The Street Names of Rotorua

Ngāti Whakaue

Arawa Street:
Arawa Street is thought to be named after Te Arawa waka, but is also said to have been a tribute from Judge Fenton (who had charge of the layout of the new town) to the people of Te Arawa.

Rangiuru Street:
Rangiuru was the wife of Whakaue and the mother of Tūtānekai, whose father was said to be Tūwharetoa from the Kawerau district.

Whakaue Street:
Whakaue was the son of Uenukukōpako. His wife was Rangiuru, mother of Tūtānekai.
It was Tūtānekai who raised his people to become the tribal force known as Ngāti Whakaue.

Pūkākī Street:
The great grandson of Tūtānekai, Pūkākī, is remembered as a leader of great ancestral importance in Rotorua. A fine carving of Pūkākī once stood as a gateway into the Pukeroa Pā. This carving is now under the guardianship of the Rotorua Museum, Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa. (Click here for more kōrero about Pūkāki).

Amohia Street:
Amohia was the fictitious heroine of a 488-page poem by Alfred Domett (New Zealand Prime Minister, 1862-1863) called ‘Ranolf and Amohia: A South Sea day-dream’.
Her lover was an English sailor named Ranolf.

Haupapa Street:
A chief of Ngāti Whakaue, Rotohiko Haupapa was elected as their first representative on the Town Board, and served from 1883 until his death in 1887.

Pukuatua Street:
There were two prominent men named Te Pukuatua in Rotorua when it was first established, the half-brothers Henare and Petera. Henare had served with Captain Gilbert Mair’s ‘Flying Column’ and presented the Te Arawa challenge to the Duke of Edinburgh at Ōhinemutu in 1870. The street, however, is most probably named after Petera Tukino Te Pukuatua: one of the chief Ngāti Whakaue negotiators and a signatory of the Rotorua township agreement on 26 November 1880.

Hinemoa Street:
Hinemoa is well known for swimming from the beach near the rock Iriirikapua at Ōwhata to her lover, Tūtānekai, on Mokoia Island, drawn by the sound of his flute. Her father was Umukaria and her mother Hinemaru.

Tūtānekai Street:
Tūtānekai, whose home was on Mokoia Island, was a warrior involved in many skirmishes, though it is for harmony that he is now best remembered. It was his flute-playing that led Hinemoa on her epic swim to Mokoia Island.

Eruera Street:
It is likely that the street is named after Eruera (Edward) Te Uremutu, who was prominent in Te Arawa claims in the 1870sand1880s.

Amohau Street:
Te Amohau was one of the chiefs approached by the Kīngitanga movement of Tainui to stand as ‘Te Kīngi Māori’ (The Māori King). Te Amohau turned down the offer and suggested the Tūwharetoa leader, Te Heuheu, instead.

Hinemaru Street:
Hinemaru was the mother of the beautiful maiden, Hinemoa. There was also a waiariki (thermal pool) and popular bathing pool within the Sulphur Bay area named Hinemaru.

Pererika Street:
Pererika Ngahuruhuru was a chief who was Chairman of the Great Committee (Te Kōmiti nui o Ngāti Whakaue), served as a trustee for the township’s first cemetery and was active in promoting Rotorua’s regatta.

This story comes from the original Great Te Arawa Stories website created by Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru (NPeW) Education Trust in 2018. To ensure consistency, minimal updates were made to the text before it was transferred to this new site.