IWI / HAPU AFFILIATIONS
Watch an interview with descendant Toko
Renata.
The life dates of Ana Rupene - also known as Ana Reupene Whetuki
and Heeni Phillips - are not known at this time. However, we know
she lived and died at Manaia on the Coromandel. Named Ana Rupene in
Lindauer's portrait, she was a woman of mana derived from her Ngāti Maru
whakapapa.
Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Tamatera and Ngāti Whanaunga trace
their whakapapa to an ancestor named Marutuahu, who was the son of
Hotunui of Tainui. Relationship ties between Marutuahu
descendants stretch from Tainui to Hauraki. They were such that
when the Kīngitanga or Māori King movement was established in the
late 1850s,1 tribes pledged
their sacred mountains to the Kingitanga cause to symbolise their
support for the unification of Māori under the leadership of
Tainui. In Hauraki, Kohukohunui (Wharekawa) was offered on behalf
of Ngāti Whanaunga and Rātāroa on behalf of Ngāti Pāoa. Maunga Te Aroha
was given by Ngāti Maru and Moehau by Ngāti Tamaterā.2 This pepeha acknowledges the shared
whakapapa of Pare Hauraki iwi.
Ko Moehau kei waho - Moehau stands in the distance
Ko Te Aroha kei roto - Te Aroha stands inland
Ko Tikapa te Moana - Tikapa is the waterway
Ko Hauraki te whenua - Hauraki is the land
Ko Marutuahu te tangāta - Marutuahu is the man
Lindauer's 1878 painting won a gold medal when displayed at the
St Louis World's Fair3 of 1904
and the medal was conferred on Lindauer's patron Henry
Partridge, rather than the artist. This portrait of Ana
Rupene and child is one of Lindauer's most popular works. The
number of portraits in existence is unknown, although historians
have estimated Lindauer created up to 30 versions.
The child on her back is remembered to have lived to be about 14
- 18 years old. It is said he had a supernumerary congenital
condition meaning he had an extra toe on each foot.4
NM
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