Whakarewarewa: Its Meaning.

Enquiries are constantly coming along regarding the origin and meaning of Maori place names, especially those in districts much visited by tourists. Whakarewarewa is one of the popular puzzle names. Travellers have told me that they seldom can discover a Maori, much less a pakeha, who can elucidate such conundrums. No doubt they question the younger generation, who follow the pakeha fashion of contracting the name of the geyser valley to “Whaka,” which is meaningless. If it is abbreviated—as it might well be in these speeding-up days—it should be “Whakarewa.”

When I was first searching out legends and place-names and associated knowledge of the past in the Lakes Country, I found that only the older people of the tribes could be relied on for information on such subjects, those whose minds had not been transformed by study of English books. Their mental stores were their library. This, from the then head chief of Tuhourangi, old Te Kepa Rangipuawhe, is the story of Whakarewarewa; it agreed with the tradition given me long afterwards by the late Mita Taupopoki.