White Island is a rhyolite volcano which forms an island in the Bay of Plenty 32 miles north of Whakatane. It appears to have been built up by fairly quiet volcanic activity. It was the seat of considerable hydrothermal activity with hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles widely distributed inside the crater, which is breached in the south. Scrub vegetation covers the lower slopes in the east, west, and north where fumes given off are less dense. For a number of years prior to 1914 sulphur was mined on White Island, but a collapse of the crater wall in that year overwhelmed the encampment and killed 12 miners. The disaster was almost certainly due to chemical attack on the minerals of the rock, so weakening the wall that it collapsed under its own weight. The floor of the crater is now covered with hummocks left by the mud flow generated at this time. White Island lies at the northern end of the Taupo-Rotorua Volcanic Zone within which occurs the bulk of New Zealand's modern hydrothermal and volcanic activity, although the zone is by no means the only active volcanic zone.

The island was known to the Maoris as Whakaari; the meaning is obscure. It was discovered by Cook on 31 October 1769. “I have named it White Island because as such it always appeared to us.”

by Thomas Ludovic Grant-Taylor, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.

(1812–91).

Premier, lawyer, and financier.

A new biography of Whitaker, Frederick appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Frederick Whitaker was born at the Manor House, Bampton, Oxfordshire, on 23 April 1812, the son of Frederick Whitaker, a deputy-lieutenant of the county. He was educated for the law, and in 1839 was admitted solicitor and attorney. In that year he left England for Sydney. Before starting to practise law in Kororareka in 1840, he travelled on both sides of the Tasman. A year later he left, when the seat of government was transferred to Auckland; the following year he became a Judge in a county Court; and from 1845–46 he sat as an unofficial member on Governor FitzRoy's Legislative Council. In 1843 he married Jane Augusta, a stepdaughter of Alexander Shepherd and, by her, he had four sons and four daughters. He served as a major in the militia in 1845 and 1846; spent two years in England thereafter; and in 1852 was elected to the never-convened Legislative Council of New Ulster.

By the early 1850s it had become clear that politics, law, and finance were to characterise his career. Already, in the 1840s, he had engaged upon an unsuccessful copper-mining venture; in 1853 he became Auckland Provincial Solicitor and a member of the Provincial Executive, and sat on the Provincial Council from 1854 to 1855; in 1853 he was nominated to the Legislative Council of the General Assembly, and a year later became Attorney-General – his favourite ministerial post – in the mixed official elective Executive Council. His influence upon Auckland's first Superintendent, R. H. Wynyard, was considerable; in 1855 and 1856 he stood in vain for that office himself.

From this time on he was seldom out of public life and frequently held high office. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1853 to 1864 and Speaker in 1855 and 1856; Superintendent of Auckland from 1865 to 1867; a member of the House of Representatives in 1866 and 1867 and again from 1876 to 1879; and, once more, a member of the Council from 1879 to his death in 1891. He was out of public life for only one lengthy period: between his resignation both from the superintendency and from the House in 1867 to his re-election to the House in 1876.

His ministerial career effectively began as Attorney-General in Sewell's brief 1856 Administration. He held the same post for the whole of the Stafford Administration (1856–61) and again (though not as a Cabinet Minister) during the later part of the Domett Ministry in 1863. In 1863 and 1864 he was both Premier and Attorney-General. He served under H. A. Atkinson as Attorney-General in 1876 and 1877 (and briefly as Postmaster-General and Commissioner of Telegraphs in 1876); in the same office under John Hall from 1879 to 1882, and was once more Premier and Attorney-General from 1882 to 1883. Finally, he was again Atkinson's Attorney-General from 1887 to 1891. In 1884 he was created K.C.M.G.

He was a man to be reckoned with over the whole of his lengthy career, whether in office or not. W. Gisborne described him (in 1886) as “probably the most remarkable public man in New Zealand” and dwelt upon his partiality for directing affairs from comparative obscurity. He was pertinacious, intelligent, and extremely industrious; he found it easy to dominate more indolent and less single-minded men, notably Alfred Domett and William Fox, in the early 1860s. It was then that he exercised most influence upon New Zealand affairs and met more than his match in obstinacy, Sir George Grey, during the latter's second governorship.

In 1861 he entered a legal partnership with Thomas Russell, the founder of the Bank of New Zealand, also of Auckland. Both were prominent in that coterie of Auckland politicians, land speculators, and entrepreneurs who saw, in the Maori troubles of the 1860s, a golden opportunity for personal fortune and provincial prosperity. Much of their effort was directed to separating the Maori from his land and to subsequent profitable land dealings. The epitome of Whitaker's career offered by the New Zealand Herald (5 December 1891) upon his death – “a colonist, a lawyer, a mining and land speculator, a member of the Provincial and Colonial Legislatures, and Premier of the colony” – is wholly apt and the items are thoroughly interdependent.

In 1862 Whitaker supported the Runanga policy in the hope that it would ease land alienation; in the following year he advanced a complex policy to achieve this end by force. He and Russell had already dominated Domett; in 1863 he, as Premier, and Russell, as Defence Minister, easily converted the Native Minister, Fox, to their belligerent policy. His Cabinet was in essence the spearhead of the Auckland pro-war party. Full ministerial responsibility for native affairs was accepted, in an effort to neutralise the Governor, Grey, and three crucial Acts followed. The Suppression of Rebellion Act suspended habeas corpus and introduced martial law into disturbed districts; the New Zealand Settlements Act provided for the punitive confiscation of rebel natives' land (some 4¼ million acres were at first envisaged); while the Loan Act (which, because it conflicted with an Imperial Act, ought to have been reserved, but in fact received Grey's assent) authorised a loan of £3 million to develop this extensive domain. The measures passed easily over the protests of a few, led by Sewell and FitzGerald, and there was jubilation in Auckland.

This policy led to a crippling quarrel with Grey after the defeat of the “kingites” in 1863. The treatment of prisoners, punitive military measures, and the extension of the war showed the Whitaker Ministry's determination to crush rebellion with exemplary ruthlessness; they were further determined to seal submission with massive land confiscation. Grey, also committed to confiscation, insisted on limiting punishment to actual rebels; Whitaker took the financial necessity of government as his measuring stick, refused to demarcate precisely the area of land to be taken, and, driven to exasperation, defined a rebel as any native whose land it was proposed to confiscate. Grey, backed by the Colonial Office, was able to frustrate the Ministry, and Whitaker, faced with the failure of policy and the bankruptcy of government – the loan had failed in England – resigned.

Much of Grey's hostility stemmed from his conviction that Whitaker and Russell, deep themselves in land speculation, were selfishly motivated. The hostility persisted; in 1876 Grey, by this time a member of Parliament, attacked the Government for its favourable terms of sale of the Piako Swamp and Tawera Blocks to Whitaker, Russell, and their associates.

Frustrated in the General Government, Whitaker turned to his province. In 1865 he was elected unopposed as Superintendent, on a bitterly anti-southern policy (the seat of government had recently been removed to Wellington) and pledged to restore prosperity to Auckland. Whitaker made separation his goal – separate status for Auckland under a Lieutenant-Governor. Significantly enough, he criticised the recently defeated Weld Ministry for risking the withdrawal of Imperial troops with its rash talk of self-reliance. He re-entered the House in 1866 to urge both separation and the “colonialisation” of the provincial land funds. Successful in neither, he resigned both positions in 1867 and turned to private affairs.

His subsequent career is rather less intensive. At the end of his second premiership (1882–83) he emerged as a strenuous advocate of British annexation in the Pacific area, protesting to London against French and German expansion. In 1884 he and Atkinson, now premier, attended the Intercolonial Convention at Sydney, at which he framed the resolution strongly deploring the growth of foreign influence in the Pacific. On his return he became an enthusiast for “federation and annexation” – that is, a Federal Council for Australasia to take an initiative in the Pacific which the British Government would not assert.

Once again Whitaker's advocacy was not unconnected with his personal interests and with the commercial well-being of Auckland, a city which dreamed of becoming the great South Pacific entrepót. As Superintendent he had taken an official interest in the Fiji trade. In 1874 he and Julius Vogel had planned a semi-public “New Zealand and Polynesian Company”, a State-supported enterprise to act as the agent of a New Zealand advance in the Pacific. The Bill authorising the company was withdrawn, partly because of Colonial Office opposition, but Whitaker's personal involvement in Pacific commerce continued. Among his many commercial interests (they included land, mining, insurance, mortgage finance, gas, banking) was the New Zealand Sugar Co., which imported the most valuable island commodity into New Zealand. He was also managing director of the Fiji Banking and Commercial Co., a subsidiary of the Bank of New Zealand.

A full investigation of Whitaker's career would doubtless reveal many interconnections between business and politics in nineteenth-century New Zealand. He is an epitome of the colonial merchant prince, a man of many enterprises and considerable fortune. As a politician he was efficient rather than popular; as a leader always the target of suspicion and hostility. A close acquaintance, Francis Dillon Bell, commented in 1881: “I have often thought in a life-long intimacy with him how odd it was that a cynicism so complete as his should be so good-natured and chirpy”. But this cynicism did not preclude a certain political liberalism. He proposed, in 1878, manhood suffrage, proportional representation, and periodic redistribution of seats, and twice, in the 1880s, suggested an elective Upper House. Nor, in spite of his extensive operations, did he die a rich man. The depression of the later 1880s almost ruined him and the law was again his major support. He died on 4 December 1891 in straitened circumstances.

by William Hosking Oliver, M.A.(N.Z.), D.PHIL.(OXON.), Professor of History, Massey University of Manawatu.

• Whitaker Papers (MSS), Auckland Museum Library
• Sir George Grey, Rutherford, J. (1961).

(1935– ).

Rugby footballer.

Wilson James Whineray was born on 10 July 1935 at Auckland and educated at Auckland Grammar School, Massey Agricultural College, and Lincoln Agricultural College. He was selected for Wairarapa in 1953 and, in the years since, has represented six provinces, the North and South Islands, the South African and New Zealand Barbarians, and the All Blacks in more than 200 first-class matches. He first represented New Zealand in 1955 when he visited Ceylon with the “Colts” team. In 1957 he was selected for the All Blacks, playing for them in successive seasons until 1965. He captained the Junior All Blacks team which toured Japan in 1958 and has led the All Blacks to victory in tests against Australia, the British Isles, England, France, Ireland, South Africa, and Wales. Whineray set a record of 28 appearances for New Zealand in consecutive test matches. At the close of the 1965 season Whineray announced his retirement from international and interprovincial rugby. In all, between 1957 and 1965, Whineray played 32 tests for New Zealand and captained the All Blacks in 30 of these. His test record is: v. Australia 1957 (2); v. Australia 1958 (3); v. British Isles 1959 (4); v. South Africa 1960 (4); v. France 1961 (3); v. Australia 1962 (5); v. England 1963 (2); v. Ireland 1963 (1); v. Wales 1963 (1); v. England 1964 (1); v. Scotland 1964 (1); v. France 1964 (1); v. South Africa 1965 (4). Whineray has also played for numerous invitation teams including those that took part in the South African Rugby Jubilee celebrations in 1964. His final test appearance on 18 September 1965 was his 234th game in first-class rugby.

Whineray's first-class record in detail is: Wairarapa 3 games; mid-Canterbury 9; Manawatu 7; Canterbury 16; Waikato 7; Auckland 58; New Zealand Barbarians 1; South African Barbarians 1; South African Jubilee Games 3; Centurions 2; Whineray's XV 1; North Island Colts 1; Japan Tour Trial 1; South Island Universities 2; North Island Universities 1; New Zealand Universities 4; Black XV 1; New Zealand Colts 8; New Zealand under-23 9; New Zealand Trials 15; a New Zealand XV 1; South Island 1; North Island 6; New Zealand 76. Total 234.

In November 1965, at a function on behalf of the Murray Halberg Trust for Crippled Children, Whineray received the “Sportsman of the Year” trophy. He was awarded the O.B.E. in 1962.

Sometimes called Potatau II, (1825–94).

Second Maori “King”.

A new biography of Tawhiao, Tukaroto Matutaera Potatau Te Wherowhero appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Tawhiao was born in 1825 at Mokau, where the whole Waikato tribe had retreated after the fall of Matakitaki pa on the Waipa River. He was the eldest son of Potatau Te Wherowhero and of Whakaawi. After the Ngapuhi were routed in 1827 he lived at several villages along the Waipa until his hapu settled in Central Waikato. Tawhiao never attended mission school, but he was baptised at Mangere while his father was living there in the house provided for him by Sir George Grey. He took “Matutaera” (Methuselah) as his baptismal name, but repudiated it in 1867.

When the aged Potatau died in the winter of 1860 the movement split over the succession. One party favoured his sister Te Paea, and the other, Tawhiao. When Tamihana gave his support to the latter party the kingship passed to Tawhiao. The new “king” took little positive part in deciding policy, but allowed his council to make the decisions. At first the moderate party, led by Tamihana, held sway, but the extremists, under the leadership of Rewi Maniapoto, soon gained the ascendancy.

When war broke out Tawhiao sensed the futility of building fortifications across the line of General Cameron's advance and urged his commanders to adopt guerilla tactics. His war parties, however, insisted on direct resistance at Koheroa, Meremere, Rangiriri, and Paterangi, and they built complicated and powerful earthworks, which they soon found could be invested or outflanked by General Cameron's forces. Had a fluid strategy been followed there is no doubt the conquest of the Waikato would have been much more difficult. Tawhiao was present at the Battle of Rangiriri, but escaped up the river, and he had retired behind the King Country border before the Siege of Orakau.

From 1863 until he made peace with the Government in 1881, Tawhiao lived at Para-tui pa – about 3 miles north of Te Kuiti – where he succeeded in maintaining a prosperous Maori “principality” in a state of peace. During these years there were few official contacts between the “King” Maoris and the Government, and relations remained strained. On 2 February 1875 Sir Donald McLean, the Native Minister, visited Para-tui, where he offered Tawhiao a scheme which would have virtually given the Maoris “home rule”. Tawhiao was satisfied with the offer, but because his Ngati Maniapoto allies, Wahanui and Taonui, objected, the plan was not proceeded with. Further meetings between the “King” and Government were held in 1879 and 1881 and in the latter year peace was concluded.

After the peace of 1881 Tawhiao paid a state visit to Auckland where he and 600 followers were féted and made much of. In 1884 he visited England with several chiefs and, while there, he put the Maoris' grievances before the Secretary of State for Colonies. On his return he refused all the honours – including a seat in the Legislative Council and a pension of £1,000 a year – that the New Zealand Government offered him because he felt that acceptance would prejudice his kingship and strain the loyalty of the Maori people.

All his life Tawhiao steadfastly remained the independent representative of his people. He died on 26 August 1894 at Parawera (near Kihikihi) and was succeeded by his son, Mahuta Tawhiao. For all these biographies on Te Wherowhero line, see alsoMaori King – Election and Coronation.

by Walter Hugh Ross, Journalist, Taupo.

• The Maori King, Gorst, J. E. (1959)
• The New Zealand Wars, Cowan, J. (1956)
• Sir Donald McLean, Cowan, J. (1940)
• The King Country, Kerry-Nicholls, J. H. (1884).

(1880–1933).

Fourth Maori “King”.

A new biography of Te Rata Mahuta Potatau Te Wherowhero appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Te Rata Te Wherowhero was born at Waahi, Huntly, in 1880 and was the eldest of the five sons of Mahuta and Te Marae. In 1911 he represented his father at the conference at Parewanui, near Bulls, when the Maori “King” was asked to intercede among the Taranaki tribes to find a candidate for the Western Maori seat in succession to Henare Kaihau. As a result of this intervention, Maui Pomare received the nomination. After his father's death Te Rata was elected to the kingship, being enthroned and crowned on 24 November 1912. He also succeeded to a personal estate of £20,000, together with other native interests vested in his father and nominally valued at £100,000.

In 1913 Te Rata visited England where he was received by King George V. While he was on this trip his health broke down and his remaining years were marred by illness. Recurrent bouts of ill health prevented Te Rata from taking an active part in the political and national life of the Maori people. Nevertheless, he was held in great respect; and shortly before his death he had been invited to visit the Ngati Porou who had previously been less connected with the “King” movement than had the Waikato and central tribes. Te Rata died at Waahi on 1 October 1933. He was survived by his widow, Te Uranga, and one son. This son, Koroki, succeeded to the kingship.

Te Rata had the advantage over his predecessors of a good education and was considered to be more in touch with progressive European ideas and trends.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• New Zealand Herald, 11 Nov 1912
• 2, 4, 9 Oct 1933;Man of Two Worlds – a Biography of Sir Maui Pomare, Cody, J. F. (1953).

(c. 1800–60).

Paramount chief of the Waikato tribes and first Maori King.

A new biography of Te Wherowhero, Potatau appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Te Wherowhero was born about 1800 and was the son of Te Rauangaanga, who at this time had just become the principal war chief of the Waikato tribes. His mother was Te Parengaope, a high chieftainess of the Ngati Koura. At the time of his son's birth Te Rauangaanga was famous as a fighting chief. In the summer of 1790 he had led combined Waikato and Maniapoto forces against the Ngati Toa chief Pikauterangi whom he defeated at the Battle of Hingakaka (near Ohaupo). This battle was said to have been the greatest ever fought on New Zealand soil. Some 20 years later Te Rauangaanga commanded 1,600 picked Waikato warriors who captured Te Rauparaha's pa at Hikuparea.

Te Wherowhero belonged to the Ngati Mahuta hapu of the Waikato tribe and was a descendant, in the senior chiefly line, from the semi-legendary Hoturoa. His home was at Kaitotehe pa, which was situated on the Waikato River bank opposite to Taupiri.

From 1820 onwards the Waikato tribes suffered in raids launched by the musket-bearing Ngapuhi under their fighting chief Hongi Hika. This caused them to retreat upon tribes living further to the south and led to a further outbreak in the war between the Waikato and Ngati Toa tribes. Te Rauangaanga captured Te Totara pa on Kawhia Harbour in 1819. In the following year Te Wherowhero led a force of 3,000 Waikatos and Maniapotos overland against the Ngati Toa positions on the south side of Kawhia Harbour. This force was augmented by 1,500 warriors who came by sea from Whaingaroa (Raglan) and who captured Ngati Toa's strongpoints on Kawhia. Meanwhile Te Wherowhero's force systematically reduced Ngati Toa's landward defences. Finally the Waikatos besieged Te Arawai pa and, after several days heavy fighting, Ngati Toa survivors – a mere remnant of the tribe and their fighting chief Te Rauparaha – withdrew by sea towards Taranaki.

Te Wherowhero pursued the fleeing Ngati Toa overland to Taranaki and in this way involved himself in war with the Ngati Awa. Although Te Wherowhero was never forced to retreat, his sieges in Taranaki were sometimes unsuccessful and were costly in human life. At Te Motunui he lost several hundred men and after the three months siege of Pukerangiora the defenders retreated, leaving 1,200 dead upon the field. Maori tradition credits Te Wherowhero with killing no less than 180 of these with his own mere. In 1832 he returned to Taranaki at the head of 4,000 warriors and besieged the Ngati Awa on an island just outside New Plymouth. Barrett, Love, and eight whalers fought in the defence, manning four carronades which did deadly execution. Te Wherowhero withdrew after losing 350 of his best warriors against the defenders' casualties of 50. In 1833 he unsuccessfully attacked Te Namu, Matakatea's stronghold near Cape Egmont. During 1834 he forayed to Tangahoe and Waimate (South Taranaki) and began a long siege of Te Namu. By this time the Ngati Awa had also acquired muskets and were able to meet the Waikatos with more advantage. At Te Namu, where Matakatea made a most determined defence, Te Wherowhero was obliged to make peace and so end his campaigns. By this time, too, missionary influence was extending among the Waikatos, and the tribes were more inclined to peace. Te Wherowhero, himself, attended church services regularly, although he never submitted to baptism.

In 1840 Governor Hobson sent emissaries to the Waikato, hoping to obtain the signatures of the leading chiefs to the Treaty of Waitangi. But, in spite of the many blandishments that were offered, neither Te Wherowhero nor the other principal chiefs would sign. Although he refused to cede sovereignty to the British Government, Te Wherowhero was not hostile to the presence of Europeans in his district.

Sir George Grey, who always made it his policy to cultivate influential native chiefs, took great pains to cultivate Te Wherowhero. The Governor built him a cottage at Mangere and for some years the Waikato chief was consulted upon many questions of Maori affairs. In 1848, when Grey was knighted, he appointed Te Wherowhero and Waka Nene to be his squires. When Te Rauparaha was released these same chiefs stood surety for his good behaviour and, later in the year, accompanied the Governor to Kapiti to satisfy themselves that the Ngati Toa chief had indeed been freed. The Government often negotiated with Te Wherowhero at Mangere. In cases of grave offences committed against Europeans by Waikato natives Te Wherowhero was invariably prepared to support authority.

After 1848, when the land question began to press upon the Maoris, Te Wherowhero gradually turned against the Government and in his old age reluctantly accepted the position of Maori “King”. In 1857, at Pukawa, on the south-eastern shores of Taupo, he was “erected” as “King”. He was installed in this office, amid great ceremonies, at Ngaruawahia in April 1858. As events proceeded and as his supporters grew increasingly hostile to the incursions of Europeans, Te Wherowhero inevitably lost the Governor's confidence. He died on 25 June 1860, and was succeeded by his son Matutaera Tawhiao.

Potatau Te Wherowhero stood over 6ft tall and was one of the most famous warriors of his day. He was an eloquent orator and, as high priest of Tainui, was well versed in the traditions of his own race. Gorst records that the name “Te Wherowhero” means “redman” and that the great Waikato chief got this title from being the first among his people to obtain and wear a scarlet blanket. “Potatau”, meaning “he that counts by night”, was given to him at the death of his wife, for whom his love was so great that he sat sleepless for many nights while she lay dying – “counting”, as the Maoris put it, “her last hours”.

by Walter Hugh Ross, Journalist, Taupo.

• The Maori King, Gorst, J. E. (1959)
• King Potatau – an Account of the Life of Potatau Te Wherowhero, Jones, P. te H. (1959)
• History and Traditions of the Maori, Gudgeon (1885)
• Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century, Smith, S. P. (1910).

(c. 1855–1912).

Third Maori “King”.

Mahuta Te Wherowhero was born about 1855 at Whatiwhatihoe, near Pirongia Mountain. He was the second son of Tawhiao and his first wife, Hera. On 14 September 1894 the Kauhanganui (Maori Parliament) elected him to succeed his father, and he was enthroned and crowned as “King”.

The principal problem affecting Maori-European relations in this period was that of Maori lands and, on 4 April 1898, in an effort to reach an agreement, Seddon met Mahuta at Waahi. On 25 October 1899 Seddon wrote to Mahuta and discussed the Maori Lands Administration Bill which became law in 1900. As a result of these negotiations, and in order to have the vast (1,000,000 acres) kingite lands available for settlement, Mahuta met Seddon privately in Wellington on 1 September 1900 when he agreed to open his lands on leasehold tenure. He also accepted seats in the Legislative Council and Ministry. Unfortunately a powerful section of the kingites was still unreconciled and nothing was done to implement the agreement. Early in 1903 Seddon paid a surprise visit to Waahi where he secured the dissident chiefs' approval. On 22 May 1903 Mahuta was summoned to the Legislative Council and joined the Ministry. He remained there until after Seddon's death, but did not join Ward's Cabinet. In 1906, in one of his rare speeches to the Legislative Council, Mahuta outlined his views on the Maori land question. “It was not sufficient”, he said, “merely to open up Maori lands for European settlement. Parliament should pass a law which would enable the Maori to work his lands.” In 1907 a great kingite convention assembled at Waahi. There, under the guidance of Tupu Tangakawa Te Waharoa, the “King” movement was revitalised and Mahuta withdrew from politics. His membership of the Legislative Council lapsed on 21 May 1910 and he was not reappointed.

Mahuta died at Waahi on 9 November 1912 and was survived by his widow, Te Mare, and five sons. He was succeeded in the “Kingship” by his eldest son, Te Rata. Mahuta was a man of fine appearance, of reserved disposition, and of very few words.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Seddon Papers 95 (MSS) National Archives
• New Zealand Gazette, 1903, No. 40
• New Zealand Herald, 18 Sep, 19 Sep, 21 Sep 1894

(1909– ).

Fifth Maori “King”.

A new biography of Koroki Te Rata Mahuta Tawhiao Potatau Te Wherowhero appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Koroki Te Wherowhero was born at Waahi, Huntly, in 1909, the only son of Te Rata Wherowhero and Te Uranga. He was educated at Huntly School. After his father's death there was a desire among some chiefs to appoint Princess Te Puea Herangi as “Queen”, but the Waikato and Maniapoto chiefs insisted that Koroki should succeed. He was therefore elected “King” on 8 October 1933. Besides his kingship, Koroki is hereditary chief of the Waikato and allied tribes and paramount chief of the Ngati Mahuta branch of the Waikato tribe.

Koroki married Te Ataitangi Kahu, daughter of Wanakore Herangi – a brother of Princess Te Puea – and by her he had two daughters.

(also known as Major Te Wheoro).

(1826–95).

A new biography of Te Wheoro, Wiremu Te Morehu Maipapa appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Maori chief and member of Parliament.

Te Wheoro was chief of the Ngati Naho and also belonged to the Ngati Hourua, Ngati Mahuta, and Ngati Hinetu, subtribes of the Waikato. He was a close relative of Tawhiao. His mother was Ngapaoa, of the Ngati Hinetu, who was killed at Maungatautari by the Ngati Pukenga. Te Wheoro's high birth, intelligence, and independent nature gave him standing among the Waikato tribes. At the great King-ite meeting in 1859 he favoured cooperation with the European Government and he reiterated these views at Kohimarama in 1860. He supported Fenton in his magistracy in the Waikato and became a staunch admirer and advocate of Pakeha institutions. In 1861, as magistrate of the runanga of the Ngati Mahuta at Te Kohekohe (near Mercer), Te Wheoro resisted the Kingites who attempted to prevent him building his own courthouse and police barracks. When war seemed inevitable he moved his headquarters to Te Ia, on the “King” country border, but did not possess sufficient mana to prevent his young men from rejoining their tribes to fight against the Pakeha. In 1863 Te Wheoro was appointed Captain in the Militia, and General Cameron employed him as a guide during his Waikato campaigns. Te Wheoro accompanied Sir George Grey to Taupiri after the Rangiriri battle, and thereafter both sides used his services on an unofficial liaison basis. This work continued after the war, and for many years he was almost the only person who possessed the confidence of “King-ite” and European leaders.

Te Wheoro was a member of Parliament for Western Maori from 1879–84 and refused to join Hall's Ministry when he found that the Maori members would not have responsible portfolios. In 1884 he accompanied Tawhiao to England and, because of his standing with both sides, facilitated negotiations between the “King” and the Colonial Office. In January 1890 Te Wheoro accompanied the Waikato chiefs to Auckland where, in an inspiring ceremony, they pledged their loyalty. Major Te Wheoro died on 30 October 1895.

A lifelong friend of the Pakeha and of their institutions, Te Wheoro consistently urged larger representation for Maoris in Parliament and a separate Executive to handle native affairs. But this “short, thickset man, with heavy features, a strong shrewd expression and genial personality” will be best remembered for his liaison services in the Maori Wars.

by Walter Hugh Ross, Journalist, Taupo.

• The Maori King, Gorst, J. E. (1959)
• The New Zealand Wars, Cowan, J. (1955)
• New Zealand Herald, 30 Oct 1895 (Obit).

(Cominella adspersa).

This and several other local species are somewhat related to the English whelk. These fish are carnivorous scavengers and may be seen clustered around a cockle on mud flats, one doing the job of boring into the shell of the cockle, the others hanging on to share in the feast. It is whitish, speckled with brown, and is yellow inside the aperture. It grows to 2 to 2 ½ in. in height and is abundant in the North Island. It was known to the Maoris as kawari.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.