Ko Kūkūtai anō te īngoa o te pāpā o Kūkūtai. Ko Oeroa tōna whaea. He toa rongonui tōna pāpā nō te iwi o Ngāti Tīpā o Waikato. I nohonohoia e rātou te rohe i te takutai moana mai i Kāwhia ki te ngutuawa o Waikato; ka huri whakauta i ngā taha e rua o te awa o Waikato a tae noa ki Onewhero, kei kō atu i Te Kōhanga. Ahakoa ko Erueti te tuakana, nō te hinganga o tō rāua pāpā i te tau 1846, ka waitohua ko Kūkūtai, te tamaiti, hei mau i tōna tūranga. E rua ngā moenga wāhine o Kūkūtai. Ko Rangiherarunga tāna wahine tuatahi; ko Rangihaia te tuarua.
Nā te mihinare o te Rōpū Hāhi Mihinare (Church Missionary Society) rā, nā Te Mānihera (Robert Maunsell), a ia i whakatahuri ki te whakapono Karaitiana. Ka tangohia e Kūkūtai ko Waata (Walter), ā, nō muri mai ko Pihikete, hei īngoa mōna. I te tau 1839, ka hangā e Te Mānihera he mīhana ki Maraetai i te ngutuawa o Waikato. I te tau 1853, ka rewa atu ngā kaiāwhina i a Te Mānihera a Te Wākana (C. S. Völkner) rāua ko J. W. Stack i Maraetai ki Te Kōhanga mā te awa o Waikato, ki te whakapai i te huarahi mō te Rongopai ina hanake a Te Mānihera i te tau 1854. I hīkina e Kūkūtai te katoa o tōna iwi ki Te Kōhanga. I reira, ka whakatūria e ia he whare karakia ki runga i tōna ake whenua.
I te 20 o Āperira 1853, ka tukuna e Kūkūtai e 750 eka ki te Karauna, hei whakatū kura Hāhi Mihinare mō ngā tamariki Māori, Pākehā ngātahi. I rāhuitia e ia te waipiro i tōna rohe, ā, i hangaia e ia he whare Pākehā mōna. I te taenga mai i te tau 1857 o F. D. Fenton ki Waikato ki te whakamārama i te ture, ki te whakatū wāhi whakawā anō hoki, ka whakaritea e ia kia whakaātehatia a Kūkūtai. He kaiwhakawā anō tētahi wāhanga o taua tūranga. I waitohua anō hoki a ia hei kaiwhakahaere mō te pāmu a tōna iwi. I Paetai ki Rangiriri, ka tū tētahi hui nui i 1857. Ko tōna kaupapa he kōrerorero mō ngā marohitanga mō te Kīngitanga. Ko te ope i tākina atu e Kūkūtai i whakatūtū i raro i te haki o Ingarangi. Ahakoa kāore a ia i pai ki te mahi hoko whenua, i ātetetia e ia te kaupapa a te Kīngitanga. Nāna anō hoki i tautoko te waitohunga i a Fenton hei kaiwhakawā mō Waikato.
Nā tētahi wāhanga o ngā whakataunga a te hui i Paetai, i whakatūria haeretia ai ngā rūnanga. E tata atu ana ki Te Kōhanga i te rohe o Waikato, ko Taupari. I toro atu a Kāwana Hōri Kerei (George Grey) ki tētahi hui nui i reira i te Tīhema o 1861, ki te whakapuaki i ōna koronga mō te Kīngitanga. Ki te whakanoho anō hoki i a Kūkūtai ki te tūranga Kaiwhakawā Tumuaki mō te Rūnanga o Taupari. Ko tona utu ā-tau e £50.
I whakapaea he tangata moumou moni a Kūkūtai. Me te aha hoki, kāore anō kia tae ki te wā tika hei utu i a ia kua tono moni anō i te kāwanatanga. Ki a John Gorst, te kaiwhakawā mō Waikato, he tangata whakahīhī, he tangata ngākau kaiapo a Kūkūtai. I te urutomokanga o Waikato e ngā hōia o Peretānia (Great Britain) i Hūrae o 1863, ka whakaarahia e Kūkūtai rāua ko Te Whoro he pā ki Te Ia (ko Havelock kei Mercer). Ko tā Kūkūtai he kawe i ngā rawa mā ngā hōia, mai i ngā tima i te ngutuawa o Waikato, ka rewa whakauta mā te awa ki te rāihe o Camerontown. He tuki nā Ngāti Maniapoto i Hepetema nāna i tapahi te huarahi kawe rawa, ka motu. I whakawhiwhia a Kūkūtai ki te tūnga meiha mō ngā Hōia ā-Iwi o Niu Tīreni, ā, ka hikitia tōna utu ki te £150. Nā āna mahi mā te iwi, kāore a ia e wātea ki te whakatipu kai mā tana wahine, ā, nā reira a ia i tono ai kia utua tōna hoa.
I ngā tau 1865 me 1866, e hanga whare kura ana a Kūkūtai rātou ko te Rūnanga o Taupari, me te kimi haere anō hoki i tētahi kaiwhakaako mō rātou. E hia kē nei ngā reta i tuhia e ia ki te pīhopa, ki a Te Herewini (G. A. Selwyn), kia āwhinatia mai rātou. I Tīhema o 1866, ka tuhi anō a ia ki a Te Herewini, ka kī atu, ākuanei a ia ka mate, nō te mea, i tango paitini a ia, i a ia e noho matapōrehu ana i te matenga o tana wahine. Kātahi a ia ka haria ki Waiuku, ā, ka mate atu ki reira i te 8 o Hānuere 1867. Ko ōna tau e whakaarohia ana e 45. Ko tōna irāmutu, ko Hōri Kūkūtai, tōna whakakapi ki te tūranga kaiārahi mō Ngāti Tīpā.