Why is Te Whiti o Rongomai important?
Te Whiti o Rongomai III ( c. 1830–18 November 1907) was a Māori spiritual leader and founder of the village of Parihaka, in New Zealand’s Taranaki region. Te Whiti established Parihaka community as a place of sanctuary and peace for Māori many of whom seeking refuge as their land was confiscated in the early 1860s.
What did Te Whiti and Tohu do?
Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi were notable prophets who were Taranaki kinsmen and married to sisters. In 1862 Te Whiti had helped passengers and crew escape from the wreck of the Lord Worsley; four years later, endorsed by Te Ua, the two men established the pacifist community of Parihaka (formerly Repanga).
What is special about Parihaka?
About 1600 troops invaded the western Taranaki settlement of Parihaka, which had come to symbolise peaceful resistance to the confiscation of Māori land. Founded in the mid-1860s, Parihaka was soon attracting dispossessed and disillusioned Māori from around the country.
What did Te Whiti accomplish?
Te Whiti developed an oratory which addressed Māori misgivings over the loss of their land. He skilfully utilised a spiritual Māori idiom and the rhetoric of Christianity, imbued with a knowledge of the Pākehā world.
Why did Te Whiti and Tohu start using peaceful protest?
Read more… Under the leadership of Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, Parihaka Māori began a ploughing campaign in protest against European settlement on land confiscated from Māori.
How did Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti o Rongomai protest?
Under the leadership of Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, Parihaka Māori began a ploughing campaign in protest against European settlement on land confiscated from Māori.
Why is Parihaka remembered?
Parihaka is an important event in New Zealand’s history. The Taranaki settlement of Parihaka showed peaceful resistance to a militia invasion on 5 November 1881.
What is the iwi of Parihaka?
In 1865 Taranaki Iwi responded to the plight of war and Crown acts of violence with an alternative non-violent action with Te Whiti o Rongomai, Tohu Kakahi and other prominent Taranaki leaders appointed to lead the community.
How did Parihaka affect Māori?
Throughout the wars of the 1860’s the Parihaka leaders forbade the use of arms and condemned violence and greed. They challenged the Colonial Government over the illegality of the wars, the confiscation of the land and the punitive policies enacted by the Settler Government against Māori.
How did Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti-o-Rongomai protest?
Who is Te Whiti-o-Rongomai family?
Te Whiti o Rongomai III was born to father Hone Kakahi, the great-great- grandson of Takarangu and Rau-mahora, and mother Rangi-kawau, the daughter of Te Whetu of the Taranaki hapu Patukai. Both his parents were of influential Maori patronage.