Hāmi Te Māunu was a ''

rangatira In Māori culture, () are tribal chiefs, the leaders (often hereditary) of a (subtribe or clan). Ideally, were people of great practical wisdom who held authority () on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land ( ...

'' (hereditary Maori leader) of

Ngāti Mutunga Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, whose original tribal lands were in north Taranaki. They migrated, first to Wellington (with Ngāti Toa and other Taranaki hapū), and then to the Chatham Islands (along with Ngāti Tama) ...

who was born in 1823 in north

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

. He was also known as Hamuera Koteriki and Hamiora Te Herepounamu. Hami's father was Te Herepounamu of Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Kinohaku and Ngāti Rārua. Te Herepounamu was also called Koteriki. Using aliases in different stages of life was a common practice amongst New Zealand

Māori people Māori () are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of Māori migration canoes, c ...

. Hāmi's mother was Oriwia. Oriwia was of the Ngāti Mutunga,

Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, also called Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori people, Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and the northern South Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Toa remains a small iwi with a population of ...

and

Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Raukawa is a Māori iwi (tribe) with traditional bases in the Waikato, Taupō and Manawatū/ Horowhenua regions of New Zealand. In 2006, 29,418 Māori registered their affiliation with Ngāti Raukawa. History Early history Ngāti ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

. Together Te Herepounamu and Oriwia had 3 children. The eldest was Makareta (who married Wiremu Tamihana Te Matawhitu), then Hāmi, and a final daughter Hēni. Hāmi married Maea Tarata and is recorded as having four daughters, Horiana,Native Land Court, Chatham Islands Minute Book. Volume 1. 1870. page 2 Te Ata Hāmuera, Heni Hāmuera, and Rakera Hāmuera, and one son, Whakaheke. All of Hāmi’s biological children predeceased him, and later in life, he took under '' whāngai'' arrangement with his sister Makareta, a distant relative and girl, Ngāropi Tūhata. He also took as ''whāngai'', his biological nephew, the son of his younger sister Hēni, Tīwai Pōmare. The ''kāinga'' (abode) of all of Te Herepounamu’s children were shared in common throughout their lifetimes. In 1831, the two eldest children (Makareta 9 years old, and Hami 8 years old) left Taranaki with a number of Ngāti Mutunga. This correlates with the time that the Tama Te Uaua migration to Wellington occurred. They stayed there together for 4–5 years prior to their departure to Wharekauri when Te Herepounamu invaded with Ngāti Mutunga and

Ngāti Tama Ngāti Tama is a Māori people, Māori iwi, tribe of New Zealand. Their origins, according to oral tradition, date back to Tama Ariki, the chief navigator on the Tokomaru (canoe), Tokomaru waka (canoe), waka. Their historic region is in north Tar ...

. Having lived on Wharekauri for almost 30 years Te Herepounamu's children returned to

Urenui Urenui is a settlement in northern Taranaki, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 3 close to the shore of the North Taranaki Bight, 13 kilometres east of Waitara and 6 km south-west of Mimi. The Urenui River ...

, in north Taranaki where they continued to reside with short intervals at

Parihaka Parihaka is a community in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori people, Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre ...

and for Hami a short sojourn to Wharekauri in 1870 for

Native Land Court Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nati ...

title investigation sittings before returning to Urenui. Heni died first c1874 – 1876, followed later by Hāmi in 1901, and finally Makareta in 1904.Maori Land Court, Taranaki Minute Book. Volume 17. 15 October 1912. page 268. All three siblings are believed to be buried on Okoki pa at Urenui.

Land titles

Hāmi Te Māunu was the only male heir to the

mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...

of Te Herepounamu. As such, when the Native Land Court began individualising titles to previously communally owned customary Maori land, Hāmi became the major individual land holder on behalf of his whānau, often to the exclusion of his sisters and their children. Hāmi Te Māunu was an original individual land grantee in the following land blocks after title investigations were conducted by the Native Land Court from 1870 or through Crown Grants of confiscated land through the West Coast Commission of 1880.

Land titles

References

Further reading