Matahiwi is a farming community upriver from
Whanganui
Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, home to the
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
hapū
In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...
known as
Ngā Poutama of the
iwi
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...
Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi. The township takes its name from the bush-clad ''puke'' (hill) on the western side of the
Whanganui River
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...
, right above the local
marae
A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...
, whose name translates as "the face on the ridge" (''mata'', face; ''hiwi'', ridge).
History and culture
Early settlement
The original settlement of Ngā Poutama was across the river at Hikurangi (also known as Poutama).
In the 1840s it had a population of about 200. Hikurangi was renamed in 1850 with the biblical name Karatia (Galatia), often spelled Karatea.
That settlement is now deserted; the ''urupa'' (burial ground) is still known as Hikurangi.
The
Kawana flour mill
The Kawana flour mill near Matahiwi was built in 1854, and is the last remaining flour mill on the Whanganui River and the only remaining 1850s mill machinery in New Zealand.
Wheat was an important early crop for the Whanganui district, Whanganu ...
at Matahiwi was named in honour of Governor
George Grey, who had donated the millstones as a personal gift to the
Ngā Poutama people. It operated for over 50 years from 1854 and was restored in 1980.
Matahiwi was a way station for the
paddle steamers
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were w ...
that were the main transportation up the Whanganui River before the building of the road. The remains of the sternwheeler ''Tuhua'' that grounded in 1890 are on the far side of Moutere Island.
Modern settlement
Matahiwi is predominantly a sheep and beef farming area, much of it under management of Atihau-Whanganui Incorporation, which was established in 1970 to farm 101,000 acres of land vested into the Aotea Maori Land Council by
Whanganui Māori
Whanganui Māori are the Māori ''iwi'' (tribes) and ''hapū'' (sub-tribes) of the Whanganui River area of New Zealand. They are also known as Ngāti Hau.
One group of Whanganui Māori, Whanganui Iwi, includes Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi and ot ...
between 1902–1904.
Marae
There are three
marae
A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...
in the Matahiwi area. Maranganui Marae and Tuarua meeting house ar affiliated with
Ngāti Tuera
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...
. Matahiwi or Ohotu Marae and Tānewai meeting house are affiliated with
Ngā Poutama and
Ngāti Tānewai. Waitahupārae Marae and Waitahupārae meeting house are affiliated with
Ngāti Patutokotoko
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...
.
The present-day Matahiwi or Ohotu Marae was established by Maehe Ranginui in 1902.
His daughter Te Kehu, noting its similarity to the one they had left behind in Karatia, shed tears (''wai'') in the presence of her husband (''tāne'') Nikorima; the wharepuni (sleeping house) is thus known as Tānewai (a name also linked with the founder of Hikurangi).
References
External links
Matahiwi Marae website
{{Whanganui
Populated places in Manawatū-Whanganui
Settlements on the Whanganui River
Whanganui District