The need to pass on history was the focus of this week's commemoration of the battle of Te Ranga in Tauranga Moana. Schoolchildren were among those who attended the dawn ceremony, remembering the battle that took place 159 years ago.
Bagpipes played at the site of the bloody battle of Te Ranga that claimed over 100 Māori lives.
“For me, it reminds me of our kuia wailing, when you listen to these bagpipes, and that's all I can put to it," Ngāi Tamarāwaho kaumātua Des Tata says. "I like it because it puts us back into that space.”
The battle saw 530 troops descend upon Te Ranga in a surprise attack that killed chief Rāwiri Puhirake Tuaia, who had survived the infamous battle at Pukehinahina.
A descendant of Chief Rāwiri Puhirake Tuaia, Puhirake Ihaka says, “My connection is through my tupuna (ancestor), Rawiri Puhirake Tuaia. Unfortunately, due to lack of preparation and not being ready for this one, they were pretty much slaughtered, and he was killed with the rest of his warriors and whānau, along with Henare Taratoa and other leaders who fell. My connection is through him as a direct descendant.“
Now the focus is on the future and for many local school children both Māori and non-Māori, it was their first opportunity to hear the significance of this site.
“When they come along to events such as this, they hear the actual kōrero coming from us, the older people, they're hearing the facts and I believe, hopefully,y we'll get a little spark that will help them to understand from our point of view, and be able to understand, especially for their children and their grandchildren, because they're the ones who are going to inherit the space after us.”
Te Ranga is a place of tragedy and heroism and for Ngāi Tamarāwaho the goal is for future generations to understand its history.