Te taenga mai o te Ope Whakaora
Ko te tikanga o Te Ope Whakaora, ko te taua e whakarauora i te tangata. Ko ngā āpiha o te Ope Whakaora i tae ki Aotearoa i Piritone I 1883, he wā kua hōhā haere Ngāi Māori i ngā whakahaere o ngā hāhi Pākehā i Aotearoa. I te tutahi i mahi te Ope Whakaora ki ngā taone me ngā tāone nui, engari kāore i uru mai ngā Māori, nā te mea, kei waho o ngā tāone rātou e noho ana. Ko te tokoiti i uru mai ko ngā tāngata pērā I a ‘Māori Joe’ Solomon nō Kaiapoi, rāua ko Maraea Morris, he wāhine rangatira i tū hei heihana-kara o te rōpū o Tūranga.
Ngā mīhana Māori
I te tau 1888 ka tīmata te mīhana a Kāpene Ernest Holdaway o te Ope Whakaora me tana wahine a Lizzie ki roto o te awa o Whanganui. Ko te whetū i te rangi ka kapohia e rāua ara ko te rangatira o Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi ko Tamatea Aurunui. I whakawātea ia i tana whare i Hiruharama hei huihuinga mō rātou, ā, nānā i tuku i te waka o Rangimarie ki ngā āpiha. Ka haere anō a Holdaway ki ētahi atu o ngā iwi, ā, ka tūtaki ki a Tāwhiao, ki a Te Whiti me Te Kooti. Nānā anō i taki ngā kōnehete Māori o te Ope Whakaora ki tāwāhi.
Whakaauraki mōiriiri
I te tau 2008 ka pōhiritia a Meiha Lynette Hutson (reanga tuarima a te Ope Whakaora) me tana tāne a Ian ki waenganui ki ngā Mangaru. He mea pōhiri rāua e Edge Te Whāiti, te rangatira o ngā Mangaru ‘Notorious’ o Te Matau-a-Māui. Ko te hiahia a Te Whāiti kia whakatūhia tētahi whare mō ngā Māori e tāmia ana e te taimiri ‘Pī’. Ko te tuatahi o ēnei akoranga ka tū ki Kākahi ki Taumarunui. O ngā mema 12 o te rōpū i whai wāhi ki te akoranga, 10 o rātou ka whakamutu i te kai ‘Pī’, ā, ko te tokorua kīhai i eke, ka haere anō ki tētahi atu o ngā akoranga i tū ki Tūrangi. I te katinga o te puni i Tūrangi ka haere anō ngā rangatira o ngā Mangu Kaha me ngā Tribesman i te taha o te tumuaki takirua o te Pāti Māori, a Tariana Turia.
Rautau 1900
Nā te whakarerekētanga o ana kaupapa e ngā kaiwhakahaere o te ope ka iti iho ngā mahi mā te Ope Whakaora ki ngā hapori Māori. Nā whai anō ka paheke anō te tautoko a te Māori i te ope. Engari nō te wā i a Meiha Robert Prowse ka whakahaere ia i tana mīhana ki te Tai Rāwhiti mō te 30 tau ā mate noa ia i te tau 1967.
Nō te tau 2000 ku whakapau kaha anō te Ope ki roto ki te ao Māori. Nō te tau 2006 ka tū ngā Kāpene Tuarua a Joe (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi) me Nan Pātea (Ngāti Porou) hei rangatira mō te minitatanga Māori o te Ope Whakaora.
