In Māori tradition, Te Paepae-ki-Rarotonga was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled New Zealand.
[1] Waitaha-Ariki-Kore pulled down his house in Rarotonga and used it to build his waka Te Paepae-o-Rarotonga.
Ngatiawa expressly state that Te Paepae-o-Rarotonga arrived before the coming of Mātaatua, and it is said to have been a very tapu craft; hence the place where it lay (The canoe is said to be lying, buried, at Tara-o-muturangi) was used as a burial-place.
Waiataha-ariki-kore married Hineteariki of Hapuoneone who had her pā at Otamarakau and inland to Waitahanui.
According to Colonel Gudgeon, the Rarotongan natives have a tradition concerning a canoe called Te Paepae-o-Rarotonga.