Ō Taka Mātua (Takamātua) literally means ‘rest after a journey’. Tanga Mātua as the alternative dialectical form for Takamātua can also be used.
The name refers to the bay being a regular stop-over point for Ngāti Irakehu (from Wairewa) and Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki (Taumutu) peoples on their way to other pā at Akaroa and Ōnuku nearby. It was considered a useful place to refresh the travellers before they headed over the hill the next day.
At one time it was known as German Bay after the German families who settled there. This name went out of favour during World War I and the traditional name was revived and has been in use ever since.
Images of Takamātua
Sources
- Gordon Ogilvie, Banks Peninsula – Cradle of Canterbury, Phillips and King Publishers, 2007
- Barry Brailsford, The Tattooed Land, Stoneprint Press, 1997
- Louis J. Vangioni; with supplementary notes by D. J. C. Pringle, Old Maori place names around Akaroa Harbour, Akaroa : Akaroa Mail, 1967
