Tāmihana Te Rauparaha

Tāmihana (born Katu) Te Rauparaha (1820s – October 1876) was a New Zealand Māori leader, Christian evangelist, assessor, writer and farmer. He was born in Pukearuhe, Taranaki, New Zealand, the son of the great Ngāti Toa leader Te Rauparaha and his fifth and senior wife, Te Ākau of Tūhourangi.

Tāmihana was strongly influenced by Church Missionary Society teaching. In 1842 Tāmihana worked as a missionary in the South Island, easing fears of renewed conflict from his father's old enemies. The following year he married Ruta Te Kapu in Ōtaki. In October 1850 he sailed for England,  where he was presented to Queen Victoria. On his return Tāmihana became supportive of the idea of a Māori King to unify tribes. Initially he joined the King movement in opposing the selling of Māori  land to the government, but when a chief of Te Āti Awa, Wiremu Kīngi got into conflict with the government over the sale of land at Waitara, he broke with the movement and sided with the government over issues of land and sovereignty.

He died on 24 October 1876 and is said to be buried in an unmarked grave at Ōtaki, beside his wife. They had had no children, but had an adopted son.

Writer
Between 1866 and 1869 Tāmihana wrote a 50,000 word account in te reo Māori about his father, the great Te Rauparaha called He pukapuka tātaku i ngā mahi a Te Rauparaha nui / A record of the life of the great Te Rauparaha which was translated most recently into English by Ross Calman and published by Auckland University Press in 2020. There was an earlier translation between 1915 and 1918 by George Graham although there were flaws in Grahams translation partly due to the copy he used to translate from and partly he mistranslated some sections.