He was born Tareahi in the late 18th century, probably at the Ngāti Hinepare settlement of Te Poraiti, on the western shore of Ahuriri Lagoon, near what became the European settlement of Napier.
His mother was Te Huripatu, of Ngāti Hinepare, and his father was Waitaringa, of Ngāi Tākaha, a hapū that lived on the upper Ngaruroro River.
In the early 1820s, during the Musket Wars, northern tribes threatened the Ngāti Kahungunu of Heretaunga (Hawke's Bay) and many of them moved to refuge at Nukutaurua, on Māhia Peninsula.
With many Ngāti Kahungunu still at Māhia, Heretaunga was deserted, but he remained, settling near Ōingo Lake.
He was baptised by the missionary William Colenso in the late 1840s, taking the Christian name Rāwiri (David).