Rawiri Motutere (or Koheta), Died about 1870
Below is an online version, from Nga Tupuna o Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Volume 4 (2007), of the biography for Rawiri Motutere, reproduced with the kind permission of his whānau.
Published Text
"Rawiri Motutere". In Nga tupuna o Te Whanganui-a-Tara, volume 4. (2007)
Rawiri Motutere was also known as Rawiri Koheta. He was the son of Nukutara and Mapuna and was of the Te Atiawa and Taranaki iwi.
His principle Taranaki home, the place of his tupuna, was Hauranga Pa near Tahikara in the Cape Survey District He was also closely connected to Te Kawau Pa, New Plymouth. He was married to Maweu and they had five children. The children included Maweu, Rawinia Komata who married Ihaia Tipao of Ngati Rahiri, Mere Ngamai who first married the whaler James Harrison and then second in 1847/48 married Wi Tako Ngatata of Ngati Te Whiti/Ngati Ruanui, Te Kawau and Mere Te Hamene who married Wi Tako Ngatata in 1853 following the death of her older sister Mere Ngamai who died at the Hutt in 1852.
Rawiri was tall, athletic and “straight as a spear”. He had a beautiful tamoko which had a particular blue texture. He was very fair, that is, as white in the face as a Pakeha with red hair. When he went out he always wore a mata-huna (mask) to protect his fair skin from the sun. The tamoko of the mask was an exact replica of that upon his face.
According to Matene Tauwhare and Enoka Taitea Hohepa, Rawiri came in the last great Taranaki migration from Nga Motu to Raukawa Moana in 1832, long after the 1824 Battle of Waiorua, Kapiti. This heke came under the rangatira toa leadership of Te Wharepouri of Ngati Tawhirikura hapu and was named Tama Te Uaua. Te Wharepouri’s division or party in this heke numbered 400 toa besides women, children and old people
Unlike the many others who at that time traveled on from Te Uruhi and Kapiti to Te Whanganui-a-Tara and then followed Te Wharepouri, Te Puni, Rauakitua and others to the Wairarapa, Rawiri settled at Porirua with Paipai, Te Awataia and Rawakawe on land named Koangaumu. At the time of his residence at Te Uruhi, Te Puni Kokopu had ngakinga (cultivations) for a season at Koangaumu.
Ngati Toa or Ngati Rarua did not occupy Koangaumu in this period. In essence Koangaumu, in the Porirua takiwa, remained Rawiri’s principle residence. According to Ihaia Porutu, Rawiri did go to the Wairarapa but did not become ensconced there with Taranaki Whanui. He returned instead, to Koangaumu, no doubt employing his own waka which was named Hakitaia.
Although Rawiri lived at Koangaumu, he was a regular visitor to Poneke. He came for extended visits to relatives, in particular his three daughters, Rawinia Komata, Mere Ngamai and Mere Te Haumene.
While in Poneke he lived at Ngauranga with Te Wharepouri. Rawiri’s sojourns at Ngauranga did not begin until after Te Wharepouri made Ngauranga his principle residence at Poneke and until Te Wharepouri had supervised the building of his two houses, Te Akitiwha and Te Pukeatua. Te Wharepouri lived in Te Pukeatua until his death in 1842. This means that Rawiri and his whanau were not at Ngauranga until sometime in 1836.
After the death of Te Wharepouri, the first and principle Taranaki Whanui rangatira at Ngauranga by right of first residence was Manihera Te Toru. Manihera told the Native Land Court at Wellington in 1868 that Rawiri Koheta was not at Ngauranga at the time of the McCleverty land agreements and so he also added that he did not include him, nor did he include many of Rawiri’s whanau in the award. In the context of the hearing, an adversarial one in which they were giving evidence, he added that Rawiri had no rights. This latter contention of Manihera gave no substance to this case and Rawiri’s descendants were adduced to have rights at Ngauranga. In the 1888 Native Reserves court decision Rawiri’s descendants were included among the original owners of the New Zealand Company Wellington Reserves.
In Taranaki Rawiri had land interests in the Ahu Ahu Town Belt at Oakura, Hauranga, and Patuha Blocks and at Te Ngaere.
He died about 1870.
References:
- Judge Ward MB no. 39, p. 191
- Wellington MB no. 1C, p. 25-52, 53, 74-125
- Wellington MB no. 2, p. 167-168
- Wellington MB no. 4, p. 28-30, 311-313
- Taranaki MB no. 2, p. 22-32
- Maori Land Court, Wanganui, Ngauranga Block File no. 60
- Maori Land Court, Wanganui, New Zealand Company Wellington Tenths Block File no. 139.
- Alexander Turnbull Library MS-Papers-0039
(MB = Minute Book)
I Te Reo Māori -
Ko Rawiri Motutere i mōhiotia hoki ko Rawiri Koheta. Nō Te Atiawa me Taranaki tēnei tamaiti a Nukutara rāua ko Mapuna.
Ko tana kāinga tuatahi ki Taranaki, tērā o ana tūpuna, ko te pā o Hauranga, takiwā ki Tahikara ki te rohe Cape Survey, ā, he pānga tata hoki ōna ki te pā o Te Kawau, i Nū Paremata. Ka moe ia i a Maweu, ā, tokoruam ā rātou tamariki. Ko ngā tamariki ko Maweu, rātou ko Rawinia Komata i moe i a Ihaia Tipao o Ngati Rahiri, ko Mere Ngamai i moe tuatahi ki te kaiwhaitohorā a James Harrison ka moe tuarua ai i te tau 1847/48 ki a Wi Tako Ngatata o Ngati Te Whiti/Ngati Ruanui, ko Te Kawau ko Mere Te Hamene hoki i moe i a Wi Tako Ngatata i te tau 1853 i muri i te matenga o tana tuakana o Mere Ngamai i mate ki te Awakairangi i te tau 1852.
He tāroa a Rawiri, he pakari, ā, he “kōtika tao”. He tāmoko tōna i āhua kahurangi nei te tae. He kiritea ia, arā, he pēnei i te pākehā he urukēhu. Ka puta ana ki waho mau mata-huna ai ia hei ārai kiritea i te rā. Ko te tāmoko o te mata-huna he rite tonu ki tōna kanohi.
E ai ki a Matene Tauwhare rāua ko Enoka Taitea Hohepa, ka heke mai a Rawiri i te heke nui whakamutunga o Taranaki i Nga Motu ki Raukawa Moana i te tau 1832, i muri rawa mai i te pakanga o Waiorua ki Kāpiti i te tau 1824. Ko te heke nei i heke mai i raro i te rangatira toa nei a Te Wharepouri o Ngati Tawhirikura ka huaina ko te heke Tama Te Uaua. Ko te tira o Te Wharepouri i tēnei heke e 400 ngā toa i tua atu i ngā wāhine, ngā tamariki me ngā kaumātua
Kāore i rite ki te tokomaha i heke mai i taua wā i Te Uruhi me Kapiti ki Te Whanganui-a-Tara ka whai atu ai i a Te Wharepouri, rātou ko Te Puni, ko Rauakitua mā ki te Wairarapa, ka noho kē a Rawiri ki Porirua otirā rātou ko Paipai, ko Te Awataia ko Rawakawe i te whenua huatia ake nei ko Koangaumu. I te wā e noho ana ia ki Te Uruhi, he ngakinga tō Te Puni Kokopu mō tētahi wā ki Koangaumu.
Kāore te Ngati Toa te Ngati Rarua rānei i noho ki Koangaumu i taua wā. Arā ka noho tonu ko Koangaumu, i te takiwā ki Porirua, te kāinga matua o Rawiri. E ai ki a Ihaia Porutu, ka haere anō a Rawiri ki Wairarapa engari kīhai i noho ki reira pēnei me Taranaki Whānui. Ka hoki kē ia ki Koangaumu, kāore e kore mā runga tōna ake waka arā Hakitaia.
Ahakoa noho atu ana a Rawiri ki Koangaumu, he rite tonu tana hokihoki ki Poneke. Tērā ka torotoro ia i ōna whanaunga, arā ko ana tamāhine e toru hoki ko Rawinia Komata, ko Mere Ngamai, ko Mere Te Haumene.
I a ia i Poneke ka noho ia ki Ngauranga me Te Wharepouri. Nō te rironga o Ngauranga i a Te Wharepouri hei kāinga matua mōna ki Poneke, me te hanga i ōna whare e rua ko Te Akitiwha rāua ko Te Pukeatua, kātahi anō ka tīmata te haerere a Rawiri ki Ngauranga. Ka noho a Te Wharepouri ki Te Pukeatua tae noa ki tana matenga i te tau 1842. Arā rā nō te tau 1836 a Rawiri me tana whānau i tae ake ki Ngauranga.
Nō te matenga o Te Wharepouri, ko te rangatira o Taranaki Whānui ki Ngauranga ko Manihera Te Toru i raro i te tikanga ahi kā. Nā Manihera i kī atu te Kōti Whenua Māori ki Pōneke i te tau 1868, kāore te Rawiri Koheta i Ngauranga e noho ana i te hokotanga whenua o McCleverty nā reira kīhai ia ko tana whānau rānei i whai wāhi ki raro i tērā ritenga. I roto hoki i te wairua taupatupatu o ngā kōti, ka mea atu hoki ia kāore rawa he wāhi ki a Rawiri. Kīhai tēnei tāunu a Manihera i tautoko tana take kōti, ā, riro ana mā ngā uri tonu o Rawiri hei whakatika mā te whai wāhi mō rātou i muri iho mai ki Ngauranga. I te whakatau a te Kōti Whenua Māori i te tau 1888 ka tuhia hoki ko ngā uri o Rawiri ki te rārangi ingoa tāngata nōna nei ngā rāhuitanga whenua New Zealand Company Wellington Reserves.
Ko ngā whenua o Rawiri ki Taranaki arā i Ahu Ahu ki Oakura, i Hauranga, me Patuha, ā, ki Te Ngaere anō hoki.