An oral history from New Zealand

Included in the parcel by Lilicherie McGregor, New Zealand

Greetings to people of Aotearoa, visitors under the wings of our mountain, Taranaki.

Tena Koutou
E nga iwi o te motuy
E oho ake nei
i raro i te parirau o to tatau maunga Taranaki

The story of Te Whiti o Rongomai and Parohaka
As told by Freda Parekaitu Tito,
At her home on the Parihaka pa.


My name is Parekaitu Tito. I was born in 1930 in new Plymouth and came to Parihaka in 1931, when my parents were asked to look after the meeting house here, Raukuar. This meeting house belongs to Te Whiti o Rongomai. My Kuia, who was Te Whiti’s daughter, wanted my parents to come back and help. In the meantime the Raukura burned down. Then it was transferred to T Pae Pae. When they died my sister took over and then it was my turn. I have been looking after the meeting house for fourteen years now.

In the days of my up bringing in Parihaka I learned much about the stories of the place. Our local lore here is based around the stories of the land taken away and how our chiefs T Whiti and Tohu were taken to the South Island to jail because they refused to give up the land.

See, Parihaka was a community of people who had come to settle and listen to the teachings of Tohu Kakahe who was a seer and T Whiti o Rongomai who was the puwhenua- he did the talking. They were prophets chosen to guide the people and thousands settled here to listen to the teachings.

To try and disperse the people, soldiers would destroy the fences and rip up people’s gardens but when they came back the following day the fences would be up and the gardens mended again.

On the day when finally a big group of soldiers came they brought a big gun with them, placed it on this hill over here, T Purepo, and trained it on the marae. They had come here with the intention of shooting all the of the people who settled here. These days people ask me, “Was there a bloodbath?” but no, there wasn’t. I wouldn't be talking to you today.

A man, Taare Waitara, who lived in the house on this hill over here, Te Hiona, had a dream the previous night, before the soldiers arrived. He dreamt of a dog barking and that he got up and wondered what was the matter. He saw the dog run up the hill where a gun was standing and crook its leg. Taare Waitat told the chiefs about this dream and Te Whiti and Tohu told the people to come out of their Whare. The people were told to sit down on the marae and the children were sent off down to the gate and told to play marbles, skipping, anything. They were all young kids at the front, with the bigger ones at the back. When the constabulary arrived and tried to come through the gate to get to Te Purpoo they couldn’t get in because the entry way was filled with children, who were named the Tarkihi children.

Finally the sol soldiers got off their horses and surrounded the marae with their guns at the ready, looking for the slightest movement. Houses were burned to the ground. Then Bryce, the commander, came on the marae to talk to Te Whiti and Tohu but they would not stand up to talk to him and at the end of the day the soldiers took them away.

They were taken to court, where they never said anything, and finally they were taken to jail in Dunedin with a lot of the people from here, who had done with them. A lot of those people died down there.

We run the “eighteens” and “nineteen’s” for Te Whiti and Tohu, to commemorate the meeting days they used to hold here.
People would come in carts from Waikato, Nelson, Wanagnui, all over New Zealand right down to Invercargill. As they travelled, they would stop off at maraes along the way and would be given bags of kumara, potatoes and other food to bring here. Thousands of people would arrive her on the seventeenth of each month and in the old days it took some of them months to travel here.

A lot of people are coming back to live here now. They bring their houses with them and settle on the places that belonged to their ancestors. And if you see anybody wearing the white feather, anywhere in the country, it is because they belong to Parihaka and are members of Te Ati Awa Iwi.


"Te Whiti was a famnous prophet who led a protest of passive resistance against the British settling and confiscating Maori land." (Taken from Lilicherie's notes in the notebook)