Story: Māori prophetic movements – ngā poropiti

Page 4. Te Whiti and Tohu – Parihaka

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Te Whiti and Tohu

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). The new name recalled the lamentations of the people.

The community held monthly public meetings on the 17th (later the 18th), discussing the scriptural promises and the confiscated lands of Taranaki. Te Whiti, who was the greater orator, repudiated the authority of the settlers’ laws over Māori. At first the two men shared the leadership on a six-monthly rotation; later, they quarrelled over money and divided the settlement into two segments, with each leader presiding over his own marae. During the 1870s Parihaka grew into the largest Māori settlement in the country.

Surveying and ploughing

In 1878 the government began surveying the confiscated southern Taranaki lands for European settlement. In response, from May 1879, under the initial direction of Tohu, the Parihaka men went out to reclaim this land by ploughing it. As they were arrested and imprisoned, others took their places, with people coming particularly from Pātea, Whanganui and Waikato. Te Whiti said, ‘The settlement to be by Europeans and Maories, the Maories on their reserves and the Europeans on the remainder but the Maories being owners of the soil to receive “takoha” [tribute] from the Europeans.’1 He wanted to make Parihaka ‘Israel’, the new kingdom for Māori, and sought to reclaim the rangatiratanga (chieftainship) guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi.

Government sacks Parihaka

Responding to the growing Māori support for Parihaka, on 5 November 1881 the government sent troops to break up the community. All outsiders were expelled (about 1,600 people), and their homes destroyed. Te Whiti, Tohu and a third Taranaki prophet, Tītokowaru, were arrested and spent six months imprisoned awaiting trial. then the Supreme Court judge threw out the charge of obstruction laid against Tītokowaru.

Faced with the probability of the collapse of the remaining trials, the government urgently passed special legislation allowing the indefinite imprisonment of Te Whiti and Tohu. Sent to the South Island, they were released in early 1883. They returned to reconstruct Parihaka as a model (and modern) community.

Te Whiti was again arrested in 1886. He returned to Parihaka in 1887, but in 1891 was declared bankrupt. Despite this, and the tensions between the two leaders, Parihaka continued as a centre of non-violent resistance to settler laws until the deaths of both men in 1907. The raukura, the single albatross feather worn by the people, symbolises peace; it is understood as a sign of sanction by the Holy Ghost, left at the foundation of Parihaka.

Footnotes:
  1. R. S. Thomson (reporting Te Whiti’s speech) to Lieut-Colonel J. M. Roberts, 1 April 1880, Le 1 1879/3 (ii), p. 76, Archives New Zealand, Wellington. Back
How to cite this page:

Judith Binney, 'Māori prophetic movements – ngā poropiti - Te Whiti and Tohu – Parihaka', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/maori-prophetic-movements-nga-poropiti/page-4 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Judith Binney, published 5 May 2011