Honiana Te Puni
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Letters »
These letters are from the Donald McLean Papers, and relate mainly to land issues
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Newspapers »
Mainly obituaries of Te Puni from Papers Past and the Niupepa database
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Books »
Includes references from Fildes, H.E.M. Selective indexes to certain books relating to early NZ.
Papakainga
Honiana Te Puni, the eldest son of Rerewha-i-te-rangi and Puku, belonged to Ngāti Te Whiti and Ngāti Tawhirikura hapū of Te Ati Awa. His wife was Wikitoria Muri-tu-waka-roto and they had seven children.
With his uncle, Raua-ki-tua, he escaped Taranaki invaders attacking Rewarewa Pa by leaping from the cliff into the Waiwhakaiho River. He thus acquired the name Te Puni-kokopu.
He and Te Wharepouri, were involved in the defence of Pukerangiora pa, the battle against the Waikato at Motunui (about 1822) and they also made contact with Jacky Love and Dicky Barrett (around 1828). Te Puni visited Sydney in the Tohora in 1828.
Following the defence of Otaka Pa, 1831, Te Puni with many Te Ati Awa, migrated to Waikanae in the heke Tama-te-uaua. Te Puni cultivated at Te Koanga-a-umu, near Porirua, then moved to Okiwi and Palliser Bay.
With his people he spent time in Wairarapa, moved back to Matiu (1836) and was then invited by Matangi and Te Manihera to take up residence at Pito-one.
Te Puni and Te Wharepouri boarded the Tory, 20 September 1939, indicated the boundaries of land, and, with others, signed a deed of purchase on 27 September 1839 with the New Zealand Company. He also signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Port Nicholson on 29 April 1840.
Te Puni and Wi Tako were friendly with the settlers, and after the Boulcott farm incident were issued with 100 muskets to help keep peace. Te Puni became a friend of Governor Grey and the settlers, but later protested against Donald McLean’s purchase of the Waitara block. He died 5 December 1870.
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Images
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#1 Epuni painting by Charles Heaphy.Te Puni standing, with full facial moko, clad in a dogskin cloak and holding a taiaha in his right hand. This portrait was drawn at the time of the purchase in 1839. The village of Pitone and the flag-staff at the foot of which Colonel Wakefield took formal possession, appear in the back-ground.Part of The two head chiefs of Port Nicholson. Warepori or "Dark house". Epuni. Day & Haghe. [London, Smith, Elder 1845] Reference number: PUBL-0011-02-2. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
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#2 Te Puni seated in a whare in Pito-one Pa N. Z. 1860, water colour by Charles Barraud.The title of this work when acquired by the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1961, was Maori in whare at Pipitea Pa. However the man depicted bears a strong resemblance to Honiana Te Puni and the dogskin cloak being worn, with a lighter patch on the left front opening, is also very like the cloak shown in Barraud's other portraits of Te Puni. If the subject is Te Puni, the whare in which he is seated is more likely to be at Petone Pa than at Pipitea Pa. The sea and hills behind are also positioned as if from a view from of Petone Pa. Reference number: B-005-015, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand -
#3 Honiana Te Puni-kokopu as an elderly man.Honiana Te Puni-kokopu. Part of Williams family : Photographs relating to the Williams family (PAColl-8045). Reference number: 1/2-029567-F, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand -
#4 Monument to Te Puni (1877), an engraving by Charles Barraud.Te Puni's monument in the Maori cemetery in the Hutt Valley.Part of Barraud, Charles Decimus 1822-1897 :New Zealand Graphic and Descriptive. The illustrations by C. D. Barraud. Edited by W. T. L. Travers. London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1877 (PUBL-0016) Reference number: PUBL-0016-03, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
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#5 E Puni's Pah on the Petoni Flat, 1847, a drawing by William SwainsonOn the right is the palisade of Te Puni's pa with the roof of one whare rising above the fence-line and a single high-roofed house on the plain further into the valley on the left. There is a lone male figure, carrying a long spear standing in the middle ground, between two trees. Reference number: A-190-015, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
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#6 Group of mourners at the grave of Honiana Te Puni, Petone, Wellington.23 January 1940.Scene at the grave of Honiana Te Puni, at Petone, after the Hon. W Nash had laid a wreath in memory of the late chief of the Ngatiawa as a prelude to yesterday's ceremonies.Photograph by an Evening Post staff member. Reference number: PAColl-5482-004. Part of Evening Post : Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post newspaper (PA-Group-00287), Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
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#7 Portrait of Honiana Te Puni (ca. 1860) by Charles D. Barraud.Used with the kind permission of the National Library of Australia, Reference nla.pic-an2273981. -
#8 Baptism of the Maori chief Te Puni in Otaki Church, New Zealand 1853, painting by Charles D. Barraud.Te Puni is baptised by Rev Octavius Hadfield.
Used with the kind permission of the National Library of Australia, Reference nla.pic-an2273028. -
![E Puni, a Port Nic. [ie. Nicholson] chief](images/bio-tepuni-10s.jpg)
#9 E Puni, a Port Nic. [ie. Nicholson] chief, H.M.S. Havannah, a watercolour by Philip Doyne Vigors, 1853?Used with the kind permission of the National Library of Australia, Reference nla.pic-an2929987 -
#10 Banquet given at Wellington to native chiefs. [Pipitea Street, 1849, from a drawing by Mr J. H. Marriott, London 1850]From: Illustrated London news, 9 February 1850, p.84
The event took place on 17 April 1849 in the house of Dr Fitzgerald, next-door to the hospital according to an article in the Wellington Independent, 25 April 1849, p. 3. Dr Fitzgerald was in the chair, with Mr Henry St Hill as vice-chair. Octavius Hadfield was also present, along with Te Puni, Wi Tako and a large group of other Maori men, all listed in the article. Reference number: PUBL-0033-1850-084, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand -
#11 Courtyard in Pipitea Pa at Wellington. Drawn in 1842 by Captain William Mein Smith. R. A. Day & Haghe. London, Smith, Elder [1845]Reference number: PUBL-0011-04-1, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand -
#12 Pitone Pa, Wellington, 59. Engraved by Henry Melville. Drawn by S C Brees. [London, 1847].Reference number: PUBL-0020-20-1, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand -
![Pearse, John 1808-1882 :[Portraits of Maori. Between 1852 and 1856]](images/bio-tepuni-14s.jpg)
#13 [Portraits of Maori. Between 1852 and 1856] by John PearseEpuni is represented in the top left. Reference number: E-455-f-020, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
![E Puni, a Port Nic. [ie. Nicholson] chief](images/bio-tepuni-10l.jpg)
![Pearse, John 1808-1882 :[Portraits of Maori. Between 1852 and 1856]](images/bio-tepuni-14l.jpg)
About these images
The images you see in the gallery to the left are displayed with the generous permission of a number of institutions. Click through for a larger version of each image and a link to the source online.
Our sources were:
- Alexander Turnbull Library's collection - Timeframes
- The National Library of Australia
General Links
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
- Te Puni-Kokopu, Honiana, ? - 1870 (in Te Reo Māori - English version also available)
Te Ara
- Te Puni, Honiana, ? - 1870 (from the 1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ)
Wellington City Libraries' Māori Resources:
- Te Puni’s death: despatch 1870
- List of Māori chiefs and tribes
- Te Whanganui-a-Tara Deed of Purchase
- Treaty of Waitangi – Wellington
- 1850 Census
Books
Print Books
- Grey, G. Polynesian mythology. 1855. p. 300
- Freeman, W. He who digged a pit. 1889. p. 14/o
- Wallace, Manual of New Zealand. 1886. p. 27
- New Zealand Blue Book. 8.4 1846 p. 6, 26
- C.M record 1853 p. 291 (baptized)
- Wakefield, W. Handbook for New Zealand. 1848. p. 100
- Wakefield, W. Adventure in New Zealand. 1909. p. 52 etc, 137, 145, 150, 157
- Barton. Earliest New Zealand. 1927. p. 416, 420, 426
- Thomson, . Story of New Zealand. 1859. Vol. 2. p. 226.
Digitised Books
From the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC):
- The Death and burial of Te Puni, 1870. In Louis Ward's Early Wellington, (pp. 173-176).
- Index entry for Te Puni (Person)
Te Papa
- Biography of George Hunter (mentions Te Puni)
His life came to an untimely end in July 1843, when he caught a chill and died. It is notable that the Maori chief Te Puni sent a generous gift of produce to Hunter’s bereaved family, and appeared with all his tribe to mourn at the funeral. Clearly, while there was some conflict between Maori and Pakeha in the area, there was still a great deal of goodwill.
- Portrait of Dr Featherston and the Maori chiefs, Wi Tako and Te Puni
Newspaper articles
Paperspast:
From the National Library of New Zealand's Paperspast database (pertaining to the death of Honiana Te Puni).
- Funeral of Honiana Te Puni (1870, 9 December) Evening Post. Retrieved from Papers Past.
- Funeral of Te Puni (1870, 10 December) Evening Post. Retrieved from Papers Past.
- Death of Te Puni (1871, 3 January) Wellington Independent. Retrieved from Papers Past.
- Wellington. (From our own correspondent.) (1870, 20 December) North Otago Times. Retrieved from Papers Past.
- Wellington. (From our own correspondent.) (1870, 21 December) Taranaki Herald. Retrieved from Papers Past.
- Local and General News (1871, 3 January) Wellington Independent. Retrieved from Papers Past.
- Wellington (1871, 4 January) Taranaki Herald. Retrieved from Papers Past.
- Funeral of Epuni (1872, 2 February) Wellington Independent. (Pertains to erecting a mausoleum) Retrieved from Papers Past.
- Death of Te Whiti ; The Big Tangi ; Interesting Reminiscences ; A Quiet Day (1907, 22 November) Taranaki Herald. (within “Death of Te Whiti”). Retrieved from Papers Past.
From The New Zealand Digital Library's Māori Niupepa collection:
- Te Karere o Poneke 1857-1858: Volume 1, No. 30: 2
- Te Karere o Poneke 1857-1858: Volume 1, No. 42: 2
- Te Karere o Poneke 1857-1858: Volume 1, No. 14
- Te Waka o Te Iwi 1857: Volume 1, No. 1
The Alexander Turnbull Library
Here is a link to a search on TAPUHI (TAPUHI contains records for the items held in the Alexander Turnbull Library unpublished collections) for all material relating to Te Puni:
TAPUHI search (47 records in total)
Letters & Manuscripts
Donald McLean Papers:
These letters are from the Donald McLean Papers, and are pertaining to land issues.
- Letter from Te Puni to McLean, 7 Feb 1851
Reference Number: MS-Papers-0032-0675B-03. Object #1032023- Available via Alexander Turnbull Library
- Letter written from Pitoone
- 2 pages written 7 Feb 1851 by Honiana Te Puni-kokopu in Petone to Sir Donald McLean, related to Te Ati Awa.
- Letter from Te Puni to McLean, 15 Sep 1851
Reference Number: MS-Papers-0032-0675H-09. Object #1032903- Available via Alexander Turnbull Library
- Letters written from Pitoone
- 2 pages written 15 Sep 1851 by Honiana Te Puni-kokopu in Petone to Sir Donald McLean, related to Te Ati Awa.
- Letter from Te Honiana Puni to McLean and George Grey (with translation), 12 Oct 1852
Reference Number: MS-Papers-0032-0676E-01. Object #1030003- Available via Alexander Turnbull Library
- Letter regarding land and local issues and includes contemporary translation and explanation of context by McLean.
- 7 pages, related to Sir George Grey, Honiana Te Puni-kokopu, Petone and Te Ati Awa.
- Letter from Honiana Te Puni to McLean, 16 Oct 1863
Reference Number: MS-Papers-0032-0687E-05. Object #1032780- Available via Alexander Turnbull Library
- 1 page, related to Honiana Te Puni-kokopu, Te Ati Awa.
