Manukau

Tai Moana Tai Tangata

Ka pari te Tai Moana
Ka timu te Tai Tangata

When the Ocean tide rises, the Human tide recedes.

 

Tōia Tainui, tapotū ki te moana. Mā wai e tō atu i te mānukanuka i mahue i a Hoturoa? Mā te kupenga o Taramainuku hei hao atu i te mānutanga mai o tōna waka, ka whakawhetūrangitia te mate, mārewa kau ana te mānukanuka kia matiperengia atu ki te ao haere ai.

Ka kautere tonu mai ngā manu o tuawhenua, ka hao tonu te kupenga o Taramainuku. (Te Ingo Ngaia)

Taramainuku is one of two taniwha who reside in Manukau Harbour. His net at the Manukau Bar has claimed many lives. That net is shown here at low tide along with the remains of the HMS Orpheus. Carrying troops and supplies to the Waikato war front, the Orpheus wrecked on the bar in 1863 with Taramainuku claiming the greatest victory over the British army during the New Zealand Wars.

Taramainuku also claimed Brett Graham's ancestor, Joseph Graham, who drowned when his boat capsized in 1874 en route to collect his children by Kahamita Ngaikiha. One of those children, Arawhena Graham, was part of Tekau-mā-Rua, a group of Tainui Māori sent by the Māori King Tawhiao to reside at Parihaka in 1866, where Arawhena is buried. (Anna-Marie White)

(Extracted from Tai Moana Tai Tangata's exhibition catalogue; also read essays about the event)

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