Pepene Eketone (ca. 1856 – 9 November 1933) was a New Zealand interpreter, native agent, assessor and politician. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent, he identified with the Ngāti Maniapoto

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 ...

. He was born in

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

, New Zealand in circa 1856. He sometimes used an English name, which was based on missionaries, and was thus known as Fairburn Eggleston or Fairburn Eccleston. The official return for the lists him as Pepene Tango Eketone; the middle name is not mentioned in his ''

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography The ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'' (DNZB) is an encyclopedia or biographical dictionary containing biographies of over 3,000 deceased New Zealanders. It was first published as a series of print volumes from 1990 to 2000, went online i ...

''. Eketone was politically active and contested his first general election in , when he stood in the electorate; he came third out of five candidates. In the , he came second after the incumbent,

Hoani Taipua Hoani Te Puna i Rangiriri Taipua (1839 or 1840 – 29/30 September 1896) was a 19th-century Māori member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He was born at Rangiuru Pa, Ōtaki to his parents Te Puna I Rangiriri and Te Ria Hauko ...

. In the , he was one of 13 candidates in the Western Maori electorate and came seventh. He had one last (unsuccessful) attempt of getting elected in the Western Maori electorate in the general election; of the six candidates, he came fourth.

References

1856 births 1933 deaths Interpreters People from Taranaki Ngāti Maniapoto people New Zealand Māori public servants Unsuccessful candidates in the 1887 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1890 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1893 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1896 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1908 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1931 New Zealand general election 19th-century New Zealand politicians {{Māori-bio-stub