4b TOROA/RUAIHONA

Toroa is captain of the Mataatua canoe. The territory of the Mataatua tribes begins at Nga Kuri a Wharei at Katikati, Tauranga and extends to Tikirau (Tihirau) at Whangaparaoa (Cape Runaway). The region includes the following tribal groups Ngai Te Rangi, Ngati Awa, Tuhoe, Te Whakatohea and Te Whanau-a-Apanui. Toroa is descended from the famous ancestor Irakewa who is still remembered as a taniwha at Kawerau.

The whakapapa sets out the relationships between the Mataatua people and the Ngapuhi people of the North. Muriwai, who is Toroa's sister, is an important ancestress of the Whakatohea people. They say it was Muriwai who made the famous saying "Ka whakatane au i ahau" (I will make a man of myself) (see 14a).

The tohunga and navigator of Mataatua was Tama-ki-Hikurangi. The canoe is reputed to have touched at Rarotonga and then sailed on to Aotearoa through the Kermadec Islands where Toroa met up with the Kurahaupo canoe. Because of rough weather its crew had to board other canoes. It is said that the Kurahaupo chiefs Te Moungaroa and Turu joined Mataatua. According to some traditions Mataatua and Tokomaru together landed at Whangara where Te Moungaroa set up a tuahu and he and Turu remained there. Then Toroa took Mataatua to Whangaparaoa which is a boundary marker for the canoe region. Toroa headed for the next boundary marker namely Tauranga and worked backwards towards Whakatane. While at Whakatane the men left the canoe unguarded while they climbed up to Kaputerangi, to visit the famous pa of Toikairakau. That was when the canoe was threatened and a famous woman stepped forward and saved the canoe. Ngati Awa and Tuhoe claim that this woman was Wairaka, while Te Whakatohea insist that it was Muriwai, after whom a cave is named on the beach at Whakatane.

A tuahu called Makaka was erected at the Whakatane township and it consisted of a long manuka pole. This event is remembered in the saying "Ngati Awa, te manuka tutahi". (Ngati Awa the people of the lone manuka pole). Toroa also established a famous kumara garden and built a house called Tupapakurau. Taneatua took the tauihu (prow) of the canoe up the Whakatane Valley and he too built a famous house called Whare-ariki (House of the Gods). Some time later Puhi and Rahiri left the Whakatane region to form new tribal groups in the North.