Kereopa Te Rau

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Kereopa Te Rau († January 5, 1872 ) was a prophet of Pai Marire , a Māori religion in New Zealand .

Kereopa was a member of the Iwi Ngati Rangiwewehi in Te Arawa . The place and time of his birth and the names of his parents are not known. In the 1840s he was baptized “Kereopa” ( Cleophas ) by the Catholic missionary Euloge Reignier . He was likely employed as a police officer in Auckland in the 1850s .

In the early 1863 he fought on the side of the Māori King Movement during the invasion of Waikato . His wife and two daughters were killed on February 21, 1864 when government troops attacked the unfortified village of Rangiaowhia near Te Awamutu . The following day he saw his sister's death defending the Hariri fortification line west of Rangiaowhia.

Shortly afterwards he met with the prophet Te Ua Haumene and converted to the newly founded religion Pai Marire . He was one of the first five supporters. In December 1864 he was sent on a missionary trip to the tribes on the east coast of the Gisborne District . He was instructed to be peaceful and to avoid confrontation with the Pākehā .

While he was in Opotiki , the missionary Carl Völkner was arrested by his own church congregation, which had converted to Pai Marire, sentenced in a "quick trial", hanged and then beheaded. This event became known as the Völkner Incident . Immediately afterwards, Kereopa celebrated a “service” in Völkner's church from his pulpit, with the cut off head of the missionary next to him. During the sermon he gouged out the dead man's eyes and ate them.

Kereopa and his entourage moved on to Gisborne and then to the Urewera Mountains to do missionary work with the Tuhoe . In 1865 he tried to return to Waikato , but was repulsed by a force of government- loyal Ngāti Manawa and Ngāti Rangitihi . After the battle, Kereopa is said to have eaten the eyes of three killed enemies. Hence he was nicknamed Kai Whatu (eye eater). For the next five years he found refuge in the Ureweras.

In the early 1870s, government forces invaded the Ureweras in search of Te Kooti . The Tuhoe were defeated and had to hand over Kereopa to the leader of the government forces, Major Ropata Wahawaha .

Kereopa was tried in Napier for the murder of Völkner on December 21, 1871 . He was convicted and hanged on January 5, 1872.

The Ngati Rangiwewehi see the outcome of the proceedings as predetermined and an abuse of justice. Kereopa received a posthumous pardon as part of the 2014 Waitangi Treaty settlement process .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Steven Oliver: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Te Rau, Kereopa . October 30, 2012.
  2. ^ Evelyn Stokes: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Völkner, Carl Sylvius . October 30, 2012.
  3. ↑ Andrew Stone: pardoned at last: Chief cleared of murder in 1865 . In: The New Zealand Herald , June 21, 2014. 
  4. ↑ Ngāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement Bill April, 2014.

literature

  • J. Cowan: The New Zealand Wars. New Zealand Government Printer 1992.
  • AC Lyall: Whakatohea of ​​Opotiki. AH & AW Reed 1979.
  • Chapter 5: The Völkner and Fulloon Slayings. in: The Ngati Awa Raupatu Report. Waitangi Tribunal, 1999.
personal data
SURNAME Te Rau, Kereopa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kai Whatu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Guide of the Pai Marire
DATE OF BIRTH 18th century or 19th century
DATE OF DEATH January 5, 1872
Place of death Napier