Te Whanganui a Tara is a Māori name for Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Originally it described the actual harbour (today officially known as Wellington Harbour), but the term has come to be accepted as the name of the city as well. It translates as the great harbour of Tara, which refers to chief Tara who Māori tradition says visited the area in the 12th century and decided to stay.

Although people are said to have lived there since Kupe visited in the 10th century, it is Tara who is remembered, both in the name of the city and the name of the first iwi (tribe) to settle there permanently, Ngai Tara.

Te Whanganui a Tara has superseded an earlier name for the region, Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui which means The head of Maui’s fish. According to Māori legend, a giant fish was hooked and pulled to the surface by Polynesian navigator Maui and the fish turned into land which became the North Island. It is not known when Te Whanganui a Tara replaced Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui as the local name. The older name is still used in some circumstances, such as in the official Māori name of Victoria University of Wellington.

Another Māori name for Wellington is Poneke, a Māorification and shortening of the name "Port Nicholson" . This has been used by the City Council which claims the name is much older, coming from pō + neke meaning night movement .

Legend of Whanganui-a-Tara

According to legend, the harbour of Te Whanganui-a-Tara was created by two taniwha (sea monsters), Whataitai (or Hataitai) and Ngake. Whataitai lived in the north of the lake where the harbour now is, and was gentle. Ngake, who lived further south, was more violent.

Ngake could hear the waters of Raukawa Moana (Cook Strait) pounding to the south, and decided to escape the lake to get to it. He went to the north of the lake to build up his speed for the attempt, then headed off rapidly towards the south.

Ngake crashed into and through the rocks at Seatoun and headed out into the Strait. This was seen by Whataitai, who tried to follow Ngake out of the new entrance. The water was now running out of the lake, however, and Whataitai became stranded in the shallows. He stayed there for many generations before being lifted high onto the land by a great earthquake.

The soul of Whataitai left him in the form of a bird, Te Keo. It flew high above the harbour and wept for the taniwha, whose body became the hills close to the harbour entrance.

To this day, Mount Victoria is known to Māori as Tangi Te Keo, "The weeping of Te Keo", and the suburb on the hills immediately below it is named Hataitai.

External links

• Taniwha legend