Whāita

Kurawari was a daughter of Raukawa and granddaughter of Tūrongo, the first chieftain of the southern Waikato region, and through him a direct descendant of Hoturoa, captain of the Tainui canoe.

[3] Whāita had a sister, called Korokore, Koroukore, or Korokoro, who married Parahore or Purahore, rangatira of the Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga, who inhabited the upper banks of the Waikato River, from Putāruru to Ātiamuri.

[4] The people of Tainui desired the land of Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga, especially their two maunga manu ('bird mountains'), Whakamaru and Tū-aropaki (now site of Mokai Power Station).

[8] The Tainui war-party marched past Maungatautari and attacked the local forts of Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga on the west side of the Waikato River.

[12] At this point there was a disagreement about what to do with the captured Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga – Tame-te-hura wanted to keep them as slaves, but Whāita insisted that they must all be killed, so that they would not return with Te Arawa support to reclaim the land.

[17] Stafford reports that Whāita fought a decisive battle against Ngāti Kahupungapunga there and erected a set of 170 standing stones at a place nearby called Te Pae o Tawhiti, one for each enemy killed.

[18] A detailed account of Whāita's exploits during the war was published by Walter Edward Gudgeon in the 1893 issue of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, with no indication of the sources on which it is based.

[6] A similar account is given by Pei Te Hurinui Jones, based on oral testimony given at the Māori Land Court at Cambridge in a dispute over ownership of the Waotū area.