Pages tagged with: ngati toa

Māui Pōmare, of Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Toa, was born in 1875 or 1876. His mother, Mere Hautonga Nicoll, was the daughter of Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi, one of the few women to sign the Treaty of Waitangi. His parents were followers of the pacifist prophets Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, and sometimes resided at their Parihaka settlement. Pomare was present at Parihaka when it was invaded and destroyed by the Armed Constabulary in 1881.

Rangi Topeora, of Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Raukawa, was born at Kawhia early in the nineteenth century. Her hapū (sub-tribe) were Ngāti Kimihia and Ngāti Te Maunu. She was a niece of the great Ngāti Toa leader Te Rauparaha, and a sister of the formidable warrior Te Rangihaeata. As a young woman she was a famous composer of waiata, and many of her songs are still sung today. In the early 1820s she migrated south to Kapiti Island and adjacent mainland districts with her people, to escape the growing conflict with other Waikato tribes.

Hēnare Mātene Te Whiwhi (?–1881) was of Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toa. As a young man he lived through the turmoil of his people's migration to the Cook Strait region. This may have formed the major theme in his life – to preserve peace.

In 1839 he travelled to the Bay of Islands seeking a Christian missionary for his people. As a result Octavius Hadfield later settled at Waikanae. In 1840 Te Whiwhi signed the Treaty of Waitangi, brought south by another missionary, Henry Williams.

The Ngāti Toa chief's name is a taunt to an enemy Waikato chief who, when he was an infant, threatened to kill him and roast him with edible rauparaha leaves. Kāwhia-based Te Rauparaha (? -1849) led Ngāti Toa in a lengthy war with the Waikato tribes before defeat forced his tribe out of the area.

Wiremu Te Kākākura Parata, of Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa, was born on Kapiti Island in the 1830s. He grew up in a time of great social and political change. During the 1860s he became involved in politics, and was elected to Parliament as the member for Western Māori in 1871.