Atua-haere was a chief from Kaikohi. William Yate, in his An Account of New Zealand and of The Church Missionary Society’s Mission in the Northern Island, writes that Atua-haere was baptised with thirty-seven adults and sixteen infant natives on the morning of Sunday, June 8, 1834. ‘One, named Atua-haere, (that is, "the walking god,") is the great man of Kaikohi: he, and several of his slaves - from some of whom he first heard of the Gospel - stood side by side, as brethren; and all their distinction of rank was merged at that moment in the name of Christian. Not that his dependants will cast off their duty to their earthly master, in acknowledging a heavenly one...’
Biographical sources
- Yate, William. An Account of New Zealand and of The Church Missionary Society’s Mission in the Northern Island. 1st ed. London, 1835. 2nd ed. London : R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1835. Rpt. with Intro. by Judith Binney and a new Index comp. Michael Hewson. Shannon, Ireland: Irish UP, 1970. 235.
Other
- "From Atua Haere, Chief of the Nga-Ti-Tautahi, to the Rev. W. Yate." An Account of New Zealand and of The Church Missionary Society’s Mission in the Northern Island. William Yate. 1st ed. London, 1835. 2nd ed. London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1835. Rpt. with Intro. by Judith Binney and a new Index compiled by Michael Hewson. Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, 1970. 255-256.
- In this letter translated into English by William Yate, Atua-haere informs Yate that thirty-seven of his tribe are wanting to be baptised. They have been building a new church after the former one collapsed and now Atua-haere urges Yate to come to Kaikohi and baptise them. Notes on this and other letters received by William Yate can be found in the entry for Wahanga. The 1970 publication of An Account of New Zealand and of The Church Missionary Society’s Mission in the Northern Island, is a facsimile reproduction with new introduction by Judith Binney and index by Michael Hewson of the 2nd ed. published in London by R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside in 1835.