Ngāti Whātua of Ōrākei are a hapū of the Ngāti Whātua tribe, which is based at Kaipara. They lived in the Auckland area for many hundreds of years. Their land was rich and fertile, an economic and spiritual resource for the hapū which was the basis of their identity. The whole hapū owned the land communally and they worked it together, tending crops and gathering food from the surrounding coastline and countryside. The tribal base or papakāinga was at Ōkahu Bay.
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