Inscriptions
as a). above
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104. Notes: “Several historians have written that Henare Wiremu Taratoa was killed at Gate Pa, one stating he was shot by our men when in the act of procuring water for the mortally wounded Colonel Booth, but such happily was not the case. He however met his death at Te Ranga, and though seen by me I did not draw him as he was not a tattooed maori, but in after years I made a watercolour of him from a portrait. His brother, Te Rau, was killed at Gate Pa. Taratoa was a chief of the Ngaiterangi residing at Opounui, a settlement on the inner side of … Matakana Island … He was a young man of pleasing appearance with a face lightly covered with slight whiskers … he had received religious instruction at St. John's College [Auckland] and was appointed a layreader and native school-teacher at Otaki in 1858 … On his body was found a document in Maori addressed to the fighting men, it opened with a prayer and concluded with the words, “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink.” When George Selwyn became Bishop of Lichfield in 1868 a sum of money was subscribed by [those] to whom he had ministered during the Maori War, and with this he caused to be procured a series of richly coloured windows … the most remarkable … being to the memory of Henare Taratoa … It represents King David pouring out the water which his three soldiers fetched at the risk of their lives from the well of Bethlehem. (I Chron. XI. 17–19.)” [Robley. Fildes: 1921 page 74.]
The portrait from which this work is copied, is reproduced in “New Zealand Wars”. [Cowan: 1955] page 437.
“I send this mail to Tauranga a portrait of Taratoa to some relative asking — I showed it last year to a Maori trooper, so he must have reported it, or returned & told, Te Koutou by name.” [Robley-Mair: 1918 ATL qMS/1898–1922]
It is generally accepted that it was Heni Pore (Jane Foley) and not Henare Taratoa who procured water for Colonel Booth:
“She [Heni Pore] should not be denied of the credit of tending our wounded and dying, the attempts were subsequently made to give the credit to one Te Ipu who had his ankle smashed early on the day … Then Bishop Selwyn evidently believed that the good samaritan was Henare Taratoa, and now Ngaiterangi declare that it was Rawiri Puhirake and Te Rewiti … but … there is no getting away from the fact that they dying Colone] Booth informed General Cameron that it was a woman who administered to him …” [Mair-Cowan: 1922. ATL MS Papers 39].
“Now I never knew or heard of H. Taratoa — no one sent me.” [Heni Pore-Cowan: 1926 ATL MS Papers 39].
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Taratoa's letter to the Imperial Forces, setting out the rules of conduct for Pukehinahina and Te Rangaranga was based on a similar letter written by Rawiri Puhirake in 1862 [see Edward Shortland Papers, Hocken Library].
“Henare Taratoa [was not Ngaiterangi but] of the Ngati Raukawa tribe. [He] became a Christian at an early age, taking the names of the missionary Henry Williams — Henare Wiremu … In 1861 Henare Taratoa was teaching at the Mission School in Tauranga …” [Mikaere: 1984]
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![104. Henare Taratoa reproduced from ‘The story of Gate Pa’ [Mair: 1926 opp. page 8]](/etexts/WalRobl/WalRobl318a(h280).jpg)
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