Tangata marae consists of the wharenui, attached sleeping quarters, wharekai & dining room, toilet/shower blocks and a freestanding whare previously used as a Kohanga Reo. 

The wharekai is currently being upgraded. It will be capable for catering up to a 100-people functions. 

For over-night stays, the marae can comfortably accommodate 40 people across the wharenui and sleeping quarters. Please visit the hireage link at page top for further information regarding this.

• Tangata Marae has a unique history with close connections to Hinerangi Tawhaki Marae, Te Ōhākī Marae and Tamapango Marae, all of which are located here in beautiful Okauia.

• Ngā uri o Tangata are all descendants of Te Korowhiti Tuataka and Edward Douglas - Landell (married 1870). Our marae exists for the all the uri thereof, wherever they may be.

• The whare tupuna is named Tangata after Te Korowhiti's eponymous ancestor who, along with his brother Tokotoko, completed the conquest of the whenua from the Ngā Marama people almost 300 years ago.

• The whare kai is named Pupu after Tangata's wife. Pupu is a descendant of Wairangi, one of the original conquerors of Ngāti Kahupungapunga of the South Waikato.  

In 1930 Douglas marae whare tupuna was opened. It was renamed Tangata marae and gazetted in 1972. Today, Tangata marae is one of sixteen Raukawa marae mandated by the Raukawa Settlement Trust (RST) and listed as a Maori Reservation. Underneath the RST sits the Tangata marae Trust komiti and under this, the Tangata Marae komiti.

Ngāti Hinerangi originate from the ancestral waka, Tainui. The eponymous ancestor of Ngāti Hinerangi is Koperu, son of Tamapango. Koperu and his followers decided to migrate eastward from Whāingaroa (Raglan) and after a short time living at Maungatautari, they moved to the foot of the Wairere Falls before spreading west over Matamata and the Kaimai Ranges that lie east to the shores of Tauranga Moana.

Koperu’s grandsons, Tokotoko, Te Riha and Tangata later completed the conquest of their grandfather, taking ownership of their lands throughout the Matamata and Tauranga regions and set down their Hapū to maintain the ahi kaa roa and mana whenua of Ngāti Hinerangi’s traditional rohe, known as Te Rohe o Koperu.

Taungakitemarangai married Hinerangimarino, whom Ngāti Hinerangi is named after. The son of Taungakitemarangai and Hinerangimarino was Tamure, a renowned tohunga of immense mana who married Tuwaewae, the daughter of Koperu. The marriage of Tuwaewae to Tamure was a marriage alliance to maintain the chiefly bloodlines of Tainui and Te Arawa rangatira to ensure the peaceful co-existence between the Ngāti Hinerangi and Te Arawa tribes.

The five children from the marriage of Tuwaewae and Tamure were Whakamaungarangi, Kura, Tokotoko, Te Riha, and Tangata. They became the eponymous ancestors of Ngāti Hinerangi. Ngāti Hinerangi ancestor Tangata, conquered and lived at Ruapupu pa then Wharewera pa at Waiharakeke and also Opitokura pa along the Waihou river. Tangata begat Hikawharawhara, who begat Te Mihitu, who begat Te Whare, who begat Te Rangi Tuataka, who begat Te Korowhiti. 

One of the earliest villages of Ngāti Hinerangi was Te Ahikaroa. Later they moved to Te Umuokorongaehe, both being food gathering settlements. Ngāti Hinerangi were at Te Umuokorongaehe during the time of the Gate Pa war in 1864 . After the Gate Pa war from Te Umuokorongaehe they migrated along Te Tuhi track to Okauia, where their descendants live to this very day.

It is now estimated the numbers of direct descendants from Edward Landell and Te Korowhiti's union are in the many hundreds if not thousands, scattered all across the motu. Whanaunga continue to re-establish their ahi kā back to Tangata Marae as they are drawn, providing a source of rebirth and continuity, nurturing our people, our marae and our future.

Whilst the upkeep of Tangata continues to fall upon the shoulders of the haukainga, working-bees, wananga and hui play a key role in drawing in the wider whanau to assist, as does this site and in particular our online groups. All these play a key part in allowing whanau to establish links, whanaunatanga and "Tangata-tanga" as Korowhiti originally desired and for this, we are blessed. 

Our Tipuna Te Rangituataka a.k.a Te Rangihuihaira a.k.a Haihaiora was born to Te Whare and Parekino, and raised at Hairini and Ohauiti. He also lived at Oropi in the Tauranga area. He was of the Ngati Ruahine Ngai Te Ahi and Ngai Te Awhai hapu, Ngati Ranginui Iwi of Tauranga Moana through his grandmother Kiritapu. Te Rangituataka married Hineikakea of the Ngati Kahungunu iwi, who had been captured by Waikato tribes and taken to Tauranga as a slave in the 1820s. Together they had two children: Te Irimana and Te Korowhiti, both born at Hairini. 

Te Korowhiti Tuataka married Edward Landell on 6 July 1870, at Wairoa in Hawke's Bay. They ran the Halfway House coach stop and hotel at Ngawaro between Tauranga and Rotorua. The family moved to Wairoa in Hawke's Bay around 1874, though Te Korowhiti's links to Okauia remained still. It was in 1878 (that) Te Korowhiti Tuataka said in regards to Okauia, “That this land (of) No# 1 Okauia block belongs to me and my family, and did belong to my ancestor Tangata, and for a number of generations descended to my father Te Rangituataka and to me being his only child alive...

"Also being a female signer descent, and the only one from my ancestor Tangata, and also being the only descendant that has continually lived and occupied this land since the days of Tangata all my ancestors being born upon this land (also my father) and after my fathers death, I came back to the lands of my ancestor.”

Edward and Te Korowhiti were to run the Halfway House again (now renamed the Bush Hotel) which finally shut its doors in 1891. The family moved to Galatea between Rotorua and Taupo, and then to Okauia near Matamata in 1894. It was during this time Te Korowhiti was involved in protests against the surveying of her ancestral lands, where she became well known as a petitioner to the House of Representatives in connection with Native land. 

On 10 January 1917 the Bay of Plenty Times printed an obituary for Edward Douglas: "On December 21 (1916) there died at Okauia, after a long illness, Mr Edward Douglas, who was well-known in this part of New Zealand in the early days. He fought at Gate Pa and in many other engagements in the Maori War, afterwards taking up his residence at Rotorua... 

"At the time of the eruption the late Mr Douglas rendered excellent aid to the surviving settlers, he being the first man to enter the stricken zone after the catastrophe. He had been ailing for about nine months before his death, the illness being the result of an accident. The funeral took place at Okauia on December 24, the Rev. R. W. Jackson, Presbyterian Minister at Matamata, conducting the service. The deceased leaves a widow, 11 children, 59 grandchildren, and five great grandchildren to mourn their loss (p. 2)."

Korowhiti died 26 August 1920. Both her and Edward are buried in the family urupa at Okauia, Matamata, still tended by whanau today. A new plaque was recently laid in the central Tauranga cemetery by iwi members for Edward Landell's father, in late 2022.  Just before she died, Te Korowhiti Tuataka said, E ko ma hangaangia he whare mo koutou (don’t rely on other people, other building quarters. Build your own marae).  

A start was made under the leadership of Te Korowhiti’s two daughters Mary Withers, (later Mrs Mack) and Sarah Jane Tanira. In 1929, the carpenters started work and the completed meeting house was opened on 25 December 1930. First it was called the Douglas Marae and then, with the permission of Sarah Jane Tanira, it was gazetted and called Tangata marae in 1972.

(The above has been drawn from different sources including geni.com and the 2023 TMD Plan)