Mataatua waka travelled to Aotearoa via Rangitāhua 'the Kermedec Islands' north of Te Ika a Māui. Their major purpose in travelling from Tahiti and Rarotonga was a request to bring the kūmara tuber which had become a staple diet root crop in the more temperate New Zealand environment. The waka brought with it a movable landscape that involved transporting not only plants and other taonga but also social values and traditions and inevitably the same conflicts that had characterised societies around Polynesia - conflict over mana 'status' rangatiratanga 'chieftainship' and tikanga 'proper and appropriate behaviour and policy.

When Mataatua finally arrived at its final resting place at Takou River local Ngāti Rehia traditions suggest the vessel (with people and its transportable landscape) was so heavy it had to be lightened prior to landing.