Rongomaiwahine is a descendant of Popoto, (commander of the Kurahaupo waka). She lived at Mahia in the Hawkes Bay area, and she was renowned for her beauty.

Kahungunu hearing of her beauty and the "challenge" she had issued; "Na te mea ano ra he kopua papaku, mehemea e taka mai ana ki te kopua hohonu a Rapa e tuhera atu nei, pokopoko ana ia ki roto"; he was determined to have her. Although, Rongomaiwahine had just married Tama-taku-tai, Kahungunu used every means at his disposal to convince her people that he was the proper husband for their daughter. He eventually claimed Rongomaiwahine to wife and from this union was the beginning of a great number of the hapu of the Tairawhiti, being; Rakai-Paka, (Nuhaka), Kura-Hikakawa, (Ngati Kura/Mohaka), Whakarau, (Nga Potiki), Mahaki, (Aitanga-a-Mahaki) and others: Raukawa, (Ngati Raukawa), Maniapoto, (Ngati Maniapoto).

HINEMATIORO

Hinematioro was a great chieftainess from the Ngati Porou people. She was a woman of great mana and tapu and is still regarded as a queen of great fame by her people. Her father, Tanetokorangi was a grandson to Konohi of Whangara.

Konohi was a converging point of many aristocratic lines of the area between Uawa, (Tolaga Bay) and Nukutaurua, an area where many canoes landed in their migration to this land.

Hinematioro's mother, Ngunguruterangi, was a great granddaughter of Rerekohu, great grand-child of Tuwhakairiora and Ruataupare and these people are of the highest ancestry of Ngati Porou and Te Whanau-a-Apanui. Hinematioro was also the grandmother of the illustreous Ngati Porou chief, Te Kani-a-Takirau through her eldest daughter Ngarangikahiwa and Rongotumamao.

Because of her tapu and mana, Hinematioro was carried everywhere by her people and was attended to with great care and respect. She ate only the best quality foods. Her kumara were of the sweetest kind and they were of the smooth and unwrinkled variety. Locals of Whangara still know the sites of her kumara gardens which were called; "maraporotakataka".

Most of her life was spent in and around the Uawa — Whangara district amongst the hapu Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti and Ngati Konohi. It was also amongst these people that she died. On that day the whole of Ngati Porou wept as their queen was laid to rest in Whangara alongside her ancestors Paikea and Porourangi.