Taare Rakatauhake Parata (1865 – 8 January 1918), also known as Charles Rere Parata, was a Māori and a
Liberal Party
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Member of Parliament in New Zealand.
Parata was born at Puketeraki near
Karitane
The small town of Karitane is located within the limits of the city of Dunedin in New Zealand, 35 kilometres to the north of the city centre.
Set in rolling country near the mouth of the Waikouaiti River, the town is a popular holiday retreat ...
Southern Maori
Southern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Eastern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, an ...
) and his wife Peti Hurene, also known as Elizabeth Brown. He affiliated to the
Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Point ...
,
Kāti Māmoe
Kāti Māmoe (also spelled Ngāti Māmoe but not by the tribe themselves) is a historic Māori iwi. Originally from the Hastings area, they moved in the 16th century to the South Island which at the time was already occupied by the Waitaha.
...
and Waitaha (tribes). His paternal grandfather was Captain Pratt, a whaler from
. He received his education at Dunedin Normal School.
In 1896, Parata was a working for the
Native Land Court
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and enterta ...
as a clerk and licensed interpreter. On 15 June of that year in
Tauranga
Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
Te Arawa
Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka''). She was the daughter of a Jewish trader, David Asher, and granddaughter of Asher Asher, the first captain of the Auckland Fire Brigade. Her brothers included rugby players
Albert Asher
Arapeta Paurini Wharepapa (3 December 1879 – 8 January 1965), or Albert Asher as he was more commonly known, was a New Zealand dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1890s, 1900s, 1910s ...
and
Ernie Asher
Ernest "Ernie" Asher (21 April 1886 – 10 April 1973), also known as Te Keepa Pouwhiuwhiu, was a New Zealand rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played representative rugby league (RL) for New Zealand Māori and New Zealan ...
. Another brother, John Atirau Asher, came to live with Te Rongokahira and Charles Parata in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
in about 1906. The couple had one daughter and two sons of their own.
Charles and Te Rongokahira Parata were among the leaders of "progressive" Māori society and strongly supported the manifesto of what become the Young Māori Party. They often spent time in Wellington, and moved there permanently in 1905. Parata left his position with the Native Land Court and joined William Moffatt in business as land and estate agents, interpreters and native agents; Moffatt running the Palmerston North branch and Parata the head office in Wellington.
Following his father's elevation to the Legislative Council in 1911, Parata succeeded his father as Member of Parliament for the Southern Maori electorate in the 1911 general election, and he held the seat until 1918, when he died in Wellington. His body was returned to Puketeraki for burial.