Hei Ariki (Tihei) Algie née Smith

Rongowhakaata

1913 -



Hei Ariki Algie was born in Manutuke, the senior great granddaughter of Te Kooti Arikirangi, and oldest daughter of Putiputi Miria. She grew up in Manutuke and was educated at Te Arai school from She worked as a nurse in the Cook Hospital and after contracting tuberculosis was hospitalised for two years. At the age of 21 she began working as a fleecer with shearing gangs and continued this work after her marriage to Jack Algie in 1944.

Biographical sources

  • Phone conversation with Jacky Phillips: 14 July1998.
  • Ngā Mōrehu/The Survivors. Ed. J. Binney and G. Chaplain. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1986. 90-107.

    Biography

  • “Hei Ariki Algie.” Ngā Mōrehu/The Survivors. Ed. Judith Binney and Gillian Chaplain. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1986. 90-107.
  • This oral account is taken from three interviews with Tihei Algie between 1982-1984. Although she is the great granddaughter of Te Kooti Arikirangi and now the head of the Rikirangi family, Tihei Algie only discovered her relationship with Te Kooti at the age of fourteen. Algie discusses various aspects of her life growing up in the home of her grandparents in Manutuke, attending the Ringatu Twelfths, being taught Māori customs by her grandmother, learning how to catch eels, and working as a fleecer for her father’s shearing gang. She also tells of her marriage to Jack Algie, her work with the land incorporation committees of Te Whakaari and Papuni and her persistent opposition to the sale of family land. In 1983 she attended the Centennial of Te Kooti’s pardon at Te Kuiti.

    Other

  • Erai, Michelle, Fuli, Everdina, Irwin, Kathie and Wilcox, Lenaire. Māori Women: An Annotated Bibliography. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Michelle Erai, Everdina Fuli, Kathie Irwin and Lenaire Wilcox, 1991. 1.