Story: Ngā hāhi – Māori and Christian denominations

Mormon converts Hirini and Mere Whaanga

Mormon converts Hirini and Mere Whaanga

Chief Hirini Te Rito Whaanga (Ngāti Rākaipaaka) and his third wife Mere (the daughter of a Pākehā whaler) lived at Nūhaka in Hawke's Bay. In 1884 they and most of their fellow Māori Anglicans converted to the Mormon faith when three American Mormon missionaries arrived. In 1894 the couple and other family members travelled to the central Mormon temple at Salt Lake City in the US. Whaanga later returned as a Mormon missionary to Māori communities.

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Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PAColl-7327)
Reference: EP/1982/4163 (left); EP/1982/4164 (right)

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Hirini Kaa, 'Ngā hāhi – Māori and Christian denominations - Mormon Church', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/30642/mormon-converts-hirini-and-mere-whaanga (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Hirini Kaa, published 5 May 2011, updated 1 Mar 2017