Page 182 - Puhipi

Te Aitanga a Tumoana

12
13
165. Wharemate Timoti Puhipi [9] (TeRipi , Ruakuru , NgaMotu
11 10 9 8 7
, TARUTARU , TeUruKauri , Tumaingarua , Taranga ,
5
2
4
3
6
Toakai , Patito , Houpure , Tamamoko , Tamahotu ,
1
TUMOANA ) was born about 1831, was christened about 1840, died on 1 Sep
1910 aged about 79, and was buried on 4 Sep 1910 in Rangihaukaha Urupa, Pukepoto.
The cause of his death was Bronchitis.
Rapunga Kupu Akoako: (korero taken from "to the northward"et al)
Rangatira; following the death of Te Ripi and with almost all senior Te
Rarawa chiefs attending the tangi it was decided that his only son would lead
his people. His immediate forbears, his father Te Ripi and his uncle Poari Te
Mahana, his close relatives Nopera Panakaereo and Ereonora took part in the
signing of te Tiriti O Waitangi. He himself was involved in several tribal Wharemate Puhipi
disturbances in the North, including the confrontation of the Ngapuhi and Te
Rarawa tribes at Oruru when he was just a youth.
(korero taken from "not here by chance") When Timoti inherited his fathers position, one of his
first objectives was to establish a native school at Ahipara. Timoti wrote to the government offering
to build a church which would double as a school building and pledge to contribute to the teachers
salary, the government would need to only meet the balance of the teachers salary and provide a
home for the teacher for which the tribe would give the land. The government agreed to the terms. In
1891 the school closed partly due to a decimated role (many families left to work on the gumfields),
Timoti wrote to the government demanding they re-open the school or the land it stood upon which
he provided be returned. The school was re-opened.

Timoti also negotiated with the Crown in 1873 to make land available for settlement in the hope of
attracting a new wave of settlers thereby beginning a prosperous period in Te Rarawa history,
however this failed to eventuate instead in 1874 an outbreak of typhoid fever devastated the
population claiming more than three dozen lives including his wife Marara Poutama who left behind
a grieving husband and three children.

Being a chief of his standing, it was accepted that he should have the support of a wife in both
public and private life and so he then married Maata Boroughdale the daughter of Scottish
shipwirght John Murray and Kataraina Hone te Koni a mere 10 months after Marara's passing. On 7
April 1875 Timoti and Maata were married, at 8am they were escorted by one hundred of the tribe
to Kaitaia for the ceremony conducted by the Reverend J. Matthews. After the ceremony they
returned to Pukepoto, as they approached the settlement they were put forward in front of the
procession which escorted them, one bearing the Queens flag marching beside them. The main body
of the people were formed in column at the village awaiting thier arrival, while the women waved
them onward with cries of welcome. Then the escort halted for about 2 minutes whilst the column at
the village sang with one accord a song of welcome.

(korero taken from "to the northward"et al) Timoti was a native teacher trained by the Reverend
Joseph Matthews and as such, with Meinata Te Haara and Heremaia Te Haara attended the
Anglican Synod in Auckland in 1870 when they represented the people of Pukepoto. For a time he
was a native assessor but resigned in 1888 when he unsuccessfully stood as a canditate for Northern
Maori. Other candidates for the seat were; Hone Piripi, Kuka Porowini and Dr Peter H Buck (Te
Rangihiroa). Dr Buck received the nomination.

Towards the end of August 1910, Timoti Puhipi was ailing. A very large tent presented by the
government was set up close by. As the sun set on 1 September his life expired, and on the 4th,
natives carried the coffin to churchyard gate, europeans carried it thence into church and thence to
grave, after the burial we were invited to a dinner with tea.....a good muster of europeans.
The family received telegrams of sympathy from Bishop of Auckland, James Carroll and Apirana
Ngata. Upon his death the chiefly line was passed to his eldest son Riapo Puhipi from his first
marriage.

Born in the year the first missionaries arrived in his area, Puhipi had survived countless epidemics,
losing most of his first family to them. He last stood for parliament in the by-election of February
1892, after Hirini Taiwhanga died just months following the 1890 elections, in which Puhipi polled
well. Eparaima Te Mutu Kapa outpolled Puhipi in 1892, Puhipi did not contest the seat again. Kapa