In addition to traders, whalers and sealers, runaway seamen and escaped convicts from Australia settled in Māori communities and adopted a Māori lifestyle. They were described as 'Pākehā-Māori'.
While some Europeans were treated as slaves, others received the honour of the moko (facial tattoo). Barnet Burns, who was shipwrecked in New Zealand around 1810, married a Māori woman and had his face tattooed before returning to England, where he performed on stage as 'A New Zealand Chief'. Ta moko, meaning to strike or tap, is the longstanding art form of Māori tattooing. It has been practised for many generations and has withstood time and colonisation. It was used as a form of identification, as an indicator of rank, genealogy, tribal history or eligibility to marry, and as a mark of beauty and/or ferocity.
Later European settlers viewed Pākehā–Māori with contempt and suspicion – they were men who had turned their backs on civilisation.
Dicky Barrett and Jacky Love
Two prime examples of early intermediaries were the European traders Dicky Barrett and Jacky Love, who formed an economic relationship with Te Āti Awa at Ngāmotu (now New Plymouth) in 1828. Both men were given Māori names: Barrett became Tiki Parete while Love became known as Hakirau.
Acceptance into Māori society was sealed through marriage. Barrett married into a high-ranking family: his wife Wakaiwa (or Rawinia) was the daughter of Eruera Te Puke ki Mahurangi, a leading Ngāti Te Whiti chief, and was also related to many other important Te Āti Awa chiefs, including Te Wharepōuri and Te Puni. The marriage was seen as a reflection of Barrett's status and importance to Te Āti Awa. The couple's children wore European clothes, spoke both languages and had Māori as well as English names. Barrett acted as interpreter for the New Zealand Company in its land purchases in the Cook Strait region.
Barrett, Love and a number of other Europeans also helped Te Āti Awa repulse a Waikato taua in 1832, with their cannon proving crucial in the battle. Europeans participated in other Maori battles. In 1837 Pōmare II was aided by 131 Europeans living in his Bay of Islands pā during his three-month-war with Titore.
