300 odd years ago, the Ngai Tahu tribe and warrior Te Rangi-whakaputa lead a war against the Ngati Mamoe (the then current iwi of Canterbury).

One by one the settlements of Banks Peninsula were taken out (Te Pataka o Rakaihautū) and Ngai Tahu took the ownership of the land by slaughtering the Ngati Mamoe.

As Te Rangi-whakaputa’s war waka’s sailed into Port of Lyttelton (Whanga-raupo) they cornered a pocket of the Ngati Mamoe on the beach. Here lied another bloody battle where all the Ngati Mamoe were slaughtered.

Te Rangi-whakaputa of the Ngai Tahu Tribe cut off some of the dead warriors heads and placed them in a flax basket and placed them at the top of Mount Cavendish.

These heads were an offering to the Ngai Tahu’s god of war, as he stood over what was soon to be Lyttleton Harbor he said ‘he kai mo t era, mo te manu’ – food for the sun and for the birds.