Page 176 - Puhipi

Te Aitanga a Tumoana

totalling £260, a stretch of 35 miles at Muriwhenua. Taylor wanted to acquire property for himself,
and to re-establish Te Aupouri on the land from which Panakareao had driven them nearly 20 years
before. About 60 Te Aupouri were re-established at Parengarenga by 1841, but relations between
them and Panakareao were not good. Te Aupouri told Taylor that Panakareao had no right to sell
their land. With the connivance of a Pakeha-Maori called Smith they challenged Panakareao by
planting in his personal cultivations. In spite of this clash Taylor persisted with his plans; when he
visited Kaitaia on 16 February 1841, on the occasion of Panakareao's official Christian ceremony of
marriage to Ereonora, he arranged for Taitimu of Te Aupouri to settle on the Muriwhenua land,
enjoining him to permit no one to settle who did not acknowledge Taylor's ownership. Clashes with
Te Aupouri were followed by clashes with NgaPuhi. Panakareao had hereditary rights over the
Oruru Valley but he had permitted some landless NgaPuhi relatives to settle there under their leader,
Pororua. After some years Panakareao's Te Rarawa relatives wished to send away Pororua and his
people, but as often as they were expelled they returned. After a while they were given permission
to remain.

As European demand for land increased, Pororua and his followers assumed the right to sell land at
Oruru and Mangonui. In their view their right derived from NgaPuhi conquests at Whangaroa. They
became annoyed when Panakareao sold a large section to S. H. Ford, and kept the bulk of the
purchase price. Panakareao made his claim known to Hobson, and received £100 and a horse, but
then Pororua made the same claim and received the same treatment. Although he was angry,
Panakareao agreed to let the investigation by the land commissioner, Colonel E. L. Godfrey, proceed
without interference. He was willing to compromise, but Pororua's people began killing his pigs at
Oruru as a challenge. They then built a pa, so Panakareao's people did the same. Fighting began in
1843; Panakareao's side suffered more casualties. Parties of northern Maori assembled and escorted
the contesting parties away from the disputed territory, as, in spite of the efforts of Henry
Williams, Panakareao would not agree to a division of the land. In the following years Pororua
continued to pursue his claims, and a final solution had not been reached by the time of Panakareao's
death.
In the northern war of 1845-46 Panakareao and his followers supported the British. Governor
Robert FitzRoy suspected that Hone Heke's support of Pororua at Oruru in 1843 was the main
reason for Panakareao's eagerness to join Tamati Waka Nene and other allies of the British at
Omapere in April and May 1845. At Ruapekapeka in January 1846 he fought with Nene and others
in a hand-to-hand battle against a large party of Kawiti's people who sallied out from the pa.
Papahia of Whangape remained neutral, as did other Te Rarawa chiefs, and Panakareao had raised
only 14 followers. Perhaps as a reward for his support of the governor, Panakareao was made an
assessor in 1851, and given the duty of settling disputes among Maori. He returned to Oruru to live
for a time; there he incurred the displeasure of the missionaries by taking two additional young
wives.

After a time he returned to Ereonora, to whom he was 'very attentive'. His authority remained
unchallenged to the end. He became ill early in 1856 and died at Oruru during the night of 12-13
April 1856. After his death Panakareaos body was carried up Kaitaia Valley (later Victoria Valley)
where, after a great tangi he was buried beside his wife Ereonora. In 1865 his remains were
disinterred and reburied in the Kaitaia churchyard under the site of the alter of the raupo church. In
recognition of his loyalty to the missionaires, his name was coupled with those of Matthews and
Puckey on tablets on the Lich-gate erected on 18 March 1934 marking the centenary of the founding
of the mission station.