The ancestor, Rahiri, is shrouded by a curtain of historical haziness. His ancestral associations with the tribes of Mataatua and Ngapuhi are recognised and perpetuated but his position in the time-frame of those accounts is unclear.
Locally in Hauraki, he is accepted as that Rahiri who accompanied Puhi-kai-Ariki when the latter took the ancestral waka, Mataatua, to Te Tai-Tokerau (Northland) after the confrontation with his elder brother, Toroa, its commander. The waka made landfall at Takou, south of Matauri Bay, and the descendants of Puhi and Rahiri (who is identified as being a son or grandson of the former in northern genealogies) formed the powerful tribe of Ngapuhi. Indeed, one of the most important subtribes of these people is named after Rahiri, who dwelt among them during most of his lifetime.
When he was approaching old age, he had a desire to return to his roots at his former home at Whakatane. Gathering a section of his people with him, he embarked on a journey southward. He is accredited with naming many landmarks during that historic trek including the volcanic peaks of Tamaki isthmus and on reaching Hauraki as he turned east into the Bay of Plenty, he and his granddaughter ascended the high peak in that vicinity and named it Te Aroha-a-Uta as recounted in detail later. After lingering awhile, he left some of his followers there and continued on to his former home at Orahiri situated at the mouth of the Whakatane river.
The people who had fallen from his basket at Hauraki adopted the name of Ngati Rahiri and have dwelt there ever since and in this way have established a firm standing. There are many conflicting explanations attributed to the naming of Te Aroha. Conflicting in the sense perhaps that other waka people have given their versions of the same story accredited to different principals. Nevertheless the fact that an associated tribe is living there satisfies the credential requirements of the Ngati Rahiri nomenclature.
It becomes very evident from this account that they precede the coming of the Marutuahu. It must also be mentioned that not long after their settlement there was some infusion of Tainui blood from the western and southern regions of their area as the latter tribes expanded. There also must have been many encounters of that period which have not survived the retelling.
A lot of their early history is difficult to isolate. It has become jumbled together with that of other occupational tribes of the area: Ngati Hako, Ngati Tara, Ngati Tumutumu and other Ngati Raukawa hapu. The actual listing as beneficiaries of the Hauraki Maori Trust Board is a combination of the now principal tribal sections, Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu.
