Tāmihana Te Rauparaha

Tāmihana (born Katu) Te Rauparaha (1820s – October 1876) was a New Zealand Māori leader, Christian evangelist, assessor, writer and farmer.^[2]

Tāmihana Te Rauparaha
Tāmihana Te Rauparaha, 1869
Born	Katu 1820s Pukearuhe, Taranaki, New Zealand
Died	24 October 1876[1]
Known for	New Zealand Māori leader, Christian evangelist, assessor, writer and farmer.
Parent(s)	Te Rauparaha and Te Ākau

Katu was born in Pukearuhe, Taranaki, New Zealand, in the early 1820s, the son of the great Ngāti Toa leader Te Rauparaha and his fifth and senior wife, Te Ākau of Tūhourangi. His family and tribe soon moved to Kapiti Island. He went with his father on war expeditions while still a child.^[3]

Christianity was introduced to the Kapiti region by Māori who had been captives in the Bay of Islands and were released when their captors converted to Christianity. Kahu and his cousin Te Whiwhi went to the Bay of Islands to ask for a missionary to be stationed in the Kapiti region, with the result that Octavius Hadfield moved and settled there. Katu was strongly influenced by Church Missionary Society teaching.^[4][5] He was baptised by Hadfield on 21 March 1841 and adopted the name Tāmihana.^[3]

In December 1842, Tāmihana and Te Whiwhi went to the South Island as missionaries. Tāmihana worked there until June 1843, in the process easing Ngāi Tahu fears of renewed conflict with his father. He cut short the trip and returned home on hearing of the Wairau Affray.^[6] He married Ruta Te Kapu in Ōtaki in September 1843.^[3]

In October 1850, he sailed for England,^[7][8][9] where he was presented to Queen Victoria. On his return Tāmihana became supportive of the idea of a Māori King to unify tribes.^[6] Initially he joined the King movement in opposing the selling of Māori land to the government, but when Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke, a chief of Te Āti Awa, got into conflict with the government over the sale of land at Waitara, he broke with the movement and sided with the government over issues of land and sovereignty.^[10]

He died on 24 October 1876 and is said to be buried in an unmarked grave at Ōtaki, beside his wife.^[1] They had had no children, but had an adopted son.

Writer

Between 1866 and 1869 Tāmihana wrote a 50,000 word account in te reo Māori about his father, the great Te Rauparaha called He pukapuka tātaku i ngā mahi a Te Rauparaha nui / A record of the life of the great Te Rauparaha which was translated most recently into English by Ross Calman and published by Auckland University Press in 2020.^[11] There was an earlier translation between 1915 and 1918 by George Graham although there were flaws in Grahams translation partly due to the copy he used to translate from and partly he mistranslated some sections.^[12]

References

1. "New Zealand". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. LXXIV, no. 12012. Sydney, Australia. 17 November 1876. p. 9. Retrieved 10 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia. An historical personage died on the 24th of October, at Otaki—the son of Te Rauparaha, Tamihana Te Rauraraha. The father was a well known maker of colonial history ; the son followed in his father's footsteps. Tamihana leaves a successor, now being educated in a European school.
2. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, October 1852". Tamahana Te Rauparaha (part 2). Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
3. Oliver, Steven. "Tamihana Te Rauparaha". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
4. Stock, Eugene (1913). "The Story of the New Zealand Mission". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
5. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, April 1851". New-Zealand Chiefs in Committee Drawing Up a Reply to the Society's Jubilee Letter. Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
6. "Tamihana Te Rauparaha". Social Justice Commission of the Anglican Church. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
7. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, September 1852". Tamahana Te Rauparaha (part 1). Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
8. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, November 1852". Tamahana Te Rauparaha (part 3). Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
9. "The Church Missionary Gleaner, November 1852". Tamahana Te Rauparaha (part 4). Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
10. Encyclopedia of NZ.T Te Rauparaha.
11. Te Rauparaha, T. (12 November 2020). He pukapuka tātaku i ngā mahi a Te Rauparaha nui / A record of the life of the great Te Rauparaha / translated by Ross Calman. Auckland University Press. p. 5. ISBN 9781776710591.
12. Te Rauparaha, Tamihana (2020). He pukapuka tātaku i ngā mahi a Te Rauparaha nui / A record of the life of the great Te Rauparaha / by Tamihana Te Rauparaha ; translated and edited by Ross Calman. Ross Calman (Dual language edition, Te Reo Māori/English ed.). Auckland, New Zealand. ISBN 978-1-86940-920-3. OCLC 1203143868.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)