Te Mata Peak Myth

Te Mata Peak towers 400 metres above sea level and offers an expansive overview of Hawke’s Bay. Visitors can drive or walk to the summit and enjoy panoramic views of the Ruahine, Kaweka and Maungaharuru ranges, Cape Kidnappers and the Pacific Ocean.

Maori legend says that the hills around Te Mata Peak are in fact the body of a sleeping giant, Te Mata. Long ago, the people living on Hawke’s Bay’s Heretaunga Plains were under constant threat of war from the coastal tribes of Waimarama.

At a gathering in Pakipaki (a small settlement near Hastings) to discuss the problem, a wise old woman (kuia) sought permission to speak in the marae. "He ai na te wahine, ka horahia te po, " she said. (The ways of a woman can sometimes overcome the effects of darkness).

Hinerakau, the beautiful daughter of a Pakipaki chief, was the focal point of a plan. She would get the leader of the Waimarama tribes, a giant named Te Mata, to fall in love with her, turning his thoughts from war into peace. The plan succeeded, but she too fell in love.

The people of Heretaunga, however, had not forgotten the past and demanded that Hinerakau make Te Mata prove his devotion by accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks. The last was to bite his way through the hills between the coast and the plains so that people could come and go more easily.

Te Mata died proving his love and today his efforts can be seen in the hills above Havelock North.

Summarised from ‘Stories of Old’ on www.maori.org.nz