Ani Kuka was born in 1840 in Hobart Town, Australia. Her mother (Ngarae) was the daughter of the chief of the Ngai Tauaiti, a hapu of the Ngai Te Rangi tribe that lived on Matakana Island. Her father was Captain Johnson, the owner of an early trading cutter which regularly visited Matakana to load kumara. For a short time Ngarae and the captain lived in Tauranga, until Capt Johnson was appointed Harbourmaster at Hobart Town, Australia. And so the couple moved there. Ani, her sisters and a brother were born in Australia. They were not very old when their father and sister Harete drowned in a boating accident off Bruny Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. It was after this incident that their mother decided to return to her family back on Matakana Island, New Zealand. Source: http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/tauranga_moana_tauranga_whenua/topics/s...