Were There Two Different Waitaha Tribes?

North Island traditions give the story of the Waitaha people who came in the Takitimu canoe. But some southern family trees go farther back than the Takitimu story of 1350. The explanation probably is that there were two Waitaha tribes, as suggested by Mr. Herries Beattie:—

• (1) Those who came about 850 A.D. in the “Uruao” canoe.

• (2) Those who came in the “Takitimu” canoe about 1350 A.D..

Mr. Beattie suggests that it is likely that the people who came in 1350 and called themselves Waitaha found themselves among another tribe called Waitaha, who arrived centuries earlier.

It is safe to say that when the Takitimu party arrived the land was already inhabited. Whoever the earlier people were, they became amalgamated with the Takitimu people, and were known as Waitaha.

Bearing in mind, then, that there was an earlier wave of Waitaha people, we go on to consider the coming of the Takitimu.

The canoe Takitimu arrived from Tahiti in 1350, and made a landfall in the Bay of Plenty. She sailed down the coasts of both islands, leaving people at several points. The farthest south party was left somewhere near the Waiau River, in Southland.

The captain of the Takitimu was Tamatea. When we say, “Oh, that happened in the dim and distant past!” meaning a long time ago, the Maori says, “That happened in the time of Tamatea.” So anything very old is indicated—for instance, the great fires that swept the countryside after the coming of the Maori are referred to as “the fire of Tamatea.”

Two extracts from their traditions as set down by Mr. Herries Beattie are as follows:—

“The Waitaha, living in peace, increased in numbers and spread over the land. A great resort of theirs was Lake Te Anau… They also had pas at Mataipipi and Otupatu, near the mouth of the Molyneux River.”

The second extract is interesting:—

“A large number of place names in Otago and Southland are named after Waitaha men and women… A tributary of the Matau (Molyneux) is called Waiwhero, and is usually translated page 31 ‘red water’ because of its supposed colour, but it is really named after a Waitaha chief.”

In the Maori dictionary “whero” is given as red or reddish brown. But the chief Waiwhero is a historical person. He died on the banks of the river, and the river, whatever it was called before that, from the time of the chief's death was known as Waiwhero. And it is interesting that through the Kati Mamoe and Kati Tahu invasions the Waitaha place name survives.