Ngāti Pōneke is the name adopted by urban Māori of diverse whakapapa living in Wellington City in the early 1900s. Wellington City has no direct equivalent in te reo Māori. Prior to colonial settlement, pā and papakaingā were located throughout the region of Te Upoko o te Ika but not exactly where population centres are now. “Hapu from Taranaki moved to Te Whanganu-a-Tara (Wellington and Hutt Valley regions) in a series of excursions and migrations dating from approximately 1817. When William Wakefield arrived in Wellington Harbour in 1839 the Taranaki hapu (primarily Te Ātiawa, Taranaki, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Ruanui) were settled around the inner Harbour, extending into the outer Harbour, Hutt Valley and South coast regions.” . At that time, the colonial settlers referred to the harbour as Port Nicholson, while the name used by Te Atiawa was Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Meanwhile, the New Zealand Company planned for a city named Wellington to be established in the area now known as the Hutt Valley. Upon arrival in 1839, the more sheltered site to the south was preferred and the settlement was relocated to the Capital’s current location. As the colonial nation grew, displaced Māori looking for employment moved to cities from around the motu/country. After the second World War, a strong sense of whanaungatanga among urban Māori from disparate iwi led to the self-identification of quasi-iwi community groups that survive to this day. Sir Apirana Ngata was instrumental in the creation of Ngāti Pōneke as one such in Wellington City, using the local colloquial te reo Māori name for the city as the unifying designation. Te-Whanganui-a-Tara and Pōneke are both names for Wellington City. The first recognises Te Atiawa as mana whenua. The second honours the pan-iwi community of urban Māori who’s shared sense of Māori-ness led to the creation of the new local iwi, Ngāti Pōneke. The word "" is often attributed to a transliteration of Port Nicholson. Another possible origin is the Māori phrase pō nekeneke, meaning to creep in the night, referring to the nighttime movement of Te Atiawa through the original wetland landscape. Ngāti Pōneke Young Māori Club is an Urban Māori cultural club that was formed in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, in 1937. It is a pan-

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

group of

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 Co ...

who reside in Wellington (like Ngāti Ākarana in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and Ngāti Rānana in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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Further reading