Ngati Mutunga
| Ngāti Mutunga | |
|---|---|
| Iwi of New Zealand | |
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| Rohe (region) | North Taranaki, Chatham Islands (Wharekauri / Rekohu) |
| Website | www |
Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. The rohe (area) of the iwi includes the Chatham Islands, including Wharekauri, Te Whanga Lagoon and Waitangi on Chatham Island, and Pitt Island.
The original tribal lands of Ngāti Mutunga were in north Taranaki, but they were invaded by Waikato tribes during the Musket Wars after a series of longstanding intertribal wars stretching back to at least 1807. They in turn joined with Ngāti Toa and the smaller Ngāti Tama tribe to invade the Wellington region. Here they fought with and defeated the Ngāti Ira iwi, took over their land and extinguished their independent existence. The principal marae being at Urenui, and the Chatham Islands. This northern Taranaki land was under the mana of the Great Waikato chief Te Whero Whero until sold to the government.
Having left their Taranaki lands behind, the Ngāti Mutunga lived an uneasy existence in the modern Wellington region where they were threatened by tensions between Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Raukawa. In Te Whanganui a Tara (Wellington) they felt less than secure. They burnt the bones of their ancestors and gifted their land to Te Atiawa and Ngāti Tama. In November 1835 about 900 people of the Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama tribes migrated to the Chatham Islands on the ship Lord Rodney. They had originally planned to settle either Samoa or the Norfolk Islands but in a meeting at Wellington in 1835 decided to settle the Chatham Islands due to their proximity. The incoming Māori were received and initially cared for by the local Moriori. When it became clear that the visitors intended to stay, the Moriori withdrew to their marae at te Awapatiki. There, after holding a hui (consultation) to debate what to do about the Taranaki Māori invaders, the Moriori decided to implement a policy of non-aggression. Moriori had forgone the killing of people in the centuries leading up to the arrival of the Maori, instead settling quarrels up to 'first blood'. This cultural practice is known as 'Nunuku's Law'. The development of this pragmatic dispute settlement process left Moriori wholly unprepared to deal with the Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga settlers who came from a significantly different and more aggressive culture.
Ngāti Mutunga in turn saw the meeting as a precursor to warfare on the part of Moriori and responded. Ngāti Mutunga attacked and in the ensuing action killed over 260 Moriori. A Moriori survivor recalled: "[The Māori] commenced to kill us like sheep... [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed — men, women and children — indiscriminately." A Māori chief, Te Rakatau Katihe, said: "We took possession ... in accordance with our custom, and we caught all the people. Not one escaped. Some ran away from us, these we killed; and others also we killed — but what of that? It was in accordance with our custom." Despite the Chatham Islands being made part of New Zealand in 1842, Maori kept Moriori slaves until 1863.
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