Tuhawaiki



"His own place of residence was on the island of Ruapuke, in the south; but he travelled a great deal, because his influence and authority extended from the furthest southern point up to here [Lyttelton]".

Biographical sources

  • Wohlers, J. F. H. Memories of The Life of J. F. H. Wohlers. Ed. John Houghton. Dunedin, N.Z.: Otago Daily Times & Witness Newspapers, 1895. 86-87.

    Other

  • Notes on Early Life in New Zealand. George Clarke. Hobart, Austral.: J. Walch & Sons, Wellington Bridge, 1903. 62-63. Rpt. as "Sealers, Whalers and Burial Places." in Māori Is My Name: Historical Māori Writings in Translation. Ed. John Caselberg. Dunedin, N.Z.: John McIndoe, 1975: 25- 26.
  • When George Clarke travelled to Otago in 1844 to conduct land sale negotiations with Colonel Wakefield and Mr John G. Symonds, the Police Magistrate of Wellington, Tuhawaiki, one of the principal chiefs of the area, stipulated why areas of land could not be sold. In this English translation quoted by Clarke, Tuhawaiki stated that the area around Port Chalmers contained many burial places - not of the ancestors, but of his contemporaries who had died of diseases introduced by the whalers and sealers. While the raids of Te Rauparaha has seen the destruction of many of Tuhawaiki’s people, the introduced diseases were far more pernicious and insidious in destroying formerly populous settlements.