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Overview
Te Ūmanui
This magnificent pou-whakarae (carved palisade post) was carved by Te Ūmanui Te Whanoa of Ngāti Whakaue, and originally stood as part of the defensive works of the fortified pā tūwatawata Te Pukeroa that was built probably in the later part of 1836 as a defensive fortification around the older Muruika pā that protected the resident Ngāti Whakaue community situated on Rotorua's lakefront where the carved ancestral house Tama-Te-Kapua, St. Faith's church and the returned servicemen's cemetery stands today.
Te Pukeroa pā was constructed from totara and other building materials sourced from Ngāti Tūteaiti and taken from Pātetere forest. The timber used for the gateways and the pou-whakarae Te Umanui was taken from a special cold-water cache situated at a bend in the Ngongotaha stream known as Te Awa-hoenga-waka-o-Pūkaki. The totara slab used for Pūkaki, Tiki, and Te Ūmanui, was gifted by the Ngāti Tūteaiti chiefs Te Atuaherangi and Whitihoi.
The outer fenceline of Te Pukeroa pā had three very large and impressive carved entrances, two of which, Tiki and Panui-o-marama, are thought to be carved by Te Ūmanui. The remaining carved entranceway, Pūkaki, was carved by Te Ūmanui's younger brother Taupua. Pūkaki has become a modern iconic symbol and has been immortalised as the Māori 'tiki' figure that is represented on the New Zealand twenty cent coin.