Te Rautakitahi o Tuhoe ki Orakau

Ko Te Rautakitahi o Tuhoe ki Orakau, he korero whakahirahira na Ta William Te Rangiua ‘Pou’ Temara i te reo Maori mo ta Tuhoe whai wahi ki te pae o te riri ki Orakau i nga pakanga o Aotearoa. He mea tuhi te korero nei i te reo Maori, a, e ai ki nga korero tuku iho, ka patai a Ta Pou i nga patai uaua mo nga tane me nga wahine i haere ki te tautoko i a Ngati Maniapoto i te pakanga e kiia nei ko Orakau. Ko wai ma ratau? He aha ratau i haere ai? He aha ta ratau mahi i reira? He aha hoki te hononga ki a Ngati Maniapoto?

Koia enei, ko nga whakaaro o Ta Pou, otira ko nga whakaaro o te tangata no Ruatahuna, te wahi no reira te nuinga o nga uri o Tuhoe i whai wahi ai ki te pakanga ki Orakau, he korero tuku iho na ona koroua me ona kuia i a ia e tipu ake ana. E korero ana ia mo te taenga atu o Rewi Maniapoto ki Ruatahuna i te tau 1862 me te tau 1864 ki te tono ki a Tuhoe mena ae ranei ka whai wahi ratau ki te awhina i a Ngati Maniapoto me te Kingitanga. Ka korerohia nga toa, nga wahine, me nga tamariki i haere, katahi ka korerohia te ahua o te mana me te rongo o te hunga o Tuhoe i te hokinga atu i muri mai i te haukerekerehia o ratau i Orakau. Kei roto hoki i te pukapuka nei nga tatai whakapapa o te hunga o Tuhoe i haere ai ki Orakau. Kua whakataurite a Ta Pou i ana korero ki nga korero a etahi o te hunga kaituhi Pakeha penei i a Elsdon Best ratau ko Judith Binney, ko Vincent O’Malley.

He korero mana nui, he korero hou hoki mo tenei o nga pakanga o Aotearoa i tuhia ra e tetahi o nga tino kaituhi Maori o te motu.

Te Rautakitahi o Tuhoe ki Orakau is an account of Tuhoe involvement in the battle of Orakau in the New Zealand wars by Sir William Te Rangiua ‘Pou’ Temara. Written in te reo Maori and based on oral sources, Ta Pou asks the big questions about the Tuhoe men and women who went to fight with Ngati Maniapoto at Orakau. Who were they? Why did they go and what did they do there? What was the nature of their alliance with Ngati Maniapoto?

Ta Pou gives this account as a man from Ruatahuna, where most of the Tuhoe who went to Orakau came from, through the stories told to him by his grandfather, great-grandmother and other kuia and koroua when he was young. He tells the story of Rewi Maniapoto visiting Tuhoe at Ruatahuna in 1862 and 1864 to ask if Tuhoe would become involved in the war to help Ngati Maniapoto and the King movement. He recounts the warriors, women and children who went, and then tells what happened to their authority and reputation in Tuhoe after the party returned, defeated, from Orakau. The book includes significant Tuhoe whakapapa for those who went to Orakau. Ta Pou compares his account of events to those of Pakeha writers like Elsdon Best, Judith Binney and Vincent O’Malley.

This is a major new account of a key episode in the New Zealand wars written by one of our leading Maori thinkers and writers.