Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi (died ), also known as Betty Nicoll, was a New Zealand leader, trader and innkeeper. She descended from the

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

(tribes) of

Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its ''rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmerston N ...

Ngāti Mutunga Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, whose original tribal lands were in north Taranaki. They migrated from Taranaki, first to Wellington (with Ngāti Toa and other Taranaki Hāpu), and then to the Chatham Islands (along with ...

and

Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with around 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in Wellington and arou ...

. She is known for swimming 11km (7 miles), with her baby daughter strapped to her back, to raise the alarm after a war party from the south attacked her tribe. She was one of only five women to sign the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

, and was known as a woman of great

mana According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being a ...

. In later life, she and her husband kept an inn at

Paekākāriki Paekākāriki () is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island, New Zealand, and one of the northernmost suburbs of Wellington. It lies north of Porirua and northeast of the Wellington CBD. The town's name comes from ...

Early life

Te Rau-o-te-rangi was the daughter of Te Matoha,

chief, and Te Hautonga, of

and

. Her birthplace and date of birth are unknown, but she is thought to have been born either at Kaweka, her mother's village near

Urenui Urenui is a settlement in northern Taranaki, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 3 close to the shore of the North Taranaki Bight, 13 kilometres east of Waitara and 6 km south-west of Mimi. The Urenui River ...

, or Tutaerere, south of

Kawhia Harbour Kawhia Harbour (Maori: ''Kāwhia'') is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwe ...

. In the early 1820s, she took part in

Te Rauparaha Te Rauparaha (c.1768 – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars, receiving the nickname "the Napoleon of the South". He was influential in the original ...

's migration, a long expedition from Kāwhia to

Kapiti Island Kapiti Island () is an island about off the west coast of the lower North Island of New Zealand. It is long, running southwest/northeast, and roughly wide, being more or less rectangular in shape, and has an area of . Its name has been used s ...

, and her father fought against the

Waikato Tainui Waikato Tainui, Waikato or Tainui is a group of Māori ''iwi'' based in Waikato Region, in the western central region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the larger Tainui confederation of Polynesian settlers who arrived to New Zealand o ...

iwi.

Life and legacy

Te Rau-o-te-rangi is known for an 11km (7 mile) swim in 1824 from Kapiti Island to Te Uruhi on the mainland, 3km (2 miles) south of

Waikanae Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kapiti Coast, 60 kilometres north of the Wellington CBD. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the grey mullet". The town lies between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Ōtak ...

, with her baby daughter strapped to her back, to raise the alarm after a war party from the south attacked Ngāti Toa. This stretch of water is sometimes named Te Rau-o-te-rangi or Rauoterangi Channel in her honour. She is reported to have said: From around 1832 or 1833 Te Rau-o-te-rangi lived on Kapiti Island with her

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

husband, John Nicoll, who was a former whaler. He may have been her second husband. She worked with him as a trader, and the two of them often travelled between the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori m ...

and Kapiti or the mainland. She was described by her daughter around this time as a "strong well proportioned woman of great muscular strength and endurance". In 1834, Te Rau-o-te-rangi and her husband went on a 13-month trip along the

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...

to trade with local Māori, a route no European trader had ever taken before. On 29 April 1840 she signed the

Port Nicholson A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...

. She was one of only five women to do so, and was regarded by both Māori and Pākehā as being a leader with

. On 10 November 1841 she and her husband were formally married on a ship off Kapiti Island by the Rev. John Macfarlane, the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister at Wellington. She was baptised in 1844 by the Rev.

Octavius Hadfield Octavius Hadfield (6 October 1814 – 11 December 1904) was Archdeacon of Kapiti, Bishop of Wellington from 1870 to 1893 and Primate of New Zealand from 1890 to 1893. He was a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) for thirty years. H ...

and became a supporter of the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

mission. From 1845 onwards she and her husband kept an inn at

. One of their frequent guests was Governor

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

and he took two of their children away to be educated, although both died young. Although she was said to have had as many as twenty children, only three of her children lived to adulthood. One of her grandchildren was

Māui Pōmare Sir Māui Wiremu Pita Naera Pōmare (1875 or 1876 – 27 June 1930) was a New Zealand doctor and politician, being counted among the more prominent Māori political figures. He is particularly known for his efforts to improve Māori health and ...

, a doctor and politician. In 2019, community artist Rachel Benefield worked with children from Paekākāriki School to develop a mural depicting Te Rau-o-te-rangi's story at

Paekakariki railway station Paekakariki railway station in Paekakariki, Paekākāriki on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand is an intermediate station on the Kapiti Line for Public transport in the Wellington Region, Metlink's electric multiple unit commuter trains from Welli ...

. The mural was unveiled in September 2019. New Zealand composer Michael Norris wrote a solo piece for piano called ''Rauoterangi'', intended to evoke "the dance of light" on the stretch of sea named for Te Rau-o-te-rangi, which was premiered by pianist Emma Sayers at the

New Zealand School of Music The New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī, at Victoria University of Wellington (NZSM), is located in Wellington, New Zealand. NZSM provides a tertiary teaching faculty with programmes in Classical Performance, Jazz Performance, Music Studies, C ...

in December 2019.

References

External links

The Swimmer — How Te Rau-o-te-Rangi Crossed the Strait of Kapiti
in ''Hero Stories of New Zealand'' (1939) by James Cowan {{DEFAULTSORT:Te Rau-o-te-rangi, Kahe 1810s births 1871 deaths Te Āti Awa people Signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi New Zealand traders New Zealand hoteliers Year of birth unknown People from Paekākāriki Ngāti Toa people Ngāti Mutunga people New Zealand long-distance swimmers