Kōrero: Wairarapa region

This carving depicting the Ngāti Kahungunu leader Nuku-pewapewa is in the meeting house at Te Herenga Waka marae, Victoria University of Wellington. A skilled tactician and fighter, Nuku-pewapewa was instrumental in obtaining the return of Ngāti Kahungunu’s Wairarapa lands from the Te Āti Awa tribe’s leader Te Wharepōuri in the early 1840s. Nuku-pewapewa was named after his moko (facial tattoo), which was the pewapewa pattern.