May 2018 Project Martha – Historical & Archaeological Background 4 predominantly of Marutuahu descent, intermingled with groups of earlier occupants’ (see Figure 4).8 Early Maori settlements throughout Hauraki were primarily established near shorelines and major rivers and were occupied either long-term, seasonally, or temporarily, according to the availability of food resources. Across the region areas of large-scale cultivatable land, able to support large village groups, were limited and many hapu were obliged to negotiate rights to access various resources across the district.9 Changing alliances, migration and warfare resulted in a detailed system of customary land rights which was based on various factors such as ahi ka (continuous residence and cultivation), raupatu (conquest), tuku (‘gift’ or permission to occupy), and ancestral occupation.10 Kin groups were generally dispersed and mobile, maintaining claims in a number of areas; however, many parts of the region were regarded as ‘whenua tautohe’, contested between two or more claimant parties.11 In response to threats from warring groups Maori began to construct defensive settlements known as pa around 1500AD, which were sited on strategic areas such as headlands and volcanic cones. Many pa were located on prominent sites across the Hauraki and Ohinemuri areas, including at Waihi where the ridge pa known as Motu Keho was constructed on what is now Black Hill (NZAA T13/815).12 Situated along a bend in the Ohinemuri River and with views across what is now the Waihi township, Motu Keho was the location of a battle between Nga Marama and Ngati Tara. According to F.L. Phillips, the skirmish originated when the young men of Ngati Tara: ‘…heard of the beauty of two young girls of Ngamarama [sic], named Taunamahopu and Tai Whakireihua, who lived at Motu Keho. When the suitors from Ngati Tara – Horokoki, Te Hakiri and Te Aranui – arrived there, they were repulsed by the chiefs of Motu Keho, who drove them off with stones. Ngati Tara prepared a war party of 340 warriors, who attacked and took Motu Keho. There are two ancient pa on the ridge almost encircled by the Ohinemuri, and Motu Keho was probably that on the crest of that ridge. In the attack several warriors of Ngamarama [sic] were killed and the remainder fled to Waihi [beach] when the chief Nga Puputuarua was killed.’13 A pa may have also stood near the base of Pukewa (nowMartha Mine) and the hill is known to have been used by Maori as an urupa, a sacred place to bury their dead.14 Nearby Gladstone Hill is also thought to contain urupa, and Maori burials are believed to have taken place within a number of caves across the site.15 8 Ibid., p.43. 9 Ibid., p.44. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 Note: This site is recorded by the NZAA as Motu Kehu (NZAA T13/815). 13 F.L. Phillips, Nga Tohu a Tainui - Landmarks of Tainui: historic places of the Tainui people, Volume Two, Otorohanga, 1995, pp. 180-181. 14 Turoa 2000, p.194; Caroline Phillips 2000. Waihi Gold Mining Drilling Extension. Archaeological report prepared for the Waihi Gold Mining Company, p.8. 15 Phillips 2000, p.8. C. Phillips notes that the slopes of hills in and around what became the Waihi township may have been utilised by Maori for gardening or other purposes to support settlement.
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