, ko Puakoitoito me ētehi atu whenua. He rangatira hakoke whenua a Rākeiao mai i Rotorua atu ki Okataina nā wai rā ka tae ki Tarawera aha noa atu.
Nā te mea he rangatira nui ia ka moe tokorua ngā wāhine, ko Keapare te wahine matua ko Maruahangaroa te puna rua. Nā, ka tokomaha ngā tamariki. Whoi anō ka moe a Rākeiao i a Maruahangaroa ka puta ki waho ko Murimanu tō mua ka rere i muri ko Puhiawe, he rangatira hoki rāua.
Ka haere te wā ka moe tāne tuarua a Maruahangaroa he rangatira nō te tai rāwhiti, katahi ka haere atu ko tōna hūnuku ka noho i reira. Ka nanakia te wā ka pakeke haeretia ngā tamariki ka puta te hiahia o Maruahangaroa ki te hoki ki tōna ūkaipō ka wehe rātou i te tai rawhiti, engari i mua i tō rātou wehenga ka homai e Uenukukoihu he mokai ngārara ki a Murimanu hai pou tiaki i a ia otīā i a rātou ko te whānau.
Tō rātou hokitanga mai ki Puakoitoito kua korohekengia a Rākeiao e noho mai na na i te paru, ka hōroia te korokē e Maruahangaroa ka tahuri ki te tahu kai māna. E manaakingia ana tō rātou matua tāne ka takahia te whenua e Murimanu, kia mōhiohio ai ia ki tōna whenua tupu.
E mā raro ana, e piki ake ana ki te tihi o Whakapoungakau ka tūponohia a Taharangi. He rangatira nui hoki tēnei tangata koia tētehi o ngā tamaiti a Uenukukopako. Ko Uenukukopako he tamaiti nā Tūhourangi waihoki ko Tūhourangi tētehi o ngā waru pūmanawa a Rangitihi. Whoi anō kua tūponohia rāua, kua tāti ki te kōrero, kātahi ka puta mai te mokai ngārara ka pirangitia te ngārara e Taharangi, ka tonoa hai mokai māna, ka whakakāhorengia tana tono, ka riri te rangatira nei ka patua a Murimanu ka mate tēnā rangatira.
Ka tae te kōrero ki a Uenukukopako ka riria a Taharangi e tōna matua tāne ka panaia i te takiwā kia kāua e rere te toto kia kāua hoki e mate ngā rangatira. Ka tapangia taua takiwā ko Rangitoto hai whakamaumaharatanga kāua ki a Murimanu engari ki te take i mate ai tēnei rangatira.
He mokai ngārara ko te koha a tōna pāpā whakaangi ki a ia. Tērā anō tētehi kōrero e mea nei ko Rangitoto hoki he mokai kurī nā Uenukukopako, nā reira i tapangia ai taua puke ki a Rangitoto.
It has been said that the name Rangitoto was transferred from the island Rangitoto, creating great confusion about the origin of the word with the island that carries the same name that sits in the Auckland harbour.
Te Rangi i totongia ai te ihu o Tamatekapua is its full name; it commemorates an incident that saw the undoing of the famous captain of the Te Arawa waka by the fearless Hawaikian warrior Ruaeo.
The Rangitoto that we know to be a prominent peak that sits upon the ridge of Whakapoungakau has its origins in the time of Murimanu. Murimanu was the son of the famous priest Rākeiao.
Rākeiao was one of eight children of the great leader, Rangitihi, a descendant of Tamatekapua, the famous ancestor of Te Arawa. When Rangitihi had gradually taken ownership of Te Rotoiti and the eastern shores of Lake Rotorua, this ownership was distributed between his children. Rākeiao, with another brother Kawatapuarangi, took up residence below and upon the ridge of Whakapoungakau.
Rākeiao was travelling between Rotorua and Okataina, which lie on the opposite side of the Whakapoungakau ranges. He would often trek south towards Tarawera and further afield. Because Rākeiao was a great chief, he married two times, and by these marriages.
This union resulted in the birth of Murimanu and Puhiawe, who were prominent leaders. With time Rākeiao and Maruahangaroa estranged. Before long, Maruahangaroa had departed the area with her children travelling east towards the Heretaunga district, where she fell in love with the chief Uenukukoihu.
It is unknown how long Maruahangaroa stayed here; however, eventually, she returned to her former husband, but before they left, Uenukukoihu gave a pet lizard named Rangitoto to his son Murimanu.
One can imagine the excitement of receiving such a gift, as some tribes associate lizards with the underworld and others see the lizard as empowerment. After an exhausting and long journey, Maruahangaroa and her family returned only to find that the priest Rākeiao was now overcome with great age.
So they promptly set about taking care of the old chief. Murimanu could now reconnect as his father's son with their lands; therefore, he set off retracing the family boundaries and reacquainting himself with their neighbours.
As he made his way up along Whakapoungakau, he encountered another great chief of the area named Taharangi, a son of Uenukukopako. Uenukukopako was the son of Tuhourangi, another warrior son of Rangitihi. During their conversation, Taharangi noticed the unusual pet and quickly liked the lizard.
On approach, asking for the pet, Murimanu refused Taharangi. Taharangi, feeling insulted, decided that he had been slighted and was killing Murimanu. The finer details have been forgotten; however, due to this action, two necessary measures followed.
The first was the banishment of Taharangi from the area by his father, Uenukukopako, who was so angry with the efforts of his son that to ensure peace prevailed, he had no other option but expelled his son. The second measure was naming the area, not after the killing of Murimanu but rather the cause, his pet lizard called Rangitoto.
It is also told that the chief Uenukukopako named the area after his pet dog, Rangitoto.
An online petition supporting the hapū has over 1950 signatures.