A story of the battle between warrior Tūtekahikura and Oinako, the Ngāti Māmoe chief, at Pohatu (Flea Bay).
Paekaroro Pā
The remnants of Paekaroro Pā (on the cliff edge at the head of Flea Bay) are evident through the charcoal-stained ground and middens (domestic waste dumps) dotted about the pā site. Sitting 30 metres above sea level, much of the pā was lost to the sea following a major slip in 1952.
Tūtekahikura fights Oinako, the Ngāti Māmoe chief
With the destruction of Parakākāriki Pā at Ōtanerito and the slaying of Tūtekawa at Waikākahi completed, Moki and his Ngāi Tahu raiders began to allot areas of the peninsula for themselves.
One warrior allocated land was Tūtekahikura (Tūtakakahikura). He left his family at Pōhatu and proceeded to explore around Akaroa harbour. At a stream near Akaroa he encountered Oinako, a Ngāti Māmoe chief.
The death of Oinako and Tūtekahikura
Oinako had escaped from the skirmish at Parakākāriki Pā. He lost his life in the battle with Tūtekahikura, beside the stream that bears his name.
Tūtekahikura later died in a duel with Ngāti Māmoe chief Tūtemākohu on the Taieri Plains.
Sources
- H.C. Jacobson Tales of Banks Peninsula, The Akaroa Mail, 1914
- Gordon Ogilvie, Banks Peninsula – Cradle of Canterbury, Phillips and King Publishers, 2007
- Barry Brailsford, The Tattooed Land, Stoneprint Press, 1997
- Te Maire Tau and Atholl Anderson editors. Ngāi Tahu A Migration History, Bridget William Books, 2008
- Louis J. Vangioni; with supplementary notes by D. J. C. Pringle, Old Maori place names around Akaroa Harbour, Akaroa : Akaroa Mail, 1967
