MAORI LEADERS OF THE PAST — 1 A NEW LOOK AT TE KOOTI

Te Ao Hou, November 1957, Page 17

MAORI LEADERS OF THE PAST — 1 A NEW LOOK AT TE KOOTI by Leo Fowler The time has come to write the story of some of the great Maori leaders of the last century. Our first subject is Te Kooti Rikirangi Te Turuki on whose life Mr Leo Fowler of Gisborne has brought to light many new facts. With the help of Maori scholars and other unpublished evidence. Mr Fowler challenges the old history-book picture of Te Kooti, and does not hesitate to be controversial. Naturally, this magazine does not take responsibility for the author's views. Te Kooti according to F. B. Lysnar. Is this picture genuine? Many have doubted it. In our next issue we present some pictures that may be more reliable. It is important that we should have a new look at some of the leading figures among the Maori leaders of the last century for two reasons. The first reason is that most of them were, inevitably, written of with a bias inseparable from the fact that their critics were too closely associated with them and with the circumstances which projected them into leadership. The second reason is that we are in the last decade when anything like first-hand, or even second-hand information is available from living witnesses. In no case is this more so than in that of Te Kooti Rikirangi Te Turuki, one of the most picturesque, the most important and the most generally misunderstood and misinterpreted of all those leaders who fought against pakeha power during the years of pakeha-Maori conflict. Before embarking on an assessment, or a reassessment of Te Kooti however, it would be wise briefly to review the wider field of Maori leadership during the first century of British rule. The rapid spread of pakeha settlement during the nineteenth century produced marked changes in the pattern of Maori leadership which are still playing their part in modern Maoridom. Within this pattern we can place nineteenth century Maori leaders in three main groups, though of course many of them tend to overlap from one classification to another.

Tenei pakiwaitara mo Arikirangi, ara ko tetahi o ana ingoa ko Te Kooti, a ko te kai korero ko Paora Teramea. He tangata rawahanga a Te Kooti i a ia e tatama ana, a i ana mahi rawahanga ka mea tana matua ki te patu i a ia. No tetahi ra ka mea atu te matua ki tana tama kia haere raua ki te whakama i te poka wai mo This story, told by Paul Delamere, is about Rikirangi, better known as Te Kooti. As a young man Te Kooti was very mischievous. He caused so much trouble that at last his father decided that he must be got rid of. He thought of a plan. He told his son that they must go and clear out a certain well, ready for the coming winter. This well was among the sandhills of the Gisborne coast.

te (makariri). Te poka nei i roto i nga oneone a i te taenga ka mea te tangata nei kia heke a Te Kooti ki roto i te poka ki te keri i nga oneone ki waho. I papahia nga taha kia kore ai e horo a no te nuinga o nga kete one one i puta mai i te poka, katahi ka whiu te tangata nei i te kete oneone ki runga i tana tama a hinga ana te tama ki ana turi. Katahi ka tanumia ki nga oneone e te matua. Engari i ora a Te Kooti i nga papa nei ina hoki i whai wahi a ia hei whakatatanga i tona manawa. I a ia e takoto ana mahara tonu atu a ia ki tetahi manga haere tika mai i to pa ki taua poka. Katahi a ia ka wawahi i nga papa ka keri i roto i te oneone tae atu ana ki te manga nei. Kua po i tenei wa haere ana a ia ki te whare o tana matua keke no te mea i reira a ia e noho ana. I te taenga atu haere ana ki te pataka ki te tiki kai. I a ia i reira ka rongo a ia i tana matua e mea atu ana ki tana matua keke kua haere a ia ki te mahi i tetahi mahi. Engari i whakaaro tana matua keke kua taka kino hia tana potiki, tangi ana. No tenei, katahi a Te Kooti ka heke iho i te pataka awhihia ana e tana matua keke ano he tangata i hoki mai i te mate. Kahore e mohiotia ana i korero pehea a Te Kooti ki tana matua, a mehemea i rapu utu a ia mo tona tanumanga. Arriving there, the father sent his son down into the well, which was boxed in with wood, to dig out the sand. When the father thought he had enough kits of sand he suddenly threw them at the young man, knocking him down to his knees, then piled in loose sand and buried him. But Te Kooti found that the wooden boxin gave him space to breathe in, and as he thought about it he remembered an old trench that ran from the pa almost to the well. Breaking away the old boards he began to burrow his way through the sand, and at last broke into the trench. It was dark by then, so he made his way to his uncle's house, where he lived, and climbed up into his uncle's pataka to get some food. While there, he heard his uncle and his father talking together. the father was saying that the son had gone on message, but the uncle was sure the young man had come to some harm, and began to tangi for him. At this, Te Kooti came down from the patak to be embraced by his uncle as one returned from the dead. The story does not tell what Te Kooti said to his father, or whether he required any utu for being buried alive. * * *