NZFS Waiata * Te Wai o Whanganui

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For many decades, the question of the ownership of the Whanganui River was a matter of Court proceedings. In the 1930s Mr Rama Whanarere was a prominent Whanganui chief and one of the elders who urged the Whanganui iwi to unite in their efforts to claim and retain the ownership of the river. This inspired his son Ope to compose this song, and it has been adopted by the Putiki Maori Club of Whanganui as its theme action song.

Te Wai o Whanganui,
E heke atu ra,
E tere atu nei,
Te moana e!
Te wai tuku kiri
O te iwi kua ngaro,
E pakangatia nei,
E matou e.

I haere mai ra koe,
I runga o Tongariro,
I te maunga huka ra
E rere nei e!

Te Wai o Whanganui, etc.

E te iwi o Whanganui,
Pupuia tatou,
Kia kotahi te reo,
Kia oti ai e!

Te Wai o Whanganui, etc.

The Whanganui River
Rapidly descends,
And wends its way,
To the ocean deep;
It is the one time bathing waters,
Of our elders now departed,
For which we'll always fight.
To the end.

You come from
the top of Mt. Tongariro.
From the snow-capped mountain,
flowing to this place:

You tribes of Whanganui,
Let us unite,
so we have one voice
to finish this task!

Te Wai o Whanganui

The river rises on the northern slopes of Mount Tongariro, one of the three active volcanoes of the central plateau,It flows to the north-west before turning south-west at Taumarunui.
From here it runs through the rough, bush-clad hill country of the King Country before turning south-east and flows past the small settlements of Pipiriki and Jerusalem before reaching the coast at Whanganui.

It is one of the country's longest navigable rivers and was first explored by Tamatea, one of the leaders of the original migration to the new land, who travelled up the river and on to Lake Taupō. Many places along the river are named in his honour.

The river was an important communication route to the central North Island, both for Māori and for settlers, despite many stretches of white water and over 200 rapids. Prior to the arrival of European colonists, the area around the Whanganui watershed was the home for a large proportion of Māori villages in pre-European times. As such, it is regarded as taonga, a special treasure.

The river was the source of vast quantities of fish before European colonists felled the forests for sheep farms, and the sediment from hillside erosion muddied the waters. Diversion of waters around Mt Tongariro into the Waikato river for making hydro-electricity further reduced the Whanganui as a taonga.

Consequently, the river has been one of the most fiercely contested regions of the country in claims before the Waitangi Tribunal for the return of tribal lands. The Whanganui River claim is heralded as the longest-running legal case in New Zealand history with petitions and court action in the 1930s, Waitangi Tribunal hearings in the 1990s, the ongoing Tieke Marae land occupation since 1993, and the highly publicised Moutoa Gardens occupation in 1995.

In March 2017 it became the world's second (after Te Urewera) natural resource to be given its own legal identity, with the rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person. The Whanganui Treaty settlement brought the longest-running litigation in New Zealand history to an end.

Maori songs - Kiwi songs - Home

Placed on NZFS website November 2021