Te Wharepū

Te Wharepū (known also as Pukewhau) signed the Waikato-Manukau sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi in late March or early April 1840 at Waikato Heads. He was a Ngāti Hine rangatira (chief) from Taupiri on the Waikato River.

In 1853, Te Wharepū held a meeting at Whangamarino at which it was decided to lay a tapu (religious restriction) on the district between the Mangatāwhiri River and the Firth of Thames, so that no individual could sell the land. In 1857 he, along with Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, who was to become the first Māori king, and others, asked Governor Thomas Gore Browne for ‘a Magistrate and laws, and runanga or tribal councils’. [1] Francis Fenton, who later became chief judge of the Native Land Court, was appointed as a magistrate, but this system was not fully developed before Fenton was recalled.

In 1863 Te Wharepū engineered a strong redoubt (fortification) at Rangiriri as a Kīngitanga (Māori King movement) stronghold. On 20 November 1863 Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron led imperial troops against Rangiriri. While around 40 Māori were killed and 200 taken prisoner, Te Wharepū escaped with a large number of people. Wounded in five places. Te Wharepū, was taken to the headwaters of the Mangatāwhiri river. On 23 November a letter from Te Wharepū asking for peace was delivered to Cameron. The general‘s response was that he would continue to advance until Governor Grey told him to stop. Te Wharepū died later of wounds to his neck.

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