18/04/2023
Whakapapa Ora
Te Awa Tapu o Taumarere
It is said that the Taumarere river got its name from the incident surrounding the fight between two taniwha.
Rangiriri was the name of the taniwha that lived on our river. Pokopoko was a taniwha that came from the Kaipara.
Pokopoko travelled up from Kaipara with the purpose of defeating Rangiriri and was known to use large taura or ropes to lasso his opponents before slaying them.
When the battle began, Pokopoko threw the taura over Rangiriri and although he was trapped and took a beating, he managed to shrug them off and was able to beat off Pokopoko who eventually retreated.
This conflict was remembered by the saying 'te mareretanga o nga taura here a Pokopoko taniwha ki runga i a Rangiriri' or 'the undoing of Pokopoko taniwha's bindings that held Rangiriri'.
This was then shortened down to Tauramarere and finally to Taumarere as we know it today.
Moreover, when you go down amongst the people living on the Mangakahia, Wairua and Wairoa rivers that drain into the Kaipara Harbour, you will notice in their korero and waiata that they name both Pokopoko and Rangiriri as the taniwha that live there as their kaitiaki.
Stories are told of how the Pakeha tried to kill Rangiriri using dynamite because the taniwha would untie the rafts of native logs that they were extracted from local the forests and floated down to waiting ships in Opua.
The river was the access to the Peowhairangi - Bay of Islands and Ngati Hine along with our neighbouring hapu are together the kaitiaki of this waterway.
The saying goes:
Ka toto i puna i Taumarere - ka mimiti te puna i Hokianga.
Ka toto te puna i Hokianga - ka mimiti te puna i Taumarere.
Ehara i te puna wai, engari he puna tangata.
The Taumarere river at one of its upper reaches goes to Ngapipito, that is also known as Ngapitopito e rua. At that point, the source of Taumarere almost joins with the source of the Punakitere river which flows over to the Hokianga.
This pepeha emphasises the links in our natural environment between the two puna but also our whakapapa links through the two sons of Rahiri - Uenuku on the Taumarere river and Kaharau on the Hokianga harbour - amongst many other connections.
The east coast being known as 'Te taitama wahine' associated with the female element and having a calmer bearing than that of the West Coast, known as 'Te taitama tane' - or associated with the more rugged, rougher male element.
