A background to AWHI – the Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation

Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui and his wife. Batt, William James, fl 1868-1875 (Photographer)

In the last issue of AWHI Magazine, we published an article written by then director of the Board Toni Waho, which was published in the very first issue of AWHI magazine.

This article, also by Toni, appeared in the second issue of the magazine and as part of the 50th anniversary of the Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation, to acknowledge its beginnings and those who worked so hard to ensure that our people could maintain their connection with the whenua, the article is being reproduced here in its entirety. Taitoko Te Rangihiwinui (Meiha Keepa)

In our first edition of AWHI we highlighted the history of vesting of the ‘mōrehu whenua’ to incorporation status in 1970 through to the corporate entity we run in 2015, all for the betterment of the ‘mōrehu tāngata’. In this edition we look into the life of the man that secured our last remnants of land interests for the protection of future generations, Taitoko Te Rangihiwinui, more commonly known as Te Keepa or Major Kemp (Meiha Keepa).

‘te morehu whenua, te morehu tāngata’

Rangihiwinui uttered the above words which have been immortalised in Whanganui tribal and land history. The intention was about protecting the last remnants of the land for the survivors of the last 53 years of turbulence for the people and future generations. This is key as Te Rangihiwinui’s leadership evolved from one that supported the interests of the settler government to help protect his people through to a leader who used his wit and influence to challenge the Crown with his own pen.

Te Rangihiwinui was born in the first half of the 1820s in the tribal area of his father Tanguru-i-te-rangi and his mother, Te Rereomaki, was from Whanganui and a sister to Hori Kingi Te Anaua and Te Mawae (II). The three siblings signed the Tiriti o Waitangi and made up the famous Te Anaua dynasty, of which Te Rangihiwinui inherited. He was born at a time when both his parents’ people had suffered great loss following the musket wars between 1810s and 1820s. This shaped his future and the future of his affiliated hapū and iwi as they partnered with the settler government to regain prominence along the west coast of the southern North Island.

Te Rangihiwinui was a strategist and formidable leader, both in war and in later life when he relied on the saying, ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. From the 1840s to the 1860s he utilised this time to grow relationships with the settlers based in the new Whanganui township. He saw these relationships as key to grow the prosperity and commercial opportunities of the Whanganui tribes, however, on 14 May 1864 at the Battle of Moutoa, the history of Whanganui changed and split our people. For the next 10 years he supported the Crown forces on campaigns around the country but by the late 1870s he had lost respect for a government that didn’t keep to their word, broke promises and started to change his people’s world – the land and river.

Te Rangihiwinui challenged the government as they started to legalise the destruction of pā-tuna along the river for tourism purposes that our people would not benefit from. It is under his leadership that our fight for the Whanganui River started in 1877 and concluded in 2014 at Rānana.

He also established a whare rūnanga at Kauika Marae, Rānana. This house was named Huriwhenua as sign to the country that he was turning to fight the Crown against their continued destruction of our land interests, both illegally and through coercion. This whare rūnanga was a key sign and it was from this time that he reached out to Māori from differing sides of the recent wars to reconcile and support each other to protect the remaining land interests. He also reconciled with Te Kooti, a man he had pursued as part of Crown forces and now welcomed him to the river as a prophet and respected leader.

By the time John Ballance and James Carroll arrived at Rānana in 1893, he was resolute in his efforts to protect the remnants of the land for the benefit of survivors of his tribe. It was at this gathering that the notion of ‘Kemp’s Trust’ was mooted and realised in the early 1900s. Kemp’s Trust was charged with entrusting Māori land into a board of Māori that would develop the land and start a journey of prosperity for our people. Instead, the Crown changed the law and took over our lands up until 1970, when, with the establishment, we started a long journey to slowly take over the management and governance of our own lands.

It was deliberate that Te Rangihiwinui established his council, Huriwhenua, at Rānana as he also influenced the Rev. Richard Taylor in naming this kāinga that he strongly affiliated to so that his daughter, Wikitoria (named after Queen Victoria), could then have her own London. Wikitoria was his daughter to his first wife Makareta and his last wife was Raua Mata Kaihoe. His last marriage was to secure political power and Raua Mata Kaihoe with his daughter Wikitoria carried on his legacy.

The surviving memorials of this great leader and the forefather of all land trusts and incorporations throughout the Aotea District are the statue of Te Rangihiwinui at Pākaitore and more importantly, the wharepuni at Rānana Marae, Te Morehu.

Huriwhenua started to rot by the end of the century and was shortened and rededicated with a new name Te Morehu to remember the famous saying uttered by Te Rangihiwinui. The wharepuni was moved from Kauika to stand next to Ruaka at the top marae and Te Morehu stands as a reminder that the remnants of the land should always be protected and grown for the benefit of the descendants of the survivors, for generations to come. In closing, we remember the words of the founding chair of AtihauWhanganui Incorporation, Dr Whakaari Rangitākuku Metekingi who married the namesake of Te Rangihiwinui’s daughter, Wikitoria:

‘he ao āpōpō, he ao tea – our future is bright and with it comes clarity’.