Books in the Te Tau Ihu O Te Waka series

This volume consists of 28 biographies of chiefly whanau of Ngati Tama and Te Atiawa in Te Tau Ihu (Nelson-Marlborough). It ranges from northern Taranaki to the Kapiti coast and on to Te Tau Ihu, spanning the three or four generations in the 19th century. The book covers Maori co...nflicts and movements, early European contacts, conversion to Christianity, the New Zealand Company arrival, dealings with the Crown, gold rushes and the Taranaki Wars. As with all families, there were scandals and disasters as well as achievements and successes. The universal theme is whakapapa - underpinning taua and heke, the basis for kainga, and the reason for marriages. The material was gathered from whanau whakapapa books, Minutes of Native Land Court hearings, Maori letters, evidence in court cases and newspaper accounts, as well as official and unofficial European records and online resources
Read more