Historic HB: Life hard, even for chief's family

This painting of the members of Hawke's Bay Chief Te Hapuku's family was made by surveyor Robert Park (1812-1870) about 1851.

On the left is Queen Hine-i-patekia, the sister of Te Hapuku, who was married to Chief Puhara (tattooed man next to her), who had his pa at Pakowhai.

The young child is Alice, the daughter of Karanema, who was the eldest son of Te Hapuku, through his wife Te Heipora.

Alice's mother, Te Uri He Kahekakariki, is next, who married her father-in-law, Te Hapuku, and became of one of his many wives, after her husband Karanema, died of measles in 1854.

Park, in his notes to the painting, names the last woman as Hine Rangia, and wrote she was the favourite of Te Hapuku's 13 wives, and "was a lady in appearance and manner". Her daughter, who is the last person in the painting, was called Patuware and was "a capital swimmer".

There were many tragedies surrounding the subjects of this painting.

Chief Puhara was killed in a battle at Whakatu in December 1857, after his brother-in-law, Te Hapuku, defied a ban from his rival, Chief Te Moananui, on taking wood to build a pa from the nearby Pakiakia bush.

Park wrote that Alice, Hine Rangia, and her daughter Patuware, all died in the 1850s.

The events after the battle in which Chief Puhara died at Whakatu in 1857 allowed the government land buyers to secure Karanema's Reserve, a 4000-acre block of land from Te Hapuku and a group of other chiefs, including Te Moananui.

Karanema's Reserve became Havelock North.

Michael Fowler will be giving a talk on the history of Havelock North for the period 1852 to 1912, at the Havelock North Community Centre on Thursday, August 23, at 7.30pm, to commemorate 100 years since the forming of the Havelock North Town Board. Gold-coin entry.