IWI / HAPU AFFILIATIONS
Te Awaitaia was born probably in the late eighteenth century.
His mother was Parehina, and his father was Te Kata. It is said
that Te Awa-i-taia had nine wives, including Rangihikitanga, Hinu,
Kararaina, Pirihira and Raimipaha.1
Te Awaitaia came under the influence of the Wesleyan missionary
William White, while White was setting up mission stations along
the Kawhia coast.2 He became
patron of the Kawhia station, which was built on Ngāti Mahanga land
and is attributed with converting Ngāti Mahanga ki Whaingaroa Maori
to Christianity. He was baptised at Kawhia by the resident Wesleyan
missionary, James Wallis, on 17 January 1836 and took the name
Wiremu Nera (William Naylor).
Wiremu Nera Te Awaitaia signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 11
April 1840, when it was brought to Whaingaroa by the CMS missionary
Robert Maunsell.3 He died at
Kawhia on 27 April 1866.
NM
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