The Tutaekuri River ( mi, Tūtaekurī) flows through the Hawke's Bay Region of the eastern

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

of New Zealand. It flows east from the

Kaweka Range The Kaweka Range (also known as the ''Kaweka Ranges'') of mountains is located in inland Hawke's Bay in the eastern North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) of New Zealand. It forms part of the mountainous spine of the North Island which extends from Welli ...

, reaching the Pacific Ocean just to the south of

Napier Napier may refer to: People * Napier (surname), including a list of people with that name * Napier baronets, five baronetcies and lists of the title holders Given name * Napier Shaw (1854–1945), British meteorologist * Napier Waller (1893–19 ...

and Taradale, where the Ngaruroro and

Clive River The Clive River is a river in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. At long, it is the shortest of the main rivers flowing through the Heretaunga Plains. The Clive River occupies the former course of the Ngaruroro River, which in 1867 changed flow to its pre ...

s join it. Starting roughly 50 kilometers north east of Taihape, the Tutaekuri River flows for a distance of 99.9 kilometers.

History

Ngāti Pārau 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 ...

, which is the local '' hapū'' (sub-tribe) are said to have disposed of their waste food in this river. Tribes such as

Ngāti Pāhauwera Ngāti Pāhauwera is a Māori iwi of Aotearoa. See also *List of Māori iwi This is a list of iwi (New Zealand Māori tribes). List of iwi This list includes groups recognised as iwi (tribes) in certain contexts. Many are also hapū (sub- ...

travelled to this river to share food and trade. According to

Ngāti Te Whatuiāpiti Ngāti Te Whatuiāpiti, Ngāti Te Whatu-i-āpiti or Ngāi Te Whatuiāpiti is a Māori hapū (subtribe or branch) of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. The hapū were descended from Te Whatuiāpiti, who was a great-grandson of ...

tradition, the river received the name ''Tūtaekurī'', which means "dog-excrement" in commemoration of a feast in the late seventeenth century, when Kaitahi was travelling from Pōrangahau to Oeroa with people from Ngāti Kahungunu and his cousin

Te Hikawera Te Hikawera was a ''rangatira'' (chieftain) of the Ngāti Te Whatuiāpiti hapū of Ngāti Kahungunu, around the late seventeenth century. He maintained pā sites at Oueroa, Manahuna, and Kaimata, from which he exercised authority over the whole of ...

found the travellers en route, eating ''kōuka'' (shoots of the Tī kōuka). Hikawera invited them to Te Umukuri and feasted them on eels,

freshwater mussels Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...

, and

dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

. The innards of the dogs were disposed of in the traditional manner in the nearby river, which therefore gained its name. In thanks for his hospitality, the guests gave Te Hikawera Te Rangimokai as a wife. One of their sons, Te Kereru, was an the ancestor of Ngāti Pārau.

Redirection

Up until 1931, the lowest part of the Tutaekuri River flowed north, following its original channel (the location of present-day Taradale) and into

Ahuriri Harbour Ahuriri Lagoon ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Orotū) was a large tidal lagoon at Napier, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, that largely drained when the area was raised by the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Before the earthquake, the lagoon ...

. In the

1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Si ...

, the land underneath Ahuriri Harbour was drastically raised. The river was forced to seek an alternative route and started to back up, and so the residents of Hawke's Bay dug out a new, alternate path connecting it to the Ngaruroro River, into which it still flows today.

References

Rivers of the Hawke's Bay Region Rivers of New Zealand {{HawkesBay-river-stub