Te Tumu Pa

A historic past along the Lower Kaituna River

Not far from the commencement of the easterly bend the Papamoa hills come down to the flat land, and within a mile or so to the east was situated Te Tumu pa built on the flat, not on a hill as Maori pas usually are, and which was fortified with palisades and ditches.

The Tumu pa belonged to Ngaiterangi – Waharoa’s ally – and was situated on the left bank of the Kaituna river, about two miles from Maketu, at the place where the river, descending from the interior, flows to within about one hundred yards of the sea, and then, by a sudden freak of nature turns sharply off to the eastward, from whence it pursues a course parallel to the coastline, until it reaches Maketu.

Related Stories

The Fall of Te Tumu Pa, near Maketu, Bay of Plenty, May 9th, 1836

Story excerpt: The taking of Te Tumu pa has some celebrity attached to it in Maori Annals, but it presents no particular feature of great interest so far as the story of the siege related herein is concerned. Some of the accompanying incidents throwing light on old Maori beliefs and customs will have more to recommend them to the student of Maori lore.    |   read full story →

The Ancient History of the Maori, His Mythology & Traditions: Tai-Nui

Story excerpt: Having effected their object, the missionaries returned to Tauranga. The whole pa was in flames. Shots were flying in every direction, while stark-naked savages, with hair cropped short and features blackened, ran wildly through the scene. They were Maori warriors, flushed with success and drunk with blood, and wrought to a pitch of fiendish excitement, which rendered their company unpleasing and unsafe.    |   read full story →

Story: Tupaea, Hori Kingi

Story excerpt: Tupaea of Te Whanau-a-Tauwhao hapu of Ngai Te Rangi was born probably at Tauranga. He was the son of Te Waru and his wife, Hine Te Oro. He could trace his ancestry to Toroa of the Mataatua canoe, to Tia and Tapuika of Te Arawa canoe and to Tauroa from Kawhia. In the 1830s he succeeded his father as the major leader of Ngai Te Rangi. Tupaea had two or more wives, one of whom was Te Pakowhai. He had three sons and two daughters. Until 1852, when he moved to Motiti Island, he resided mainly at Otumoetai, one of the principal pa of Tauranga.    |   read full story →