moving into the Thames. When the bulk of the Marutuahu tribe had moved they freely scattered over the whole of the peninsula, occupying adjacent lands in common, bordering the coastline and offshore islands.
During and after the Ngati Hako campaigns, Ngati Whanaunga encroached upon some of the lands of Ngati Hei and moved south as far as Whangamata. By the time Captain Cook arrived they had obtained a fairly good hold on the eastern side of the peninsula. The subtribe Ngati Karaua were the occupants of much of the lands north of Whitianga and the Mercury Islands, and other related hapu were sharing in the Thames and Waihou with Ngati Maru.
Marriages had been contracted with Ngati Maru and Ngati Paoa but by the time their own intertribal conflicts came to a head, Ngati Whanaunga seemed to fall foul of all the related tribes.
Situations developed where, in order to retain their shared interests, they were forced to repulse many attempts to avoid complete dispossession. Towards the latter half of the 18th century, the battles fought against Ngati Maru over the Manaia lands were very bitter affairs which ebbed and flowed like the tides. Later, when some semblance of peace prevailed they had conceded quite a substantial portion of their domain to their adversaries—the repercussions of which were to echo throughout the valleys some 100 years later when parts of these lands were gifted to the Tawera tribes and Ngati Pukenga of the Bay of Plenty.
All these confrontations between the Maru tribes were serious and gaining in momentum. The probability of each tribe being led along a path of self-destruction was very evident and the situation could easily have reached the proportions of calamity suffered by the earlier Hauraki inhabitants. The saving factor was introduced by an outside agency which completely changed the their lives for the next 4o years—the wars with Ngapuhi.
For the very first time in their three century conquest and occupation, the Marutuahu became the defenders and not the aggressors in their realms. Their own recent tribal wars had caused disunity and weakened their numbers. Ngati Whanaunga, in the final onslaught of 1821 by the northern tribes, shared the tribulations of their related tribes by finally retreating inland until their return some ten years later. Although many of the tribes during that period of exile claim that there were always some members in occupation of their abandoned lands, there can be no doubt that had the northern hordes remained in possession, the Hauraki tribes would certainly have become assimilated.
Yet, to their credit, in between their dalliance with their host tribes of Raukawa with whom they had sought refuge, war parties were commuting regularly back to Hauraki to assert their territorial rights and tribal prestige.
When they finally returned in 1830–31, Ngati Whanaunga found most of their lands intact on both sides of the gulf and were able to resume their lives in concert with their
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