Wāhiao : the people of Whakarewarewa / Dr Marian Maré and Dr Aloma Parker.

Includes bibliographical references.

"This book traces the history of the Wāhiao people, weaving oral and recorded history to illustrate their relationship with the thermal valley of Te Whakarewarewatanga-o-te-ope-taua-a-Wāhiao. Whakarewarewa is New Zealand's most famous thermal tourist resort and has been home to Ngāti Wāhiao for more than 300 years. The history of Ngāti Wāhiao is recorded in the names of hot pools, mud pools, geysers, fissures, and streams in the valley. The bones of Ngāti Wāhiao tupuna lie in caves in Te Puia and the surrounding Pohaturoa hills. This is a true David and Goliath saga. Wāhiao have a clear unbroken customary association with the land over hundreds of years. But other larger trives also claim to have occupied Whakarewarewa at different times and have laid claim to the thermal valley. The stories describe the ancient and bloody wars fought, lost, and won by Wāhiao, and their more recent courtroom battles. From these encounters tribal heroes have emerged. It is their stories that are the focus of this book, from the war parties of the ancestor Wāhiao after whom the valley is named tot he modern heroes who have fought for recognition of their mana whenua over their ancestral land. These heroes faced the forces of adversity over the last 120 years"--Page iii.

In English with some Māori.