Te Whiti Biography

                              Te Whiti Biography

Te Whiti-o-Rongomai was born in 1830 in Ngamoto, Taranaki. He was born very close to the second siege of Pukerangiora. His father was Tohukakahi and his mother was Rangiawau. Tohukakahi was a minor chief in the Ati Awa tribe. Te Whiti attended Riemenschneiders Mission School at Warea, where he excelled in bible studies. During his time in Mission School he became a very spiritual man. After Te Whiti finished school, he set up a flour mill in Warea. Then many years later, the Europeans burnt down the village where he was born in so Te Whiti moved his settlement the following year to                    

Parihaka. 

By 1870, the biggest village in the country was Parihaka with approximately one thousand and three hundred people. For many years Europeans were living peacefully with the Maori but in 1881 the Europeans started to punish the Maori unfairly and take away their land. Te Whiti and Tohu Kakahi were the leaders of the Parihaka movement and started to protest peacefully.They would not let anyone use arms or fight back because they believed in non-violence. Both men ran monthly meetings and in one of the meetings two European government officials came. An hour later Te Whiti and Tohu were put in jail.

While Te Whiti was in prison the Europeans continued to take what wasn’t theirs. They destroyed all houses and crops. They killed all horses, cattle and pigs and many girls and women got Syphilis because they were raped. Te Whiti was in jail until 1888. Te Whiti’s wife died, days before he was released. When he was released, he wasn’t allowed to return to Parihaka for his wife's funeral. But when Te Whiti did return to Parihaka, everything was over. Nineteen years of punishment had ended.

During 1907 many leaders of Parihaka died. One of them was Te Whiti. He died on the 18th of November but his story will stay around forever.

Te Whiti was a very important man. He changed the future of Parihaka and the power of the Europeans. I think Te Whiti is very inspirational because he didn’t fight back with guns or other weapons. He just stood up for what he thought was right and never gave up.

By Kirrin.