Riperata Kahutia

Riperata Kahutia (1838/39?–1887) was born in Poverty Bay. She belonged to the Te Whānau-a-Iwi hapu (subtribe) of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki. Her father, Kahutia, was a principal leader in the Tūranga (Gisborne) area. When he died in about 1860 Riperata Kahutia inherited his mana within Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki.

Riperata Kahutia later became a well-known figure in the region through her claims in the Native Land Court and the Poverty Bay Commission. The Commission was set up to return land titles to Māori such as Riperata who had remained ‘loyal’ to the Crown during the wars of the 1860s. She succeeded in gaining title to large areas in many land blocks for herself, her whānau (extended family) and her tribe. She was one of the principal owners of the Tūranganui No. 2 block, sold to the government in 1869 to provide land for the township of Gisborne.

In the early 1880s Riperata played a role in the cultural revival of her people after the destructive wars of the 1860s. She established a marae named Te Poho-o-Materoa on her Awapuni land. The ridge-pole was presented by Horonuku Te Heuheu of Ngāti Tūwharetoa.

Riperata died at the age of 48 in 1887 from tuberculosis, soon after the marae was opened. One of her daughters, Hēni Materoa, married James Carroll, the long-standing Liberal Member of Parliament for Eastern Maori and Minister of Maori Affairs between 1899 and 1912.

Adapted from the DNZB biography by R. De Z. Hall and Steven Oliver

• Read the full biography in Te Ara Biographies

Riperata Kahutia

Ka whānau a Riperata Kahutia (1838/39?-1887) ki Tūranganui-a-Kiwa. Ko Te Whānau-a-Iwi te hapū, ko Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki te iwi. He rangatira tōna matua a Kahutia i te rohe o Tūranga. Ka mate ia i te tau 1860, ka riro tōna mana i a Riperata Kahutia i roto i a Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki.

Whāia, ka rongo te rohe katoa mō ngā kerēme a Riperata ki te Kōti Whenua Māori me te Kōmihana o Tūranganui-a-Kiwa. I whakatūria te Kōmihana ki te whakahoki whenua ki ngā Māori i pūmau ki te Karauna pērā i a Riperata Kahutia i ngā riri i te tekau tau atu i 1860. Ka hua ana mahi ki roto kōti, ka whai taitara a ia ki te whenua nui mōna, tōna whānau, tae atu ki tōna iwi. He nui ngā whenua o Riperata i roto i te poraka Tūranganui Nama 2, i hokona rā ki te kāwanatanga i te tau 1869 hei wāhi whakatū i te tāone o Tūranga (Gisborne).

I te tōmuatanga o te tekau tau atu i 1880 ka tahuri a Riperata ki te āwhina i te whakaoranga anō o ngā tikanga a tana iwi, whai muri i ngā putanga kino o ngā riri o te tekau tau atu i 1860. Ka whakatūria e ia he marae ki runga i ōna whenua i Awapuni, ko Te Poho-o-Materoa te ingoa. Nā Horonuku Te Heuheu, ariki o Ngāti Tūwharetoa, te rākau i tuku mai hei tāhuhu mō te whare.

Ka mate a Riperata i te mate kohi i te tau 1887, whai muri iho i te whakatuwheratanga o te whare. E 48 ōna tau. Ka moe tētahi o ana tamāhine, a Hēni Materoa i a Timi Kara, te Mema Pāremata Māori mō Te Tai Rāwhiti mō tētahi wā roa. Ko ia hoki te Minita mō ngā Take Māori atu i te 1899 ki te 1912.