Originally from the Heretaunga Plains of New Zealand's Hawke's Bay, they moved in the 16th century to the South Island which at the time was already occupied by the Waitaha.
A century later, the Ngāti Māmoe were largely subsequently absorbed via marriage and conquest by Ngāi Tahu, who migrated south in turn.
[7] The Ngāi Tahu ancestress Tūhaitara insulting her husband Chief Marukore of Ngāti Mamoe,[8][9] or Te Kāhea,[2][10] and his ancestry, as well as various other exchanges are the reason for war between their two tribes.
[9] However, Marukore knew of their plan and defeated them in the Battle of Hūkete after which their sister Hinehou laid them on the floor of her whare for her grandchildren to see, and left her belongings with them before burning down the building in an incident now known as Kārara Kōpae (The Laying Down of Fighting Chiefs).
As they were about to take advice from a local chief named Rākaimoari, his daughter Hinewai-a-tapu made a remark about Tahumatā which sparked the Battle of Te Pakiaka ('The Roots') that lasted for some days.
This was considered a bad omen and so the body was discarded with the incident being called 'Pikitūroa' ('The Long Standing Feather Plumes')[11] Marukore and Tūhaitara would both die in the Battle of Tapapanui,[11] at the hands of their son Pahirua who was very angry about the whole situation.
Hikaororoa, a prominent Ngāi Tahu member, attacked Te Mata-ki-kaipoinga pā after his kinsman Tūāhuriri (great-grandson of Tūhaitara) insulted him.
After the battle, Tūtekawa fled down to Waikākahi on the shores of Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora where he lived amongst his fellow Ngāti Mamoe.
[13] On one occasion when Ngāti Kurī fought with Rangitāne on the east coast of the South Island, Chief Tūteurutira had mistaken one of his captives, Hinerongo, as one of the enemy's women.
She was in fact a member of Ngāti Mamoe who had already been taken captive by Rangitāne, and so he returned her to Matariki Pā on the Waiau Toa / Clarence River.
For this Ngāti Mamoe then ceded the east coast regions north of Waiau Toa to Ngāi Tahu, and Tūteurutira and Hinerongo married and settled at the pā.
Makō-ha-kirikiri and his sisters Te Apai and Tokerau, Manawa-i-waho's wives were spared by the protection of the guardian; however, they were forced to leave the pā underneath her legs (she would have been a wooden figure or carving suspended in the air).
[17] Tūtekawa's son Te Rakitāmau returned to the home, where he found his wife Punahikoia and children unharmed, and the attackers sleeping near the fire.
[17][19] Tūrakautahi's son Kaweriri later travelled with a taua south to Lowther around the year 1725, where the Kāti Mamoe chief Tutemakohu slayed him during the Battle of Waitaramea.
One of Ngāti Mamoe's leading chiefs, Te Whetuki (described as covered in wild long hair) was killed around this time near the Waiau River.