Irakewa Rock

Much of the foreshore of the Whakatāne River is sacred to Ngāti Awa and indeed all Mataatua Iwi. Te Toka o Irakewa (Irakewa Rock) is one of three landmarks that Toroa was told to look for by his father Irakewa when the Mataatua canoe journeyed to Kakahoroa (the original name for this area). 

Irakewa visited Kakahoroa from Hawaiki before the arrival of Mataatua waka about 600 years ago. Upon returning to Hawaiki, he told his people of the things he had seen:

“There is a land far away that is a good place for you to go to. There is a waterfall at that place and a cave in the hillside for Muriwai. The rock standing in the river is myself.”

Using these landmarks, Toroa and the people of the Mataatua Waka were able to rediscover and settle the Whakatāne area.

Many of the landmarks sacred to Mataatua Iwi have since been destroyed in attempts to improve the entrance and channels of the Whakatāne Harbour.

In 1924, the Whakatāne Harbour Board announced plans to continue the construction of the training wall along the eastern bank of the river, with a wall between Te Toka o Irakewa and Himoki (Flat Rock). Despite vigorous protest from Ngāti Awa, the Harbour Board built the wall, and Te Toka o Irakewa was destroyed in 1925. What remains of Te Toka o Irakewa can be seen near the riverbank.

Te Toka o Irakewa still remains an important historical land feature to members of the Whakatāne district.