Hōri Kīngi Te Ānaua

Hōri Kīngi Te Ānaua, about 1860.

Te Ānaua and his brother Te Māwae were among the leaders of the Whanganui iwi in the tribal wars of the early 19th century. In 1819 or 1820 he fought against an expedition of northern, musket-armed tribes led by Tūwhare, Patuone and Nene near the mouth of the Whanganui River. Te Ānaua was also involved in an unsuccessful attack by Whanganui and other southern tribes on Ngāti Toa at Kapiti Island around 1824. He later opposed the Tama-te-uaua migration of Te Ātiawa to the south in the early 1830s.

Te Ānaua signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Whanganui in 1840. He also signed Edward Jerningham Wakefield's deed of purchase for Whanganui, which he later described as ‘of no significance’.

The Church Missionary Society had established a mission station at Putiki in 1840 and Te Ānaua became a close friend of the missionary Richard Taylor. In 1846-47, when the European settlement at Whanganui was threatened by Te Mamaku of Ngāti Haua-te-rangi, Te Ānaua provided men to help defend the town. In February 1848, at Governor George Grey’s request, he became involved in peace talks with Te Mamaku.

Te Ānaua was one of the tribal leaders who successfully argued for increased Māori reserves when the Wanganui purchase was finalised in May 1848. That December he was appointed a magistrate and in the 1860s he was made an assessor by the government. His loyalty was recognised at the 1860 Kohimarama conference of Māori leaders when he was presented by Governor Thomas Gore Browne with a staff of honour from Queen Victoria.

Te Ānaua was among those offered the Māori kingship in the 1850s, a suggestion he declined. In the 1860s he resisted the influence of both the Kīngitanga and Pai Mārire in the area. In May 1864 he led the force which defeated upper-river Hauhau followers at Moutoa Island. In July 1865 he joined Grey outside Weraroa, a Pai Mārire pā overlooking the Waitōtara River. When the ‘Hauhau’ were driven from Pipiriki that August, he helped negotiate an end to hostilities on the Whanganui River. In early 1866 Te Ānaua participated in Major-General Trevor Chute’s campaign in South Taranaki.

Te Ānaua died at Pūtiki on 18 September 1868, aged in his seventies.