Community Contributed
Kaitoenga, Waikanae
Kete Horowhenua2020-03-23T16:57:19+00:00Kaitoenga. A cultivation site of the Ngati Kaitangata sub-tribe of Ati AWa at Waikanae.
Tamihana te Karu of that tribe explained in Land Court evidence that his parents has cultivated there. (Ngarara 1887.)
It is shown on Roll Plan 684 situated on a bend of the Waikanae River not far from the present settlement of Otaihanga.
The name could mean "remnants of food" and was generally applied to people who having been captured survived the cannibal feasts that their more unfortunate kinsmen fell victim to. Such people were called kaitoenga or "left overs".
According to Mere Pomare the Otaraua chief Te Tupe established a fortified pa here shortly after the departure of Wiremu Kingi in 1848.
One of the mani elders of the Kaitoenga pa was a mane named Puarore.