What is "kaitangata"

Kaitangata can mean the following:

• Kaitangata, New Zealand, a small town near the coast of South Otago in New Zealand
• Kaitangata (mythology), a character in Māori mythology
• Kaitangata Mine disaster, a coal mining disaster at Kaitangata, New Zealand in 1879
• Kaitangata Line, a branch line from Stirling on the Main South Line to Kaitangata

In Māori mythology, Kaitangata is a mortal son of Maui and an industrious man who married the female supernatural being Whaitiri, or a son of star- god Rehua. Due to his name; Kaitangata means man-eater; Whaitiri believed him to be a cannibal as she was however this proved to be incorrect and she eventually left him because he offended her. Before she returned to heaven as a cloud, she taught Kaitangata how to fish. With Whaitiri, he was the father of Hemā.