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Taratara maunga dominates the western shoreline of Whangaroa Harbour and is an important landmark for Whangaroa mana, tapu and identity. In traditional narratives of Whangaroa, Taratara was said to have fought against the mountain Maungataniwha, with the conflict altering the natural landscape. Remnants of the battle and the broken body of Taratara were scattered around the area at Ohakiri, Motuwai, Hopekako and other places. Taratara pā was occupied at one time by Ngāti Pou, with other hapū having papakāinga scattered around the lower slopes of the maunga. Ngāti Pou were forcibly evicted from the maunga and the rohe by the combined strength of the hapū of Whangaroa under the leadership of Hongi Hika, Ururoa and Te Hau in 1827. Ngāti Rangimatamomoe and other hapū of the region remain in possession of their ahikāroa with marae at Waihapa and Otangaroa. A network of natural caves in Taratara was used by Whangaroa tūpuna to hold kōiwi and taonga. During the mid to late nineteenth century caves were raided for private and museum collections before remnants of kōiwi and taonga were reburied at other urupā, although some are still present. The maunga is an important component of local pepeha, and there is a close connection between tāngata whenua and the mountain, through its streams, the rongoā that is still collected from certain areas, and through the persistent retelling of the ancestral mountain narrative.