Ko Te Rā Matiti (Wharekaho)

Ko Te Rā Matiti marae (also known as Wharekaho) is located at Wharekaho (Simpsons Beach) just north of Whitianga. It belongs to Ngāti Hei of the Hauraki Collective. Ngāti Hei descend from Hei himself, who arrived on the Arawa waka and settled in the area.

The marae consists of the wharenui Ko Te Rā Matiti, and sits below an ancient pa site at the top of the headland. It was at this pa in 1769 that Captain Cook, botanist Joseph Banks and the Tahitian navigator Tupaia, were welcomed by the iwi. Ngāti Hei relate that this was the first time a European experienced an official welcome and Pohiri.

The full name of the bay is Te Whitianga a Kupe (the crossing place of Kupe) and through Kupe, Ngati Hei has ancient connections back across the Pacific to Rai'atea in Tahiti. Indeed the name Taputapuatea was given to a stream in the area, one of few places in NZ that holds this sacred name from Polynesia.