Biographies

We would like to add more biographies of our people to this page. If you would like your Tūpuna featured here, please contact the Ōtākou office.

HK Taiaroa

HK Taiaroa (Hori Kerei Taiaroa) was truly the godfather of the Kāi Tahu claim. H.K. was one of the first southern Māori leaders born on the cusp of a merging European and Māori society. Simply because of his intellectual and linguistic capacity he could be heard in the most senior level of Māori society and in the new colonial parliament. It is more likely that H.K. Taiaroa who was born at Ōtākou was born in the 1830s rather than the 1840s. Kāi Tahu elders knew H.K. by his birth name, Huriwhenua, but he was better known by his Christian name, Hori Kerei (H.K), after the former Governor Sir George Grey. He was the son of Te Mātenga Taiaroa, an important chief at Ōtākou whose name has been enshrined in the place name on the Otago Peninsula, Taiaroa Heads. H.K. worked the significant land holdings he had around the Kāi Tahu rohe (area) and began to work tirelessly on addressing the grievances of his people. He began as a Southern Māori Member of Parliament in 187155 and it was in Parliament that he would prove himself to be the most able and experienced person to represent his people. He married Tini Burns of Kaiapoi, another Kāi Tahu kāika (village) and had six sons. He died in Wellington in 1905 not living to see the completion of Te Kerēme (Ngāi Tahu Claim) but his battles for Kāi Tahu ensured the claim persisted to its conclusion in 1998.

To learn more about HK Taiaroa go to Te Ara:

https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2t1/taiaroa-hori-kerei

Tame Parata

Another important political leader of his time was Tame Parata. HK Taiaroa’s son and Parata’s daughter married and they had children. H.K. and Parata’s descendants were successful in the modern world. H.K’s son, Teone Wīwī Taiaroa was one of the first Māori to play for the All Blacks Rugby Team in 1884. He was also a champion long jumper and held a New Zealand record for a period. His brother, Riki Te Mairaki became a member of the 1888-89 native rugby team. Both H.K’s and Parata’s granddaughter, Perle Winter (nee Taiaroa) was the first Māori Dental Nurse and married Frank Winter the Chair of the Ngai Tahu Māori Trust Board. Through adversity the children and grandchildren of H.K. and Parata exhibited extraordinary success.

Tame Haereroa Parata’s birth father, Captain Trapp, a whaler who came from America died when he was very young and Tame’s greatuncle (Haereroa) raised him as his own. Tame’s mother Koroteke, of Kāi Tahu and Kāti Māmoe lineage, raised Tame in his early years on the southern-most village (Tairoahua) in the South Island that was situated on Ruapuke Island. Parata was born between 1832 to 1838 and lived until 1917. He spent his early childhood years on Ruapuke Island situated in the Foveaux Strait. He then moved to Waikouaiti with Haereroa and that became his home. Haereroa, was named Tommy Roundhead by the whalers. He was a leading southern chief who moved in the same circles as other well-known southern chiefs such as Tūhawaiki, Te Mātenga Taiaroa, Horomona Pōhio, Karetai and Wī Pōtiki.

Parata married a Kāi Tahu woman who came from the Taieri mouth and they had ten children. Parata was a successful farmer in Karitāne and was eventually elected as a Southern Māori Member of Parliament. In 1881 Judge Alexander Mackay described Waikouaiti58 under Parata’s leadership as the only thriving settlement amongst those in the lower South Island. He stated that the improved condition of these people is mainly attributable to the example and energy displayed by a half-caste named Tame Parata. Parata directed his astute political leadership and clout to claim justice for his people over land grievances.

To learn more about Tame Parata, go to Te Ara:

https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2p4/parata-tame-haereroa

Matiaha Tiramorehu

Matiaha Tiramorehu was a pinnacle tribal leader and scholar of his time. Hori Kerei Taiaroa laments his passing in his obituary written in his diary and talks of his extensive knowledge of all things Māori. He was born at Kaiapoi Pā in the early nineteenth century and died at Moeraki on the 6th April 1881 in his 87th year according to HK Taiaroa. He was considered by Māori and Pākehā such as Edward Shortland, J.W. Stack and James Watkin as one of the most knowledgeable and authentic scholars of his time as he was one of the last students of the traditional whare wānaka (learning school) in Kāi Tahu. Tiramorehu became a follower of the Wesleyan faith and was baptised in 1843 taking the name Matiaha translated as Matthias. He encouraged the adoption of European knowledge to advance their Māori communities. He also avidly sought redress for the breaches of the Kemp’s agreement which he signed. He was a political figurehead for his people and particularly those of Moeraki.

“The southern people are fortunate that very early missionary interaction meant that oral records were kept quite intact. Of particular interest are the teachings of Matiaha Tiramorehu recorded by the Reverend Charles Creed during the 1840s while he was responsible for the Methodist Mission based at Waikouaiti (modern Karitāne). A comprehensive account has been preserved that has been pored over by some of the most prolific scholars of Māori tradition. It explains the origins of the mountains the winds, outer space, life, death, stellar bodies, flora and fauna, as well as core human values.”

To learn more about Matiaha Tiramorehu go to Te Ara:

https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1t100/tiramorehu-matiaha

Ema Umurau Walscott (Karetai)

Ema was born in 1865 and died in 1948. Umurau Karetai (known as Ema Karetai) was one of Ōtākou’s last female native speakers. She was a leader on the marae and in the community.

She was the second daughter of Timoti Karetai and Hariata Karaweko Rapatini. She attended school at Ōtākou and was selected by Sir William Larnach to teach his daughters the Māori language. She travelled to Wellington with the family whenever the parliament was in session, as a companion to the youngest girl, Gladys. Ema married Frederick William Julius Wallscott in 1890s. During early 1900s she acted as official interpreter at sittings of the Māori Land Court in the southern area of the country. She was also an unofficial midwife to the district for many years. In later years she lived for a time on Stewart Island and spent her last years at Ōtākou. Ema was a Master weaver (kairaranga) and her daughter, Louise Magdalene Teowaina (Magda) Wallscott (1898-1999), also became an expert weaver for the tribe and involved politically in the work that culminated in the Ngāi Tahu Claim Settlement in the 90s. Ema was an expert in karakia, having opened whare on Stewart Island and was also a frequent writer to the newspapers about various issues. She was pursued by Herries Beattie (a well-known ethnologist) for her local Māori knowledge of Ōtākou.

(Kuini) Katarina Kuini Wharerauruhe Te Tau (nee Ellison)

Refer to the Te Ara online Biographies for more information on Kuini

Kuini was born in 1899 at Puketeraki. Her parents were John Ellison and Hera Parata. John was a licensed interpreter and a farmer at Puketeraki. Kuini attended Karitane School, then known as Waikouaiti Native School, and went to high school in Port Chalmers. She left school to help on the farm in World War 1. During the 1919 influence epidemic Kuini assisted local nurse & mid-wife Harriet Ru in visiting homes all around Puketeraki to help those who were unwell.

She married Record Te Maari Te Tau a Ngāti Kahungunu man from the Wairarapa and they had two sons.

Kuini represented the Wairarapa at Hockey and played tennis and was in an eight-piece dance band called the Te Tau Melody Makers and also played the organ at the local church. In 1942 she became a corporal during World War Two and eventually worked as a Liaison officer looking after many Māori women and girls who were in need of support. Kuini was a founding member and treasurer of the Māori Women’s Welfare League and was awarded the Anglican church’s Order of Meritorious Service in 1992 and the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal in 1993. Aged 98, she died at her Masterton home on the 8th March 1998.

Mereana Teitei Haberfield

Mereana Teitei was born in 1801. Her parents were Tahupāhi and Pikirauraho of Pahia in Southland. Teitei was of Kāi Tahu and Kāti Mamoe whakapapa.

She is thought to have grown up at Pahia or Moeraki. In 1823 her father drowned in the Foveaux Strait while returning from getting tītī (mutton birds) along with many others from her village. She was 13 years old when her father drowned.

After 1826 the village of Pahia was abandoned and people moved to Ruapuke Island and Stewart Island. They resided on those islands in the late 1820s and this was possibly related to the Te Rauparaha’s invasion of the South Island and the conflict that ensued.

In the early 1830s, Teitei married the whaler John Russell and they had a daughter Pōkiri. John Russell disappeared in November 1833 on the same day their daughter Pokiri was born. They had lived together on Codfish Island, a small island near Stewart Island. Pōkiri was given to Teitei’s sister to raise and Teitei then led a group of about forty people to Moeraki to settle where she married an English whaler, William Isaac Haberfield.

She passed away in 1852 and is buried at Tikoraki graveyard on the peninsula at Moeraki, Otago. Teitei and her tamariki are commemorated as a pou which supports the wharenui Tahu Pōtiki at Te Rau Aroha Marae in Bluff.

Unfortunitly we do not have a photo of Haberfield