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The origins of Te Āti Awa of Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington Harbour) lie with Toitehuatahi or Toi-kai-rākau, the Polynesian explorer. One of Toi’s sons, Ruarangi, married a woman called Rongoueroa. She gave birth to Rauru, and to Whātonga, whose son Tara gave his name to Wellington Harbour and environs – Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara). In Te Āti Awa tradition, Rongoueroa also became the mother of Awanuiarangi, following a liaison with a spirit ancestor called Tamarau. The history of Te Āti Awa in Wellington started with the ancestral connection between Awanuiarangi and Whātonga.
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