Meeting Place

Our families are all over the World I have created this space as a Family meeting place--it is part of an ongoing homeschool study done by myself and my children

Porikapa Te WareWare

Our whanau believe that Porikapa TeWareWare is the brother of our ancestor Etahi Taputai



But on further investigation I have come across parts of his family tree
and this is how it appears it might be and how he may be related to our whanau

if this is true he would be my 
1st cousin 5x removed(5xtimes removed means 5 generations )


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Below is snippets of Information I have found on Porikapa

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During the Land Wars Ngarongomate served with the British army.
  After the surrender of Ngā Mahanga in 1865, Ngarongomate appeared at the  Oakura  Compensation Court.
  The  compensation  court was formed  to determine loyal and  rebel
  Māori during  the Land Wars, and award grants to land confiscated  under the New Zealand  Settlements Act 1863. Claimants from  hapū in
  Ngā Mahanga  were  asked  to record the  names, kinship details and claims to land on the printed form
  ‘He Pukapuka Tono  Ki  Te  Kooti Whakawa Māori, Kia Whakawakia  Etahi Take Whenua’ (Haami 2004).
  Two hundred and  seventy claimants applied for over 200 sites, and referenced  at  least 30 hapū  within  Ngā Mahanga a Tairi,
  and claimants came from the Chatham Islands, Waikanae, Pōneke and Te Tauihu.
  Even though Ngarongomate and Porikapa asserted that these people,both men and women,

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Date
1860
By
Ngarongomate, Ropata, active 1850-1870; Porikapa, active 1860-1880s; Kupe, Maihi, active 1860; Kahawai, active 1860; Tohi Te Ururangi, -1864; Toetoe, Wiremu, 1827?-1881; Te Awaturei, William, active 1860; Te Manga, Ihaia, active 1860


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 This hapu takes its name from two brothers, Moeahu (hence Ngati-Moeahu) and Tai-hawea, who were twins, which is the meaning of the hapu name.

   
Porikapa Rd is at Warea, a few kilometres south of the coastal town of Okato. It is named after Porikapa, a chief of the Nga Mahanga a Tairi hapu in Taranaki, who was born about 1798 and named Te Wiri Wiri.
Te Wiri Wiri became a deacon of the Anglican Church and took the name of an early Christian martyr, Polycarp, so became known as Porikapa.
He wore a full facial moko and lived at Parawaha Pa on a sea cliff near Okato. All that remains of Parawaha Pa today is a large midden on the Mangakino Stream and a urupa.
Porikapa saw himself as a peacemaker between Maori and European. At the beginning of the land wars in Taranaki, he wrote a proclamation signed by him and three other chiefs. They placed it on the gate of the Rev Henry Handley Brown's house making it tapu (sacred), so Maori wouldn't come on the property. This ensured the safety of Brown, his family and 35 others who were sheltering there during the Battle of Waireka.
On October 21, 1876, Porikapa Te Wiri Wiri and Ruhira Takutae of Kaihihi were married by Archdeacon H Govett in St Mary's Church.
Porikapa died at his home on December 4, 1888, aged about 90. Rev H H ("Parson") Brown officiated at his tangi, which was attended by more than 500 people. He was buried in the urupa at Parawaha. The urupa was fenced off until about 1928, when stock were allowed in to graze by the lessee. By 1960, the headstone had been broken and the iron surrounds ruined.
After a visit to the gravesite in February 1965 by Taranaki Museum director Rigby Allan and Okato Anglican minister Rev Paul Reeves, a new headstone was erected, using the original inscription. It ended with the words "Blessed be the peacemakers".

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Porikapa Te Wareware
  was an ordained Anglican minister from Ngā  Mahanga  who  lived at Parawaha  Pā  (at the bottom  of  Hampton Rd).
  During  the  Land  Wars,  Porikapa declared his  neutrality  and sheltered French  and Portuguese settlers
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Presumably, Tohu-roa was a son of the Taranaki woman who fled
from her first husband, Eua-roa, and married Takirau-o-whiti, the
Ti-tahi leader, for he, together with the few survivors who escaped
the massacre, fled back to Taranaki, and were there allowed to settle
down at a place called Papaka, situated on the coast two miles west of
the present Pihama village and close to Otu-matua. From these




2o8 HISTORY AND TRADITIONS OP THK TARANAKI COAST.

people descend the present Ti-tahi hapu of Taranaki, and, says Mr.
Hammond, ** it is remarkable how many leading men of both Taranaki
and Ngati-Rua-nui have Ti-tahi blood in them. Te Whiti (the
prophet), Tohu (a prophet), Motu, Tautahi, of Taranaki; Titoko-
waru, Hone Pihama, Nga-hina, of Ngati-Eua-nui ; Kauika and
Kahu-kaka, of Nga-Eauru, are all descendants of the Ti-tahi people,
and all are characterised by some undesirable qualities, such as
selfishness, love of position, and other evil propensities."

Mr. Hammond omits from the above list the chief Tai-komako , of
Oeo, who is the direct descendant of Takirau-o- whiti, and Mr Skinner
adds these : " The late Porikapa and Minarapa, of Taranaki." Tau-
tahi, mentioned above, was the Taranaki leader in the war against the
white people' in the sixties of last century ; and it was Titoko-waru who
drove the Europeans out of the Patea district in 1869. Hone Pihama
(whose Maori name was Te Ngohi) was a great warrior, who fought
against us in the early sixties, but eventually came over to our side,
and proved b}' his ability and courage a most able ally of the
Government. He was a very kindly, hospitable man, and the firm
friend of all Europeans in the trying times of 1868-70.
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Marae






Marae

A place of gathering that brings families, communities and tribes together, the marae is fundamental to Māori life and stands as the beating heart of our culture.

The marae is made up of a number of buildings and the wharenui (main meeting house) is the centre of it all




Video of Oakura Marae and surrounding area found here 

Ōākura marae (also known as Okototua) is located in Ōākura, at the mouth of the Ōākura River. Its principal hapū are Ngāti Tairi and Ngā Mahanga (or Ngā Mahanga a Tairi) of the Taranaki iwi.

The wharenui is named Moana Kaurai; it replaced another named Te Mata Pu-o-te-wheke-Oakura. The marae connects ancestrally to the waka Kurahaupo. 

The people who belong to a marae do not live there full time, but will come and stay during important occasions..like a funeral,wedding & family gatherings.


Intricate carvings across the marae tell the stories of the tribe to be preserved for future generations. Before the arrival of Europeans, Māori had no written language, so carving, weaving and performance were used to perpetuate history. These carving throughout the marae provide the tribe with sense of identity.



Daily life on the Marae
Traditionally, the day began early, with prayers and singing to worship the rising sun.
The daily life of the community was based around getting food, so most people spent their days in activities such as:
planting and tending crops in communal gardens
fishing or gathering seafood hunting moa, other birds or seals
Children and adults worked alongside each other, and chiefs worked together with their people.
The first meal of the day was around mid-morning.
As the sun began to set, workers returned to the village and food was prepared and eaten together.
The rest of the evening was spent in games and conversation. Sometimes there were prayers to the setting sun.

to go along with our life on marae..we built and painted a little marae

and painted little peg people





Pencil drawing of Oakura Marae

Mt Taranaki the Volcano



Mount Taranaki
is known as a stratovolcanoa volcano meaning it is  built up of alternate layers of lava and ash
Elevation: 2,518 m
Last eruption: 1854
It's estimated that the volcano has erupted over 160 times. The cone of Mt Taranaki has collapsed several times and surveys have confirmed that historical landslides, lava and pyroclastic flows have reached between seven and 40 kilometres from the cone, reaching the present Taranaki coastline.
Volcanologists agree that the mountain is 'dormant' rather than extinct


our blackboard drawing



painting the volcano

paper mache volcano



Koru Pa


  
Settlement, fortified and unfortified

Koru Pa is thought to be one of the first Maori settlements in Taranaki. Maori tradition recognises that it may have been built as early as 1000AD by Nga Mahanga a Tairi, a hapu of the Taranaki iwi. It became the predominant pa of the Oakura area because of its strategic location by the Oakura River, its size, and the high rank of its leading families.
Koru was a highly desirable pa,  Nga Mahanga a Tairi managed to live here undefeated for many centuries. At the start of the 19th century, Koru was assaulted by over 800 warriors from two hapu of Te Atiawa (from Rewarewa and from Puketapu, north of New Plymouth).
The defeat at Koru led to a series of battles in a period that has been called one of the bloodiest in Taranaki history. Nga Mahanga a Tairi successfully assaulted Rewarewa Pa in revenge for the capture of Koru years earlier, but was later defeated when they tried to capture another Te Atiawa stronghold.
Koru is thought to have been finally abandoned in the mid-1820s due to the threat of a Waikato invasion.
An elaborate carved paepae (threshold) found at Koru in 1898 is a rare example of Taranaki tribal art. It is now held at Puke Ariki in New Plymouth.


It’s most notable remaining features are:
  • Extensive terracing – there are eight terraces to the summit of the pa where the paramount chiefs would have lived, 24 metres above the river.
  • Stone revetting – river stones were used to line the walls of the terraces. This served a dual purpose: it protected the terraced banks from erosion and also made it difficult for attacking parties to gain a foot hold on the smooth rocks.


  • Rua pits – throughout the pa there are 80 underground food storage (rua) pits, many of which are interconnected by tunnels.


  • Defensive ditches – three ditches were created to easily defend the pa from enemy attack.
  • Visible dwelling sites – there are several rectangular depressions around the site which indicate house floors. One of these has a stone-lined hearth of 4 river boulders in the centre.


  

"Kura-hau-po"

Voyage of "Kura-hau-po" to New Zealand

We left Whatonga and his companions as castaways on the Island of Rangiatea, at which place they made a long sojourn, but eventually managed to return to their homeland. On their arrival there Whatonga found that Toi had sailed westward in search of him, and had not returned. Hence he resolved to go in search of him, and procured a deep-sea canoe named "Te Hawai," apparently an outrigger, for his voyage. This craft he renamed "Kura-hau-po." It is said that its hull was composed of four pieces—that is, it had one haumi at the bow end and two at the stern end. It was fitted with twenty-six thwarts and with pairi (side boards or washboards), and
was provided with two anchors and two bailing-places (puna wai). The vessel was treated with some vegetable gum, then dressed with shark-oil, after which it was painted with a preparation of red ochre. The paddles, bailers, and other gear all had special names assigned to them, as was usual in such cases. The crew consisted of fifty-two paddlers (two to each thwart), four caretakers of the vessel (whose duties are not explained), two anchor-tenders, four sail-tenders to attend to the ropes of the sails, two steersmen at the stern, and two fire-tenders, making sixty-six in all.

we made a banner and a paper waka-you can find this resource here





Then we made little wooden waka's with little painted peg people




Otago Peninsula Display

As part of our little mini look at the Otago Peninsula we finished it up with our little display


we made the cliff rocks from cardboard paper and paint

we dyed some fabric for the ocean and sky
the whaling ship was a puzzle we put together

 we added some toy seals, albatross,penguins and whale
and a watercolor and pen artwork of whales