Wiremu Neera Te Awaitaia (c.1796 – 27 April 1866) 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 ...

chief in

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 ...

during first contact with European traders, the 1820s

Musket Wars The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an intertribal arms ra ...

up to the 1860s

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the M ...

. Born in or around 1796 into the

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

Tribe of

Ngāti Māhanga Ngāti Māhanga is a Māori iwi (tribe) that is part of the Waikato confederation of tribes (now called Tainui). The tribe's historical lands extended from Whaingaroa Harbour (Raglan Harbour) to the west bank of the Waikato River in the city of Ham ...

, he has been described as a "friend of

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 ...

and a Chief of great influence" in the region of

Raglan, New Zealand Raglan is a small beachside town located 48 km west of Hamilton, New Zealand on State Highway 23. It is known for its surfing, and volcanic black sand beaches. History The Ngāti Māhanga iwi occupied the area around Raglan in the lat ...

. He witnessed the coming of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

to Māoridom (specifically the

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

missionaries to Raglan,

James and Mary Wallis James and Mary Wallis were Wesleyan missionaries and the first European Settlers in Raglan, New Zealand. Early years and journey to New Zealand Born on 18 April 1809 in Blackwall, London, James Wallis felt the call to ministry at a young ag ...

) in the mid-1830s, the sale of native land to the first European settlers, and the signing of 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 ...

in the 1840s. Te Awaitaia also witnessed the

Māori King Movement The Māori King Movement, called the in Māori, is a movement that arose among some of the Māori (tribes) of New Zealand in the central North Island in the 1850s, to establish a role similar in status to that of the monarch of the British c ...

in the 1850s, and the

in the 1860s. He died on 27 April 1866. The name "Wiremu Neera" is the Maori phonetic rendering of the English name "William Naylor", which Te Awaitaia (his original name) took for himself to mark his conversion to Christianity in 1836. The monument that stands in Raglan, erected in his honor (on the western side of the

harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

by the camping ground), spells his name as "Wiremu Nero Te Awaitaia" – other renderings of Naylor are Near, and Naera.

Early years and intertribal conflict

, the tribe into which Te Awaitaia was born, was influential in the Waipa Valley and Waitetuna areas near Raglan. At some point early in Te Awaitaia's lifetime, his tribe is thought to have driven the

Ngati Koata ''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written ...

from their lands near Whai-ngaroa (Raglan) Harbour. After this, the N Mahanga tribe became a member of the Waikato confederacy, which had been formed in response to the increasing influence and aggression 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 ...

Kawhia 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 southw ...

, which was led by the famous Chief of notorious and violent reputation,

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 ...

. Te Rauparaha was driven south away from his lands by the Waikato Confederacy and subsequently took control of much of the lower North Island of New Zealand and also carried out various other infamous invasions. Te Awaitaia took a decisive part in the battle that drove Te Rauparaha south from Kawhia, heroically defeating one of the opposition leaders with an axe (teahatehwa), and obtaining much

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 ...

from the battle. He then led a party of 370 warriors that subsequently harried Rauparaha on his flight southwards. Te Awaitaia was also involved in the

Battle of Motunui A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, which was a famous defeat of the Waikato Tribes. He was famous for his skillful use of his ''taiaha'' (''see image'') A ''taiaha'' is a long weapon of hard wood, with one end carved and often decorated with dogs' hair. and was a Chief of great influence in the Waikato by the time of the arrival of the first (Methodist) missionaries in the mid-1830s.

References

External links

* ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'', web
DNZB26
* ''Encyclopedia of New Zealand'', 1966, web
Teara66
{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Awaitaia, Wiremu Neera Signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi New Zealand Māori soldiers Year of birth uncertain 1866 deaths Ngāti Māhanga people Waikato Tainui people People from Waikato