A Pakeha-Maori was a European, often a deserter, shipwrecked seaman, or runaway convict, who fell into Maori hands and escaped death or slavery by becoming a tribal member. He married one or more Maori wives, often became tattooed, and frequently reached a prominent position in the tribe acting as an agent between Maori and Pakeha in their trading activities, thereby raising the status of the tribe. Such was John Rutherford who was sole survivor of the Agnes wrecked near Thames(?) in 1816. He lived amongst the Maoris for 10 years, rose to become a chieftain, was tattooed, and married two wives. Another was a trader, Capt. John Rodolphus Kent, who was probably the first European to bring a ship into the Hokianga River. He later became a Pakeha-Maori at Kawhia and Ngaruawahia.

Amongst the gentry more qualified to spread the less virtuous aspects of European life can be named Jacky Marmon, an uneducated deserter who settled in Hokianga in the early years of the nineteenth century; and Kimble Bent who deserted the Army to join the Hauhaus in the 1860s, with whom he lived as a slave. He finally came out of exile in 1878, and thereafter lived in various places until his death at Blenheim in 1917. The most famous was Maning who lived at Hokianga for many years and eventually became a judge of the Maori Land Court.

by John Sidney Gully, M.A., DIP.N.Z.L.S., Assistant Chief Librarian, General Assembly Library, Wellington.