Te Pahi (''Tippahee'' in traditional orthography; died 1810) was a

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 ...

tribal leader and traveller from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He was from the

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 165, ...

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 ...

and lived in the

Rangihoua Bay Rangihoua Bay is a bay at the southern end of the Purerua Peninsula, on the north-west shore of the Bay of Islands in Northland Region, Northland, New Zealand.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.367. It is 10 km north across the Bay ...

area of the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its ...

. In 1805 Te Pahi decided to seek out Lieutenant Governor

Philip Gidley King Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence an ...

who, ten years earlier, had visited New Zealand from Norfolk Island. On arrival at Norfolk Island in 1805 Te Pahi found that King was no longer there. The superintendent of the island, Captain Piper, arranged for Te Pahi to continue his journey to

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

where King had become

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

. Te Pahi arrived in Port Jackson on 27 November 1805, and was received as an honoured guest by Captain Philip Gidley King, who presented him with a medal to recognise his visit. It was the first state gift presented to a Māori

rangatira In Māori culture, () are tribal chiefs, the hereditary Māori leaders of a hapū. Ideally, rangatira were people of great practical wisdom who held authority () on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land and that ...

. King also presented Te Pahi with a prefabricated brick house which was built in his pā on Motu Apo Island and was the first permanent European style house in New Zealand. During the visit Te Pahi also met

Samuel Marsden Samuel Marsden (25 June 1765 – 12 May 1838) was an English-born priest of the Church of England in Australia and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand. Marsden was a prom ...

, chaplain of New South Wales. Te Pahi attended church services and discussed religion with Marsden, who formed plans for a Church Missionary Society mission under Te Pahi's protection at Rangihoua. Te Pahi was incorrectly blamed for the burning of the ''Boyd'' incident in 1809 and his pā on Motu Apo was stormed by crew from several whaling ships in retaliation in 1810. The whalers murdered many people, looted the island and destroyed houses including the medal from King. Te Pahi was wounded in the attack on his island but his death several weeks later was the result of other wounds he received in a conflict with Māori from the

Whangaroa Whangaroa is a settlement on Whangaroa Harbour in the Far North District of New Zealand. It is 8 km north-west of Kaeo and 35 km north-west of Kerikeri. The harbour is almost landlocked and is popular both as a fishing spot in its o ...

region over the ''Boyd'' affair. He was succeeded as chief of the Rangihoua Bay area by Ruatara.

Silver medal

The silver medal presented to Te Pahi was stolen during the raid by the whalers in 1810, and its whereabouts remained unknown until 204 years later, in 2014 when an auction house in Sydney offered it for sale. Ngapuhi representatives and Te Pahi descendants intervened to try to return the

taonga ''Taonga'' or ''taoka'' (in South Island Māori) is a Maori-language word that refers to a treasured possession in Māori culture. It lacks a direct translation into English, making its use in the Treaty of Waitangi significant. The current d ...

back to New Zealand, and they negotiated with

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

and the Auckland War Memorial Trust who jointly purchased the medal. The medal was purchased at an auction in Sydney in 2014 and put on display at Te Papa in 2017.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Pahi Year of birth missing 1810 deaths Ngāpuhi people People from the Bay of Islands