IWI / HAPU AFFILIATIONS

Retimana Te Mania of the Te Akitai people occupied lands in the Manukau district. Retimana was associated with kāinga at Mangere, Papakura, Tuakau and Pukekohe until the commencement of the New Zealand Waikato land-wars.¹ He and his people together with Mohi Te Ahi a Te Ngau joined with King Tawhiao and the Māori Kingitanga movement in 1863 to protect ancestral lands from confiscation by the Crown.²

Retimana Te Mania and his people did have land unfairly confiscated as noted by Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi in an 1865 petition to the Crown. Tamihana took the opportunity to spell out that Māori had done no wrong yet, their lands were being taken and given to settlers or kept for Crown use. The military presence and soldier redoubts on the Waikato River created fear in the community, and a Magistrates Court in Māori communities created confusion. Tamihana's petition shows that these things were not requested nor sanctioned by Māori.³

In late life, Retimana lived at Pukaki, near present-day Mangere, and Ihumatao near what is now Auckland International Airport.

NM