TANGITU Potaua
Personal Details
Life datesd1925
BiographyPotaua Tangitu was a Chief of the Pirirakau people of Te Puna, who are of Ngati Ranginui Iwi. Ike (Isaac) Tangitu, Potaua's son, recalls that "When I was a boy, about the time of the First World War, my father, Potaua Tangitu, and Te Mete Raukawa of Bethlehem - they were both Maori King's Councillors - used to ride over the (Wairere) Track past the waterfall to meetings in the old Maori Parliament House at Rukumoana Pa near Morrinsville. It was my job to give my father's horse its nosebag in the morning before they left! A party of the Bethlehem and Te Puna people usually went with them, some on horseback and some on foot. Occasionally they went by the Tuhi Track - the branching off place was the Tahawai clearing, a couple of miles past Whakamarama."
Chief Potaua and the Pirirakau people would have been among the last authentic users of the Wairere Track. By the 1940s, the track was completely overgrown.
Source: "The Wairere Track" by A. H. Matheson p.7OccupationChiefPlace of ResidenceTe Puna
BiographyPotaua Tangitu was a Chief of the Pirirakau people of Te Puna, who are of Ngati Ranginui Iwi. Ike (Isaac) Tangitu, Potaua's son, recalls that "When I was a boy, about the time of the First World War, my father, Potaua Tangitu, and Te Mete Raukawa of Bethlehem - they were both Maori King's Councillors - used to ride over the (Wairere) Track past the waterfall to meetings in the old Maori Parliament House at Rukumoana Pa near Morrinsville. It was my job to give my father's horse its nosebag in the morning before they left! A party of the Bethlehem and Te Puna people usually went with them, some on horseback and some on foot. Occasionally they went by the Tuhi Track - the branching off place was the Tahawai clearing, a couple of miles past Whakamarama."Chief Potaua and the Pirirakau people would have been among the last authentic users of the Wairere Track. By the 1940s, the track was completely overgrown.
Source: "The Wairere Track" by A. H. Matheson p.7
OccupationChiefPlace of ResidenceTe PunaPeople
Family
ChildIsaac TANGITU (Ike)
Related Information
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TANGITU Potaua. Western Bay of Plenty Community Archives, accessed 19/03/2026, https://westernbay.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/1422
