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Story: Te Āti Awa of Taranaki

Letter from Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke

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A Newman coach at Canvastown, near Havelock

This letter from Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke to the governor Thomas Gore Browne in 1859 is a protest against the British Crown’s secret dealings with Te Teira, a junior chief who agreed to sell Te Āti Awa land at Waitara. Despite the Crown’s knowledge that Kīngi was the paramount chief, they agreed to purchase tribal land from Te Teira.

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Alexander Turnbull Library, Tyree Studio Collection (PAColl-3064)

Reference: 10x8-0444; G

Photograph by Tyree Studio

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

Peter Adds, Te Āti Awa of Taranaki – War and a kind of peace, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/document/791/letter-from-wiremu-kingi-te-rangitake (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Peter Adds, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 March 2017.