14 Facts About Tainui

Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Maori iwi.

The Tainui tribe provided food to the European settlers, and "the present European population…would have been literally starved out of the country but for the extraordinary exertions made by the aboriginal inhabitants to supply them with cheap provisions", as the Southern Cross newspaper reported in 1844.

Tainui set up a bank at Cambridge to take the deposits of Maori traders; it was burnt down by the people when it was found that chiefs were using the money as their own.

Relationships between Europeans and Tainui soured as Europeans began to outnumber Maori, stopping them from being dependent on friendly tribes for food and protection.

Tainui people were expelled from the Auckland area in 1863 because of their refusal to take the oath of allegiance to the Crown and hand in their weapons, which the governor thought posed a threat to Auckland and the new settlers as it had done in Taranaki.

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Tainui, who had conquered much Taranaki land, sent warriors to help fight the settlers and British soldiers in Taranaki to prevent minor chiefs selling land to the government.

Tainui was encircled at Orakau on 30 March 1864 and forced to withdraw to the south on 1 April.

Some Tainui, such as Wiremu Te Wheoro of Ngati Naho, who was a magistrate for the Pokeno area and later became a Maori MP, fought with the British during the invasion.

Some Tainui leaders were employed by the government as advisors or given government pensions in recognition of their change of heart and willingness to engage with the government.

Tainui continued to work behind the scenes to recover the remainder of the land they believed was wrongly confiscated from them after their defeat during the land wars.

Te Puea, the main force in Tainui leadership, indicated to the government that the tribe was prepared to accept money in compensation for the confiscated land.

Tainui have been actively seeking a resolution to their ongoing grievance over the 1863 confiscation of lands, water rights, and harbour rights.

Tainui has very close links with Waikato University and each year the university closes down during major Tainui celebrations.

In 2008 Tainui started work on developing a luxury $10 million resort at Lake Taupo.