Horomona Pohio
Encyclopedia
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
leader, missionary, assessor and land protester.
Early life
Horomona Pohio claimed descent from the major lines of Ngai TahuNgai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
, Ngati Mamoe and Waitaha
Waitaha
Waitaha is an early historical Māori iwi . Inhabitants of the South Island of New Zealand, they were largely absorbed via marriage and conquest first by the Kāti Mamoe and then Ngāi Tahu from the 16th century onward....
. His hapu
Hapu
A hapū is sometimes described as "the basic political unit within Maori society".A named division of a Māori iwi , membership is determined by genealogical descent; a hapū is made up of a number of whānau groups. Generally hapū range in size from 150-200 although there is no upper limit...
were Ngai Taoka, Ngati Huirapa, Ngai Te Ruahikihiki, Ngai Te Rakiamoa and Ngai Tuahuriri. His father was Tohu, his mother Tutu.
According to his obituary Pohio was born in 1815 at Wainono, in the Waihao region of South Canterbury, New Zealand, near Te Waimatemate (Waimate). He was given the name Iwikau. He was one of the children who were sent to Murihiku (the southern part of the South Island), to be kept from a possible threat from Te Rauparaha and Ngati Toa, with whom Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
of Kaiapoi pa were in dispute. His early years were spent at Ruapuke Island
Ruapuke Island
Ruapuke Island is one of the southernmost islands in New Zealand's main chain of islands. It lies to the southeast of Bluff and northeast of Oban on Stewart Island/Rakiura. The island covers an area of about . It guards the eastern end of Foveaux Strait...
, in Foveaux Strait
Foveaux Strait
Foveaux Strait separates Stewart Island/Rakiura, New Zealand's third largest island, from the South Island. Three large bays, Te Waewae Bay, Oreti Beach and Toetoes Bay, sweep along the strait's northern coast, which also hosts Bluff township and harbour. Across the strait lie the Solander...
, with his grandfather Te Kahupatiti.
Pohio came in contact with Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in the early 1840s, while living at Ruapuke. On 18 June 1843, at Waikouaiti, he was baptised by James Watkin, a Wesleyan
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, and took the name Horomona (Solomon
Solomon
Solomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
). As a part of his mission Horomona was to act as pastor of Ruapuke. In the 1840s and 1850s he also assisted the Wesleyan missionaries at Waikouaiti and Moeraki.
Horomona Pohio was a participant in the signing of the Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
purchase deed in 1844. He was also a signatory to the sale of Canterbury in 1848, and the Murihiku purchase in 1853. In 1859 he was made an assessor at Te Waimatemate, a position which carried the duties of a local magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
, and in the 1860s spent some time in Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay is a region of New Zealand. Hawke's Bay is recognised on the world stage for its award-winning wines. The regional council sits in both the cities of Napier and Hastings.-Geography:...
. On his return to the South Island he became a follower of Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
tohunga Hipa Te Maiharoa, at Te Wai-a-te-ruati, near Arowhenua, and a missionary for the Kaingarara religion, which had similarities with the teachings of Te Ua Haumene in the North Island.
Pohio, as secular leader of Te Maiharoa's community, was concerned with the consequences of Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
land sales. The signatories to the Otago purchase had been informed that reserves, known as tenths, were to be set aside for Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
, and protested when this did not come about. Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
also contested the boundary of the Canterbury purchase. They understood that the purchase applied to the area from Maungatere (Mt Grey, near Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi is a town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, located close to the mouth of the Waimakariri River, and approximately 17 kilometres north of Christchurch....
) in the north to Maungatua
Maungatua
Often incorrectly called The Maungatuas or The Maungatua Range, Maungatua is a prominent ridge which dominates the skyline of the Taieri Plains in Otago, New Zealand...
, at the boundary of the Otago block, in the south, and west as far as the foothills of the Southern Alps
Southern Alps
The Southern Alps is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the island's western side...
. The purchasers insisted that the western boundary was the main divide itself. Larger reserves as well as areas where food was produced or gathered were to be set aside for Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
and future generations. By 1868 parts of the reserve at Hakataramea, on the Waitaki River
Waitaki River
The Waitaki River is a large river in the South Island of New Zealand, some 110 km long. It is the major river of the Mackenzie Basin.It is a braided river which flows through Lake Benmore, Lake Aviemore and Lake Waitaki. These are ultimately fed by three large glacial lakes, Pukaki, Tekapo,...
, had been sold, and the new owners refused to allow Māori to continue to hunt weka there. In Murihiku the boundary of the purchase was again in dispute. Pohio was one of the principal speakers at a hui held at Tuahiwi, near Kaiapoi, in March 1874, to discuss Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
grievances.
In 1877 Te Maiharoa led his followers, including Pohio, to establish a new settlement, Te Ao Marama (Omarama), high in the Waitaki valley, to assert Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
rights to the interior of the South Island. In joining Te Maiharoa, Pohio alienated himself from the mainstream leadership of Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
, who sympathised with the tohunga but did not approve of his actions. In October 1878 Pohio and his son Tuwhare travelled to Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
for a meeting with the native minister, John Sheehan. They were courteously received, but Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
claims for the return of the interior of the South Island were rejected by Sheehan as illegitimate. Pohio turned down the offer of a commission of investigation, considering that no justice could result from a Pākehā
Pakeha
Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
inquiry. Hori Kerei Taiaroa, MHR for Southern Māori, who was present, regarded Te Maiharoa's protest as counterproductive. Pohio returned, bitter, to Te Ao Marama. Tension between local Pākehā
Pakeha
Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
runholders and Te Maiharoa's supporters increased, and in the winter of 1879 Te Maiharoa and his followers were forcibly evicted from the Waitaki valley by armed police.
The failure of this protest was followed by an attempt to achieve justice within the Pākehā
Pakeha
Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
judicial and political framework. In 1879 and 1880 Pohio gave evidence before the Commission on Middle Island Native Land Purchases (the Smith-Nairn commission), which was set up to inquire into Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
and Ngati Mamoe claims, that the Crown had failed to keep its promises. When the commission's interim findings were that Ngai Tahu
Ngai Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
did have valid grievances, the government cancelled the commission's funding. Pohio returned to live at Te Waimatemate, where he died on 12 March 1880.
Horomona Pohio is known to have had four wives. His first wife was Mauhe, of Murihiku. His second wife was Wikitoria Korako, the daughter of a Ngati Mamoe chief of Ngati Huirapa hapu
Hapu
A hapū is sometimes described as "the basic political unit within Maori society".A named division of a Māori iwi , membership is determined by genealogical descent; a hapū is made up of a number of whānau groups. Generally hapū range in size from 150-200 although there is no upper limit...
. They had two children. In Hawke's Bay in the 1860s Horomona married Peti Paihi (or Pae) of Ngati Kahungunu, from Wairoa. They had two children also. Pohio's fourth wife was Hera (or Hira) Tau, daughter of Ngai Tuahuriri chief Paora Tau of Kaiapoi, and Te Raki. They had six children.