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Legends
of Hoe-o-Tainui Hoe-o-Tainui – When the famous navigator “Kupe and his companion Ngahe” - discovered this land about the year 950 AD which they named “Ao te Roa the long white cloud”, they sailed right around it failing to find any inhabitants - they replenished their canoe ships and sailed back to their island homes spreading the news of their discovery. So that, centuries later when the so-called “Main Fleet” set out, they full knew where they were heading. Of this fleet the “Tainui” commanded by Chief “Hoturoa” assistant in command - and the “Orawa” under Tame Te Kahua, were two of these seven or eight canoes termed “the fleet’. These two canoes landed jointly at Whangaparoa on Mahia peninsular East Coast. When the Captains and Chiefs met ashore an argument arose as to which canoe arrived first. So Hoturoa of the Tainui took Tame te Kahua of the canoe Orawa to a spot where he had fastened a rope to or through the gills of a large fish when he had landed, the condition of which was so perished that Tame te Kahua was fully satisfied and bloodshed was thus avoided. Tame Te Kahua sailing south and Hoturoa sailing north. When the Tainui eventually reached Cape Colville, she came on down the Hauraki Gulf to the mouths of the Waihou and Piako Rivers, where it is claimed that she either by accident or design, lost one of her stone anchors between the two rivers – Captain Hoturoa fully knowing that Kawhia was to be his ultimate destination thought that by the contour of the hills it might be possible to find a passage to take the canoe over land to save the long voyage around. So paddling up the Piako River to dry land he sent out one of his heads named Tai Tehu to spy out the land and see if it was possible to fleet the canoes over land. Tai Tehu came right on into the valley and was so much impressed with its fertile possibilities as a future home that though to fleet the canoe over land was not too practical, he decided to leave behind him as a mark of possession his famous “Hoe or paddle” which was named in their ancient home Hawaiki, “Hau Hau te Rangi” or “Winds of the heavens” that is literally. He “Tai Tehu” duly reported back to his chief and captain Hoturoa and they sailed away up the Gulf to the Tamaki River and up to about where Otahuhu now is, and after another investigation, decided to try and cross over into the Manukau River using green whanake or cabbage trees as skids. All was going well as tradition has it, when the canoe refused to budge and no efforts were of avail. Tehri “Atua” or guiding spirits had discovered that one of the Captain’s wives, “he had two”, had misbehaved herself with someone else. This wife’s name was “Marama Kikowi”. The other faithful wife’s name was “Marama Whakaoti”. However, there was nothing else to do but to slide her back and continue her long voyage up the coast and around the North Cape to finally reach “Kawhia” her final destination, her resting place being well known to most Pakehas as well as Maoris. How descendants of the Tainui later settled here “Ngati Paua” is another story. So “Tai Tehu’s Hoe or Paddle of the Canoe Tainui” is the origin of the naming of this valley Te-Hoe-o-Tainui or literally “The Paddle of Tainui”. This is just another incident showing that behind every Maori named place lies a story or incident (it is said the Moturoa planted a whanake tree on the spot where the canoe refused to move.) I have heard two other stories as to how this Hoe or paddle came to be here, but after listening to many old descendants of this famous canoe, I am satisfied that this is the correct one. I have actually read one that the writer who asserted that the Tainui crossed at the well-known portage at Mahuhu, but this is not so, for the Tainui is known to have left some of her crew up North on her way round. In my opinion they were just a few who were sick and too weak to continue or perhaps met relatives who had landed by previous canoes – who landed long prior to the “Main Fleet” who were last to arrive about 1350AD.
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