Cultural ties to whales

Whales in Māori Tradition
Māori have a long association with whales. While whales provided food and utensils, they also feature in tribal traditions and were sometimes guardians on the ancestors’ canoe journeys to Aotearoa. Oral histories recall interactions between people and whales in tribal stories, carvings, specialised language and place names. There is also a wealth of tribal knowledge about whales.

Whales and Māori voyaging
Whales as kaitiaki (guides)
Many traditions mention that whales accompanied or guided the canoes on their journeys to Aotearoa (New Zealand). Waitaha followed his sister Hāhuru to New Zealand from Hawaiki, guided by the whale Tūtarakauika. They eventually landed at O-tara-muturangi, near Matatā.

Whales and Māori society
Whale place names and imagery
The whale has often been commemorated in place names. These include:

• Moutohorā (captured whale), an island off the coast at Whakatāne
• Te Ara-a-Kewa (the path of the right whale), the name for Foveaux Strait
• Te Ara-a-Paikea (the path of Paikea), a whale-shaped hill on the Māhia Peninsula
• Whangaparāoa (bay of sperm whales) in Auckland and the East Cape
• Te Waiū-o-Te-Tohorā (the breast milk of the whale) is the name of a spring of white water associated with hills around Welcome Bay and Pāpāmoa in the Tauranga area. The hills represent a family of whales (mother, father and baby) that lost their way. After drinking from a magical spring at Karikari, they were all transformed into the ranges in this region.

Rangatira (chiefs) and whales
Many sayings about whales allude to the aristocracy. 'Te kāhui parāoa’ – a gathering of sperm whales – indicates a group of chiefs. ‘He paenga pakake’ (beached whales) refers to fallen chiefs on a battlefield.

From Whaling to tourism
With the advent of whaling in Aotearoa (New Zealand) in the later 18th century, many Māori became involved in the industry.