Tahurangi
Ko te kōrero kei muri i te ingoa
Ko te ingoa o tēnei papa rēhia, a Tahurangi e whakatairanga ana i te iwi tuatahi i noho ki Hikurangi, Tāmaki Makaurau ki te uru i mua i te nohonga e te tangata. Ko te tahurangi he ai ki te iwi o Te Kawerau a Maki, he tūrehu, he hunga porehu, he koiora tūmatarau i noho i te ururua o te waoku me ngā maunga ikeike tonu.
Ahakoa he āhua tangata tonu ō rātou, e meatia ana he iwi poutiriao te tahurangi, kīhai i tae mai ki konei mā runga waka, engari i puta tūturu ake i te whenua.
E mau ana hoki te rongo o tēnei iwi pūrākau i roto i te ingoa o te awa o Waitahurangi i Te Whau (Avondale). E rere ana tēnei awa i waenga i te hukinga o te awa o te Whau i Te Rewarewa / New Lynn me te kahiwi o Titirangi kāhore e tino tawhiti i konei.
Ko te rangatira tahurangi, a Tiriwa, he tupuna tuku iho nō Te Kawerau a Maki, he iwi motuhake o Hikurangi nei mai i te rautau 1700. I heke mai i tēnei tupuna te ingoa tūturu mō te ika whenua o Waitākere, ko Te Wao nui a Tiriwa.
He iwi motuhake a Te Kawerau a Maki i noho ai i te rohe o Hikurangi (Tāmaki ki te Uru) mai i te rau tau 1700. Mai i ōna tātai tūpuna me ōna here pākūhā e whakapapa ana te iwi nei ki ngā iwi katoa kua whakakāinga mai ki te rohe o Waitākere mai rā anō.
He pouwhenua ēnei ingoa e hono ana i a tātou ki ngā kōrero o nehe. Ehara ko te āhua o te whenua, ōna rawa taketake me ōna hua noa, e whakatairanga ana hoki rātou i ngā tūpuna ake, ngā mea i pahure, me ngā tikanga i hua ake. He tohu ngā ingoa o ngā wāhi i te mana whenua o ngā iwi ā-rohe o ināianei, pērā anō i ō rātou tūpuna mai rā anō.
- Nā Robin Taua-Gordon – Te Kawerau a Maki ngā kōrero nei i tuku mai.
Tahurangi
The story behind the name
The name of this park, Tahurangi, acknowledges the first inhabitants of Hikurangi, west Auckland, prior to human settlement. Tahurangi, otherwise known by the iwi of Te Kawerau a Maki as tūrehu or patupaiarehe, were mysterious, magical creatures who lived in the deep forests and the high mountain tops.
Although they had some human attributes, tahurangi were regarded as supernatural beings who didn't arrive here by waka but literally rose from the earth.
These legendary beings are also remembered in the name of the stream Waitahurangi in Te Whau / Avondale. This stream flows between the head of the Whau river at Te Rewarewa / New Lynn and the Titirangi ridge which is not far from this very spot.
The tahurangi chieftain, Tiriwa, is an early ancestor of Te Kawerau a Maki, a distinct tribal entity in Hikurangi since the 1600s.
It is from Tiriwa that the traditional name for the Waitākere Ranges, Te Wao-nui-a-Tiriwa (the great forest of Tiriwa), comes.
Te Kawerau a Maki has been a distinct tribal entity in Hikurangi / West Auckland since the early 1600s. Through ancestral connections and matrimonial ties, the iwi has genealogical links that extend back to all the preceding tribal groups who settled in the Waitākere region.
Names are landmarks that connect us to our past. They not only describe the topography of the land, its natural resources and their usage, they also commemorate specific ancestors, events and traditions. Place names act as tohu (proof) of traditional ownership by local iwi today, just as they did for their ancestors before them.
- Narrative supplied by Robin Taua-Gordon – Te Kawerau a Maki.