The takiwā centres on Ōnuku and the hills and coasts of Akaroa to the adjoining takiwā of Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata and Wairewa Rūnanga.
Pepeha
Waka: Tākitimu
Moana: Takamatua
Maunga: Ōteauheke, Tuhiraki
Awa: Awaiti
Tupuna whare: Karaweko
Marae: Ōnuku
Whare: Karaweko
Wharekai: Amiria Puhirere
Whare Karakia: Te Whare Karakia o Ōnuku
Whare Tīpuna: Karaweko
Hapū: Ngāi Tarewa, Ngāti Irakēhu
Contact
Web site: https://www.onuku.iwi.nz/
Contact:
389 Ōnuku Road
RD1, Ōnuku
Akaroa 7520
Banks Peninsula
Email: onuku@ngaitahu.iwi.nz
Google Map: here
Waiata
Mōteatea – Ka ara ake rā
Kaitito / Composer – Hana O’Regan
This song is about Akaroa and was composed in the year 1997. The themes in the waiata come from a discussion with a well known Pōua of his time, Henry Robinson, during a short time spent together on his marae at Ōnuku. He told me of his deep attachment to the place that is Ōnuku and his love for the glorious attributes of his land, and it is these things that form the essence of this song. It is with regret however, that he was called by the mother of the night before the waiata was composed, and again I felt the consequences of the curse of procrastination.
This waiata is appropriate for formal pōwhiri as waiata kīnaki.
KA ARA AKE TE RĀ
Ka ara ake te rā i te paeroa
Tau iho ana ōna hihi ki ruka
i kā taiwhenua o Irakehu
Nā rātou mā i tapa kā awa, kā waipuna
I whakakākahu te whenua
i kā hua a Haumie, a Roko
hai ō mā te iwi e
Kapukapu ana te wai o Akaroa
I te ihi, i te wana o te ata hāpara
Tomo ana te wai i kā pūmahara o kā tīpuna
I hoe i ōna karu whakateo
Ka taki kā riporipo o te wai
I kā kupu a te huka kua karo
I te Ara-Whānui-a-Tāne ki tua o Paerau e
Takamiri tonu ana te kohu i te takutai
E pokapoka ana tōna korowai i te ao marama
Ka roroku tōna awe,
Kia kite atu ai i te tai torehape
Ko te tai kauawhi i te kāika e
Ka marumaru te whare o Ōnuku
I a Ōteauheke mā
Tiro iho ana kā ihoiho o te pō
Ki te Aitaka a Irakehu
E whakakā ana i kā ahi
whitawhita rawa ake e.
AS THE SUN RISES
As the sun rises behind the range
Its rays fall upon
the lands of Irakehu
They who named the rivers, the springs
Who clothed the land with the fruits
Of Haumietikitiki, of Rongomatāne
To sustain the people
The harbour of Akaroa gleams
below the dawning sun
Filled with the memories of the ancestors
Who rowed upon its cresting waves
The ripples recite the words
Of those who have been lost
To Te Ara Whānui-ā-Tāne, and beyond Paerau
The morning mist still caresses the shore
But its strength is weakening
As the light cuts through its cloak
To reveal the rugged shores
That embrace the kāika of our people
The house of Ōnuku is sheltered
By Tuhi Ariki and his peers
They who no longer walk the earth
Keep a watchful eye on the descendents of Irakehu
Lighting the fires below
That burn so brightly.