Pūpū Whakarongotauā

Kupe, the discoverer of Aotearoa, left a message at Te Rerenga Wairua where the oceans met Rehua and Whitirea. The pathways to the world, the ancestral homelands at Tawhiti Nui, Tawhiti Roa, Tawhiti Pāmaomao. Centuries later, our forebears, Pōhurihanga of the waka Kurahaupō, made their first landfall in the area, known today as Takapoukura (North Cape).
When passing the first land sited, Pōhurihanga, the rangatira exclaimed: Ko Muri o te motu (Tis the end of the land).
Ironically, this centuries-old landmark was one of the many land alienations actioned by the Crown for the purposes of a scientific reserve. 

The ore of the Māori was the sustenance from nature’s bounty. These boundaries for the Ngāti Kuri tribe include the West Coast, known as Te Oneroa a Tōhē. The Northern coast from Kapowairua, Te Tūranga – waewae o Tōhē and Muriwhenua Tika, Takapoukura.

The scientific reserve, and the traditional dwelling places of our ancestors, including all of what is now known as the Mokaikai scenic reserve and Pārengarenga Harbour. As the sign of continued occupation of these areas by our tribe Ngāti Kuri, the pa’s fertile valleys still echo with their songs and legends. The pūpuharakeke is the taonga and only living link of this era. We have two names for this taonga. During the tribal wars, when the warriors moved through the flax bushes crushing the pūpuharakeke underfoot in their large colonies, a loud piercing wailing was heard.

While dying, the pūpuharakeke were warning our people of the impending danger and death of an attack. Hence the name Pūpū Whakarongotauā – the snail that listens for war parties. The pūpuharakeke is also the kaitiaki of the Paa Harakeke, hence the name pūpuharakeke. Over a thousand years of Māori ancestral occupation – ahi kaa roa, according to our elders who are not
here now, there were large colonies of the pūpuharakeke in the Takapoukura (North Cape) area. Our ancestors treasured these taonga, the pūpuharakeke, as they were there for the survival of the tribe. They were their kaitiaki. We owe our survival to this taonga, and claim rangatiratanga over the pūpuharakeke, as the living link with our Māori ancestors of over a thousand years ago. These kōrero, where passed down to our mother, from her mother, who was the granddaughter of the last fighting chief, who was the first land alienation victim, evicted with his whole tribe, from Whangakea (Pandora), and his mountain Tōku Reo. The scientific reserve laws have for many years excluded, barred and locked out the people of Te Hāpua, the tribe of Ngāti Kuri. Our elders have wept on our marae for these lands because their mana was stripped by foreign laws. They have all passed on to the spiritual world, but their suffering cannot be erased from our memory.

Ko tā te Rino i tuki tuki ai, mā te Rino ano e hanga (What the law has broken, the law will mend). For too long we have been dispossessed of the mana of rangatiratanga.

There are many prophecies by our ancestors. One is the tohu (sign). When the pūteretere (the trumpet seashell) arrives in Pārengarenga Harbour, the ancestors will also come to claim their rightful inheritance. 

Usually, around the month of November, the puteretere arrive at the shores of Rangitāhua, Manawa Tawhi, Paua, and Pārengarenga. Their shells are made into trumpets, which are used  for ceremonial purposes by Ngāti Kuri.