#and originally her family took refuge in the area to escape the slaughter of their people

[emicat1159]

Doodles of Eira when she was younger, just for fun :3

[shenae-majorproject-2020]

Tapu te ranga - deep dive narrative

Site Information

"Peter Beckett, who was born at Island Bay in about 1883, noted 'The island is small and rocky with a small hill about sixty feet  [18 metres] high near its centre. The hill was levelled near the top as if to form a lookout. In a shingle flat on the eastern side, several sunken hut sites could be seen, and the remain of a rubble wall could be traced at the foot of the high ground facing the bay. Here an adze of dark stone and pare of a stone patu were found’.” - Treasure Island

Keeping people off the island for archeological and tapu reasons

210m offshore (not sure where from?)

3.2 hectare

Stories

Ngati Ira in particular, settled the island at various times and used it as a food-gathering area and place of refuge on more than one occasion. Their last stand against Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama for control of Te Whanganui a Tara (the Wellington region) took place at Tapu te Ranga in or around 1827.

Ngati Ira had retreated to the island following defeat at Turakirae, but their attempt to defend their stone-walled island pa from a siege by Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Toa was unsuccessful, and this encounter marked the end of Ngati Ira on the island. Whanake was the chief of Ngati Ira at the time, and his illustrious wife, Tamairangi, and son Te Kekerengu were among the survivors. - Treasure Island.

“The origin of the name is said to date from the time of Tamatea-ariki-nui, the Polynesian voyager, who sailed hither from Eastern Polynesia, and travelled much around these shores some five centuries ago. For some unexplained purpose he is said to have carried with him,  in a calabash, three lizards named Tapu-te-ranga, Pohokura and Puke-o-kahu. The first named, after which the is island was called Tapu-te-ranga, escaped at Ahuriri (Napier.)” 64. The land of tara

Name could have something to do with the island being tapu

Unsupported accounts of the island being a pa - “Crawford gives Tapu-te-ranga as the name of a village on the isthmus.” - the land of tara

A more recent historical source on this place is Angela Ballara. Her interpretation is that while Ngäti Ira, led between 1800 and 1830 by Te Huka o te tai Ruatapu (aka Whanake), were forced to retreat from the successive invaders from the north, they were not wiped out. After a succession of defeats, the last being at Turakirae, Whanake's wife, Tamairangi, and some children retreated to Tapu Te Ranga which initially did not fall, while Kekerengu, Whanake's son, held Porirua.

About 1827 Tapu Te Ranga was besieged by Ngäti Mutunga. When it was obvious that the pa would be taken, the remaining Ngäti Ira put Tamairangi and her family into a waka which was paddled to Owhariu where Ngäti Mutunga/Tama were stationed. Te Rangihaeata placed them under his protection and they were settled on Mana Island. Kekerengu may have joined his mother there from Porirua - certainly he was a frequent visitor until, with 108 followers, he was forced to flee to the South Island where they were slaughtered by Ngai Tahu. https://www.wcl.govt.nz/maori/wellington/ngawaahitapu.html

Materials

“an outstanding natural and landscape feature with regionally significant flora and fauna” -Treasure Island

water

old settlement sites eg. burnt oven stones

Tamairangi and her family into a waka

marine reserve

Dates

First archeological survey in 1960

People

Links with Ngati Ira, Ngati Tara, Te Atiawa. Ngati Toa, Ngati Tama, Ngati Mutunga

History

A number of pa and settlement sites, pits, terraces, middens and ovens were to be found at Taputeranga Island

On the island itself burnt oven stones, a shell midden and a rua or store pit were reported in earlier times.https://www.wcl.govt.nz/maori/wellington/ngawaahitapu.html

Kereopa, Lani. “Treasure Island.” Heritage New Zealand, no. 103, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Summer 2006, pp. 12–13. EBSCOhost, http://ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=anh&AN=23359937&site=eds-live&scope=site.

THE LAND OF TARA AND THEY WHO SELECTED IT. THE STORY OF THE OCCUPATION OF TE WHANGA-NUI-A-TARA (THE GREAT HARBOUR OF TARA) OR PORT NICHOLSON, BY THE MAORI. PART III. (Continued). 2020, p. 24.