(1919– ).

Apiarist and mountaineer.

Edmund Percival Hillary was born at Auckland on 20 July 1919 and educated at Auckland Grammar School. In 1936 he left school to become an apiarist. During the Second World War he served for two years in the Pacific area as navigator on RNZAF Catalina flying boats. In 1946 he returned to beekeeping and went into partnership with his brother.

Hillary's private enthusiasm was mountaineering; and, after considerable experience in New Zealand, he led the New Zealand Gawhal Expedition in 1951. Later in the same year he joined the British Everest Reconnaissance Expedition and the British Cho Oyu Expedition for 1952. In 1953 he joined Sir John Hunt's British Everest Expedition, and on 29 May, with Sherpa Tensing, reached the summit of Mount Everest. For this exploit he was created K.B.E. In 1954 he led the New Zealand Alpine Club's Expedition to the Barun Valley, east of Everest. Early in 1955 he was chosen to lead the New Zealand Antarctic Expedition, 1956–58. During the International Geophysical Year he cooperated with the British Trans-Antarctic Expedition under Vivian Fuchs and, in January 1958, using motor vehicles, he completed the first overland journey from Scott Base to the South Pole. Since then he has led the Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition of 1960–61. Sir Edmund Hillary has published High Adventure (1955), East of Everest (with George Lowe) (1956), The Crossing of Antarctica (with (Sir) Vivian Fuchs) (1958), and No Latitude for Error (1961). He has been honoured by several countries and geographical institutions and holds the Star of Nepal (First Class), the Polar Medal, the Hubbard Medal (United States), the United States Gold Cullum Geographical Medal, and the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. Recently Hillary has been associated with the Volunteer Service Abroad movement.

(1870–1960).

Composer and conductor.

A new biography of Hill, Alfred Francis appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Born in Melbourne on 16 December 1870, Alfred Hill came from a musical family. At a very early age he was taken to New Zealand, his father setting up in business as a hatter in Lambton Quay, Wellington. The long and distinguished musical career of Alfred Hill may be said to have begun at the age of eight, when he appeared as a talented cornet player at a benefit concert given in Wellington. At 15 he went to Leipzig where he spent five years studying at the conservatorium, graduating with distinction. His instrument was now the violin, and during his student days he played in the Gwendhaus Orchestra under many famous musicians, including Brahms, Bruch, Tchaikowsky, and Greig. Some of his earliest compositions were published in Leipzig at this time, among them a “Scottish Sonata”.

He returned to New Zealand and at the age of 21 became conductor of the Wellington Orchestral Society, working also at composition, violin teaching, and playing. A quarter of a century spent in New Zealand at the most impressionable period of his life brought him into close contact with the Maori people. For them and for their music he had a deep affection and this inspired many of his compositions. His reputation was established by his setting of the Maori legend of Hinemoa, first performed in 1902, and songs like Waiata Poi, composed, it is said, for Rosina Buckman, Waiata Maori, and Tangi enjoyed very wide popularity. Another work played in many countries was his “Maori” quartette.

Soon after the turn of the century Alfred Hill settled in Sydney. He was one of the founders of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and became one of its professors. In Australia he produced his Maori opera Tapu. He returned to New Zealand to conduct the professional orchestra assembled for the New Zealand International Exhibition of 1905 and to give performances of Hinemoa. A further visit was paid later, when he brought another of his operas, Moorish Maid. From then on he lived mainly in Sydney. In 1926 he toured America, lecturing, and conducting the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in two concerts. In England he conducted a concert of his own music.

His works, in addition to those already mentioned, included two symphonies, seven concertos, string quartettes, seven operas, a mass, suites, sonatas, cantatas, numerous songs, and a considerable amount of film music, among which may be mentioned Rewi's Last Stand, Broken Melody, Smithy, and Forty Thousand Horsemen.

He died in Sydney on 31 October 1960.

Alfred Hill's tuneful and strongly romantic music did not attempt to follow modern trends. Consequently it was slow to be received in musical quarters, and it was not until 1945 that a full concert of his works was given in Sydney under Henry Krips. He had a strong gift for melody, his craftsmanship was assured, and all his writing was of exemplary clarity. With his artistic life so divided between New Zealand and Australia, he is best described as a true Australasian; kind and modest by nature, who was virtually the founder of musical composition in the two countries in which he lived.

A sister, Mabel (1872–1955), achieved success as a singer and water-colourist. She married John McIndoe, printer, of Dunedin, and was the mother of Sir Archibald McIndoe. L.C.M.S.

• Evening Post, 31 Oct 1960 (Obit).

(1874–1943).

Teacher and scientist.

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

Frederick William Hilgendorf was the fourth and youngest child of Karl Augustus Gustavus Hilgendorf who was born at Küstrin near Berlin in 1834, the eldest of the four sons of Johann Martin Hilgendorf, a merchant, and his wife, Henriette Adolphine Emile (born Michaelis). Their third son, Franz, became curator of the Natural History Museum in Berlin. After some years as a seaman and a brief period on the goldfields in Victoria, Karl Augustus Hilgendorf came to Otago in 1860 as a labourer for the contractor building the main south road from Taieri Ferry to Milton. He opened a store at Waihola, engaged in contracting work himself and, later, in gold-mine management at Waipori. In 1863 he married Elizabeth Benstead, born in 1835, the daughter of a London linen merchant, who had come to Dunedin in 1862 as assistant to a Mrs Alpeny in charge of a batch of immigrant girls from England, and who remained as governess to a family at Waihola Gorge. Frederick William, born on 23 January 1874, was the youngest of their four children. Seldom in affluent circumstances, the parents had a struggle at times in bringing up their family, but education was never neglected. They eventually retired to Waihola, Otago, where both died and were buried, the mother in 1906, the father in 1913.

Frederick William Hilgendorf was educated at Waihola and Dunedin primary schools, at Otago Boys' High School (1888–90), at Teachers' Training College (1891–92), and at Otago University where he graduated B.A. in 1895 and M.A. with first class honours in biology in 1896. Later, at the Auckland University College, he completed studies for the degree of B.Sc. (1898) and in 1905 he successfully presented a thesis for a doctorate in science. Hilgendorf's first experience of teaching was at the Taieri Beach Primary School in 1896; and then, after two years as mathematics and science master at Prince Albert College, a private school in Auckland, he was appointed in 1899 to a residential lectureship in natural science at the Canterbury Agricultural College. Here, except for the year 1903 when he was science master at the Southland High School, he spent the rest of his teaching career as lecturer, professor (1930), and finally as acting director till his retirement in 1936.

Hilgendorf was a born naturalist. As a boy he explored the hills and coastline of Dunedin, partly for the joy of tramping, partly for collecting birds' eggs and other specimens. As a student of the late Professor T. Jeffery Parker, he revealed a flair for natural science; his thesis for M.A. was on marine organisms and for his D.Sc., an unpublished paper on rotifers, collected by himself and numerous correspondents, in the ponds, streams, and lakes of southern New Zealand. The same restlessness of body and spirit was manifested throughout his life in his travels with students and friends up the river valleys and into the mountains of the South Island, which he traversed at various points, and in his inquisitive attitude to a wide range of natural phenomena. These inquiries ranged from the flow of artesian wells to the flight of bees, from insect pests to geomorphology, and from the theory of Gregor Mendel to that of probable error in field experiments. He was unusually versatile in his accomplishments even for a New Zealander accustomed to turn his hand to various tasks. He was a strong swimmer. In his year at Invercargill he spent two evenings a week firing a steam boiler to get his engine driver's certificate, and on his return to the Lincoln staff he took charge of the traction engine and threshing plant. At Invercargill he also lectured to teachers on astronomy and to farmers on agricultural chemistry.

Hilgendorf's service to Canterbury Agricultural College was distinguished by his skill as a teacher and lecturer, and by the pioneer work that led to the establishment of the Wheat Research Institute. He was by far the most successful of the early teachers, adapting his methods and material to the interests and capacities of students who came, no doubt, with a desire to acquire the art of farming but with little or no preparation in the basic sciences. He was equally successful as a public lecturer – lucid and logical, with a sense of humour and a nice judgment of the capacity of his audience. His field demonstrations and expositions were brilliant. His observations in the field led to the sorting out and propagation of large numbers of strains of grasses, especially of rye grass and cocksfoot, and in later years he completed a survey and map of the grasslands of the South Island – the first in New Zealand. He also made single plant selections among commercial varieties of wheat and oats from which were produced varieties that became widely distributed, such as College Hunters and College Algerians. Following a visit to Britain in 1922, whence he brought the variety White Fife, he began crossing this wheat with local sorts. One of the products – Cross 7 – became very important though later superseded. This work, and the propaganda of enthusiastic supporters, led to the establishment of the Wheat Research Institute in 1927. Hilgendorf became the first Director and remained so till his death.

Hilgendorf's researches, like his intellectual and other interests, were spread widely rather than pursued deeply. Hilgendorf undoubtedly opened up many avenues of inquiry, as was to be expected having regard to the times and the circumstances of his employment, but it is mainly on the brilliance of his exposition and on his ability to interest and inspire that his fame rests.

In 1903 Hilgendorf married Frances Elizabeth, daughter of F. C. Murray, of Lincoln, Canterbury. They had two sons. Mrs Hilgendorf died in 1930. Hilgendorf died suddenly on a visit to Wellington on 23 September 1943.

by Leonard John Wild, C.B.E., M.A., B.SC.(HON.), D.SC., formerly Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Otaki.

• Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Vol. 73 (1944), Obit and Bibliography.

(1908– ).

Farmer and company director.

Charles Hilgendorf was born at Lincoln, Canterbury, on 23 October 1908, the son of Professor F. W. Hilgendorf. He was educated at Christ's College, Christchurch, and at Canterbury University. He farmed at Awakino, in the King Country, from 1934 to 1937, since when he has farmed at Sherwood, in Ashburton County. From 1946 to 1961 he served as Dominion councillor on the Meat and Wool Section of Federated Farmers and during this period was also president of Mid-Canterbury Federated Farmers (1947–51); Nuffield farming scholar to the United Kingdom (1951); member of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (1958–61); and deputy chairman of Lincoln College Board of Governors (1949–61). Currently he is a member of the University Grants Committee, deputy chairman of the Wool Research Organisation, director and deputy chairman of Farmers Mutual Insurance, and chairman of directors of the North Canterbury Freezing Co. and the Canterbury Roller Flour Mill Co.

The Hikurangi Trench is a broad, asymmetric deep-sea trough, running along the base of the Continental Slope in the sector between Kaikoura Peninsula and East Cape. The axis of the Trench is slightly sinuous, but the general trend is NE-SW, more or less parallel to the coast. The distance of the axis from the coast increases from south to north, being about 20 miles opposite Kaikoura Peninsula, 45 miles opposite Cape Palliser, and 100 miles opposite East Cape. The depth of the axis increases from 1,000 fathoms in the south to over 2,000 fathoms in the north.

The north-western wall of the Trench is formed by the Continental Slope, which reaches the floor of the Trench at depths ranging from 1,000 fathoms in the extreme south to 1,800 fathoms in the north. The gradient levels out rather abruptly at the margin of the Trench floor: the latter is virtually flat over a wide area, although the centre is very slightly depressed with respect to the margins. The width of the floor increases northwards, reaching a maximum of about 100 miles opposite East Cape.

The south-eastern wall of the Trench, except in the south near the Chatham Rise, is poorly defined and has very low relief, with the region to the east of the Trench (part of the South-west Pacific Basin) lying only some 250 fathoms higher than the Trench itself. In contrast, the Continental Slope on the other side of the Trench has a total relief of 900–1, 700 fathoms.

As the Trench is followed southwards, it swings to the west and abuts against the Chatham Rise: in this area the southern boundary is formed by the northern slope of the Rise, which has a total relief of about 1,300 fathoms.

At its northern end, the Hikurangi Trench is replaced by the much deeper Kermadec Trench, which is offset 50 miles to the west. These Trenches are two of the major geological structures in the New Zealand region. The flat floor of the Hikurangi Trench is the result of the infilling with sediment derived from the New Zealand land mass.

by Henry Moir Pantin, B.A.(CANTAB.), PH.D.(CANTAB.), New Zealand Oceanographic Institute, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Wellington.

(1870–1958).

University teacher, historian, and economist.

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

James Hight was born at Halswell, near Christchurch, on 3 November 1870, the eldest son of four in a family of eight children. His father, Samuel Hight, one of several brothers who emigrated from Northamptonshire, arrived at Lyttelton in 1864 as a young man of about 20. He married Mary Ryan, who was of Irish origin, and after working on several farms acquired 100 acres of his own between Racecourse Hill and Waddington in the Malvern district of Canterbury. James Hight grew up on this farm, attending the Malvern district school first as a pupil (from 1875) and subsequently (from 1887) as a pupil teacher. Already marked out by unusual diligence and aptitude, he continued his preparation for the teaching profession in 1891–92 at the Christchurch Training College. At the same time he studied at Canterbury College on an English exhibition, as one of a distinguished generation of students, which included Ernest Rutherford, Apirana Ngata, William Marris, and Michael Myers. He graduated B.A. in 1893, winning scholarships in English and French, and M.A. with first-class honours in those subjects in 1894.

After five years as a teacher of English, commercial subjects, and modern languages at the Auckland College and Grammar School, Hight returned in 1901 to Canterbury College as lecturer in political economy and constitutional history. Except for a year on exchange in the Chair of Modern History at Leeds in 1927, he was never again to leave Christchurch for any long period, and he was to serve the university continuously until he retired from the Chair of History and Political Science in 1949. Both as teacher and administrator he filled many posts of strategic importance, and his biography insensibly merges into much of the history of Canterbury College and even of the University of New Zealand. He was made director of studies in commerce in 1906, and in 1909 he was appointed to the newly created Chair of History and Economics. When, in 1919, the Chair was divided, he became Professor of History and Political Science, and one of his pupils, J. B. Condliffe, became Professor of Economics. He was for many years influential in the counsels of his college at almost all levels, and from 1928 to 1941 he was rector, guiding what was then a comparatively small institution with a wisdom and breadth of vision that would have served greater centres of learning. In the University of New Zealand he was a member of the Senate for 36 years and Pro-Chancellor for 13; he sat for almost as long on the Academic Board (previously the Board of Studies), of which he was chairman for 14 years. Those who met under him always spoke of his patience and fairmindedness, his mastery of business, and his shrewd sense of timing.

Hight's scholarship was deep and wide-ranging. It rested on a lifelong habit of industry (which a robust physique could support) a prodigious memory, quick intelligence, and sober judgment. It received recognition in several awards, including (in 1906) the first New Zealand Doctorate of Literature. It was manifested by numerous publications, among them a standard work on the government of New Zealand, but perhaps more lastingly by the impetus he gave to the study of the social sciences in the university. Not only did he do much to establish the prestige of history as an academic discipline in New Zealand, but, with a forward-looking mind, he fostered allied subjects then struggling for acceptance – economics, political science, sociology, and geography. Characteristically, it was through his efforts, doggedly maintained through 30 years or more, that the University of New Zealand Press was set up shortly before his retirement.

He gave his time and talents freely to the wider community, whether in advising Governments or in encouraging neighbours to beautify their street by tree planting. As publishing editor for Whitcombe and Tombs early in the century, he planned and commissioned many school textbooks in Australia and New Zealand, and edited both the predecessor of the modern School Journal and the first professional journal for teachers. As an educationist, he served on school boards and the Workers' Educational Association. Capable in his younger days of eking out his earnings as an orchestral violinist, he remained a collector of violins and a supporter of local musical societies. As an economist, he was a member of the Royal Commissions on the cost of living (1912) and on mining (1919), and he was chairman of the Economists' Commission of 1932, whose report, with its emphasis on frugality and “sound” remedies, reflected typically the teachings of Marshall rather than of Keynes. As an historian, he was still at the time of his death joint editor of the Canterbury centennial provincial history. He was awarded the C.M.G. in 1932 and created K.B.E. in 1947. He died in Christchurch on 17 May 1958.

Grown to manhood in the late Victorian era, Hight was a true Victorian in his capacity for hard work, his zeal for improvement, and his liberal but firm ideals of conduct, which he displayed by example rather than precept. One of the most remarkable of the earlier generations of the native-born, he was a New Zealander by inclination as by birth, with his roots firmly fixed in Canterbury. Not for him, however, the brasher forms of colonial nationalism. Though he was in advanced middle age before he saw the Old World, his immersion in the Western cultural tradition saved him from any hint of insularity and enabled him to see his country's needs in perspective. His greatest contribution was, while it was still of a formative age, to humanise the university – to ensure that it was a place no less human in its conduct than humane in its learning. Entrance policy should exclude none who might profit by admission; curricula should be liberalised and kept in step with the best overseas models. Sometimes, as one colleague observed, the heart triumphed over the head. But Hight's aims were well adapted to New Zealand society in its second-half century, though he would have been the first to confess failure to win adequate public acknowledgment of the university's needs. His influence as a teacher was more direct and no less pervasive. He could not and would not – inspire by histrionics; his shyness and grave demeanour could induce awe in younger students; but in the end his extreme courtesy and tolerance, his quiet humour, and his many unsolicited kindnesses won him their lasting affection, and bred in them a little of his own respect for exact scholarship and intellectual integrity. He sought out and encouraged promising students, and a few of them went out into the world as eminent scholars; but ultimately these were less significant for New Zealand than his work in moderating frontier attitudes to higher learning.

by Neville Crompton Phillips, M.A., Professor of History, University of Canterbury.

• Liberty and Learning: Essays in Honour of Sir James Hight (ed. R. S. Allan) (Christchurch, 1950) (contains a bibliography of Hight's works). New Zealand Listener (Wellington), 5 Mar 1948
• Press (Christchurch), 19 May 1958 (Obit)
• Landfall (Christchurch), No. 47, Sep 1958.

(1882–1930).

Labour leader.

A new biography of Hickey, Patrick Hodgens appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Patrick Hickey was born in Waimea South on 19 January 1882, the son of a small farmer of Irish origin. He worked in the Denniston coal mines and spent several years in the western United States, where he joined the Socialist Party. In 1906 he returned to New Zealand and soon made a name for himself on the West Coast as a socialist propagandist. Hickey was one of the leaders of the Blackball miners' strike in 1908 and was a founder, with Robert Semple, and Patrick Webb, of the Miners' Federation which later became the “Red” Federation of Labour. A brilliant speaker and an able writer, Hickey was the spokesman of the radical wing inside the federation. In 1913 he was elected secretary-treasurer of the new United Federation of Labour, but in 1915 he left with his family for Australia where he took part in the anti-conscription campaign.

In 1920 Hickey returned to New Zealand to edit the Maoriland Worker. After contesting the Wellington mayoralty in 1921, he moved to Auckland where he started his own printing business. In 1925 he contested the Invercargill seat on behalf of the Labour Party but in the following year he again left for Australia. At the time of his death, in 1930, he was a member of the town council of Abbotsford in Victoria.

by Herbert Otto Roth, B.A., DIP.N.Z.L.S., Deputy Librarian, University of Auckland.

• “Red” Fed Memoirs, Hickey, P. H. (1925).

(1821–88).

Paramount chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa.

A new biography of Te Heuheu Tukino IV, Horonuku appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Pataatai was born in 1821, the second son of Te Heuheu Tukino II (Mananui) by his wife Te Mare. At the time of the disaster in 1846 Pataatai was visiting relatives in the Waikato. On receiving news of his father's death he returned for the tangi and was accompanied by the principal Waikato and Ngati Maniapoto chiefs. He assumed the name Horonuku (meaning “landslide”) in memory of his parents' deaths. Owing to his youth and comparative inexperience, Horonuku was passed over in favour of his uncle, Iwikau (Te Heuheu Tukino III), who thus succeeded Mananui as paramount chief. On Iwikau's death in 1862 Horonuku succeeded him and assumed the family title as Te Heuheu Tukino IV.

In 1864 Horonuku gathered a taua (war party) of 200 men and journeyed to the Waikato to aid his relatives in their fight against the Pakeha. His uncle's friend and adviser, Rev. T. S. Grace, tried in vain to dissuade him. Although Horonuku was well disposed towards the missions, he felt that he could no longer guarantee Grace's safety and advised him to withdraw from Taupo. Grace went to Opotiki, where he stayed until Volkner was murdered. Meanwhile, Horonuku led some of his warriors down the Waikato River, while a second party from south Taupo joined the Ngati Raukawa at Orakau (April 1864). Horonuku reached Orakau after the siege had begun, but was unable to break through General Cameron's cordon. He therefore returned to Taupo where he remained peacefully for the next five years. During this period he gained a reputation as a wood carver.

Despite strong opposition from Tuwharetoa chiefs who were related to the Wanganui tribes, Horonuku allowed his family ties with the Waikato and Ngati Maniapoto to embroil him in Te Kooti's uprising. After the latters' defeat at Te Porere Horonuku went into hiding but was persuaded to surrender to Colonel McDonnell who had him escorted to Napier where he was turned over to Sir Donald McLean. Horonuku lived for a while at Pakowai, where he was the guest of Karaitiana Takamoana and other Hawke's Bay chiefs. In 1870, when the Te Kooti troubles appeared to be ended, he was allowed to return to Taupo.

In the sixties, Tuwharetoa lands, including the three mountains, Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu, were leased to European settlers as sheep runs. In the early seventies, when the district was about to be surveyed, the Maoris learned that these mountains would become the site of trig, stations. Some Tuwharetoa chiefs feared that if Europeans were permitted access to these mountains, the traditional tapus associated with Tongariro might be ignored or broken. To avoid this, Horonuku, with the consent of many other Tuwharetoa chiefs, approached the Government with the suggestion that the mountaintops be given to the people of New Zealand as a National Park. On 23 September 1887 Horonuku signed the deed ceding these to the Native Minister, John Ballance. With his gifts he made two requests – that the Government should remove Mananui's remains from Tongariro and erect a suitable tomb for him – and that Horonuku's son, Tureiti (1865–1921), should be made a trustee of the National Park after his own death.

Horonuku died on 30 July 1888 and was succeeded as paramount chief by his son, Tureiti (Te Heuheu Tukino V), who later became a member of the Legislative Council. On his death in 1921 he was succeeded by his son, Hoani (Te Heuheu Tukino VI). Hoani died in 1944 when he was succeeded by his son Hepi who, as Te Heuheu Tukino VII, is the present paramount chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa.

Horonuku was not a great soldier, but he was loyal to his own people and, by his gift of three mountain peaks, he deserves to be regarded as a public benefactor to the people of New Zealand. At the official opening of the Chateau in November 1929, a tablet commemorating the chief was unveiled. The inscription reads:

“Dedicated by the Tongariro National Park Board to the memory of the Te Heuheu Tukino (Horonuku) who presented to the Crown the Mountain Peaks of Tongariro, Ngaruahoe (sic) and part of Ruapehu, thus forming the nucleus of the National Park”. Then follows the Maori proverb first spoken by Tawhiao:

“Ko Tongariro te Maunga;
Ko Taupo te Moana;
Ko Te Heuheu te Tangata”.
“Tongariro the mountain;
Taupo the lake;
Te Heuheu the man”.
 

by Robert Ritchie Alexander, M.A., DIP.ED.(N.Z.), B.T.(CALCUTTA), PH.D.(MINNESOTA), Teachers' Training College, Christchurch.

• Tuwharetoa, Grace, J. te H. (1959)
• The New Zealand Wars, Cowan, J. (1955).

(c. 1790–1862).

Paramount chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa.

A new biography of Te Heuheu Tukino III, Iwikau appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Iwikau was born about 1790, the second surviving son of Te Heuheu Tukino I (Herea) (q.v.), and of Rangiaho, a chieftainess of the Maniapoto. He was a brother of Te Heuheu Tukino II (Mananui), and in his early days took part in all the latter's campaigns. On Mananui's death in May 1846, Iwikau arranged the funeral rites, preparatory to having his brother's body exhumed for reburial on the slopes of Tongariro. As this meant extending his personal mana he came into open conflict with Te Herekiekie, the young Tokaanu chief who belonged to the senior branch of the Tuwharetoa chiefly line. This enmity lasted until 1850, when the Rev. T. S. Grace brought the two together and effected a reconciliation. Iwikau was chosen paramount chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa because of his family ties with the powerful Waikatos and with Ngati Maniapoto, and also because Horonuku (Te Heuheu Tukino IV) was too inexperienced to accept the responsibility. Te Herekiekie's ties were with Ngati Awa and the Arawa tribes, which were considered not so suitable. Fearing a further landslide at Te Rapa, Iwikau made Pukawa his principal pa. It was situated near the beautiful Waihi Falls at the western end of Lake Taupo and lay within the district where his favourite wife, Ruingarangi, was the high chieftainess.

In 1840, much to Mananui's annoyance, Iwikau had signed the Treaty of Waitangi and, in 1850, Sir George Grey visited Pukawa and presented him with a flag as a reward for his loyalty to the Queen. Because he sympathised with their grievances and feared that the Maori race was doomed to rapid extinction, Iwikau was interested in the Maori “King” movement from its inception. He was so much impressed by the great meeting in the Ngati Ruanui country in 1854 and by the rise of the Maori Land League that he convened a second meeting, at Pukawa, a few months later. In doing this he was anxious to display his personal mana to offset that of his relative Potatau Te Wherowhero who was soon to be elected the first Maori “King”. Although he was presented and assisted Tamihana at Potatau's investiture in June 1858, Iwikau allowed himself to be dissuaded by the Rev. T.S. Grace from becoming a follower of the “King”. In this way he avoided implicating his Tuwharetoa tribe in the disastrous Taranaki and Waikato Wars, and thereby saved their territories from being confiscated by the Government.

Acclaimed “the fighting chief of Taupo”, Iwikau was probably better known as a warrior than was his more famous brother. His campaigns, however, were not always successful, as, for instance, when he challenged Matakatea in the early 1840s. His rule as paramount chief of Tuwharetoa is remembered for three reasons: he embraced Christianity; he helped to unify the Waikato and Taranaki tribes under Potatau; and he confirmed the boundaries of the Tuwharetoa tribal lands. He died in October 1862.

Iwikau was a man of medium height, slighter in build and less prepossessing than his brother. Grace says he was the sole surviving chief of the old school – a great patriot, yet an admirer of the Europeans.

by Robert Ritchie Alexander, M.A., DIP.ED.(N.Z.), B.T.(CALCUTTA), PH.D.(MINNESOTA), Teachers' Training College, Christchurch.

• Tuwharetoa, Grace, J. te H. (1959)
• The New Zealand Wars, Cowan, J. (1955).

also known as Te Heuheu the Great (1780–1846).

Paramount chief of Tuwharetoa tribe (Taupo).

A new biography of Te Heuheu Tukino II, Mananui appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Mananui was born about 1780 at Pamotumotu near the Mangatutu River and was the son of Te Heuheu Tukino I (Herea) (q.v.) and Rangiaho, a chieftainess of the Maniapoto. He could trace his ancestry to Tamatekapua, the commander of the Arawa, and to Ngatoroirangi, the priest of the same canoe, and was thus distantly related to Potatau Te Wherowhero and to Te Rauparaha. As chief, he strengthened his position by marrying two grand-daughters of Rangituamatotoru and so united the east and west subtribes of Tuwharetoa. He earned the name “Mananui” (meaning “Great Prestige”) when his uncle, the much respected Tohunga Taipahau, on his deathbed, passed to him his mana and powers.

Mananui gained the respect of his tribe for his fighting prowess and leadership against the tribes from the Hauraki Gulf. Later, in 1828, in the wars against the Ngati Kahungunu (Hawke's Bay), he was made commander-in-chief of a composite force from the Waikato, Ngati Maniapoto, Wanganui, Ngati Maru, Ngati Raukawa, and Tuwharetoa tribes. In turn he had to face the avenging Kahungunu and their allies who stormed Omakukura pa and would have swept on into the Waikato had not Mananui made peace with them. In 1825 he travelled with a war party as far as Kapiti, where he declined to join Te Rauparaha's federation. In 1834, in response to a request from Te Rauparaha for aid in settling his disputes with the Ngati Awa tribes who were located in the south, Mananui led a taua (war party) of 800 men. After heavy fighting in which his brother, Papaka, was killed, the Ngati Awa were defeated at Pakatutu. In the peace which followed the vanquished tribe agreed to remain south of Waikanae. Mananui then proceeded with his taua to the Port Nicholson area, where he showed his resentment at the influence the missionaries were gaining. He did not long retain this feeling, however, for when Bishop Selwyn visited him at Taupo in 1843, he made an appeal for a missionary to work among the Tuwharetoa. When his brother, Iwikau (Te Heuheu Tukino III), signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, Mananui repudiated the signature, saying that he would not subject his mana to a woman or Queen.

Mananui lived at Te Rapa (near Tokaanu) with his eight wives. On 7 May 1846, after Taupo had experienced heavy rainfall, an avalanche swept down the Kakaramea Mountain and overwhelmed Te Rapa. Iwikau, and Mananui's second son, Pataatai (Te Heuheu Tukino IV), were the only two to escape. Iwikau succeeded to the paramount chieftainship of Tuwharetoa. After the appropriate rites, the bodies of Mananui (found clutching the famous mere Pahikauri) and his favourite wife were exhumed and placed in a vault at Pukawa. Later, Iwikau had the remains placed in a cave half way up Tongariro. In 1910 these were removed to Waihi, where they were interred in a vault built by the Government.

A man of advanced views (for he forbade his tribe to indulge in cannibalism), Mananui was the most influential chief in the interior of the North Island and one of the most distinguished Maoris of his time. He was over seven feet tall and well proportioned – a superb military tactician, a great general and a wise counsellor. Mananui was always respected by his enemies because of the chivalrous way in which he fought.

by Robert Ritchie Alexander, M.A., DIP.ED.(N.Z.), B.T.(CALCUTTA), PH.D.(MINNESOTA), Teachers' Training College, Christchurch.

• King Potatau, Jones, P. te H. (1959)
• Tuwharetoa. Grace, J. te H. (1959).