Te Heu Heu 1815 1820 Waikato Nz

edmondsallan - Hello -Herea prepared himself for conflict with Te Wakaiti, who was renowned for his skill with the pouwhenua, a sharp, pointed wooden weapon. When asked to accept the leadership, Herea told Ngati Te Aho that before he could do so he must become skilled in the use of the pouwhenua. He went to Rangitoto in Ngati Maniapoto territory for instruction from Huahua, a relative of his mother, and he returned to Taupo with a pouwhenua named Arerokapakapa.

With Ngati Te Aho leaders Herea went to the pa where Te Wakaiti lived and told Te Wakaiti that they had come to install Herea in his place. With his pouwhenua Herea defeated Te Wakaiti, and became the undisputed leader of Taupo and custodian of the god Rongomai. For a time he found it difficult to live up to the high standards of his predecessor, and some of the hapu to the north and south of the lake did not acknowledge him. But eventually he was able to establish his leadership and keep peace and order in Taupo.

Some time after his installation he visited his mother's Ngati Maniapoto people and met Tokotoko, a cousin of his first wife, Rangiaho. Tokotoko became his second wife; when Rangiaho heard of this she hanged herself from the palisades of Whakatara pa. She is remembered for two songs: the first was a love song for Herea, when she heard the news about Tokotoko, and the second was composed just before her death. For his part, Herea paid tribute to her in a lament:

Ascend, O Lady, to the first heaven,
And to the second heaven! I pay tribute
To you as mother, and to you as fond parent.
I unthinking have lost the spray of the ocean
Into the limbo of the void.

Herea and Rangiaho had at least three sons, two of whom succeeded Herea as leader of Ngati Tuwharetoa - Mananui Te Heuheu Tukino II and Iwikau Te Heuheu Tukino III. The third, Papaka, was killed by Te Ati Awa at Haowhenua in the Otaki district in 1834. Some accounts mention other offspring, who were possibly from other wives - a son, Manuhiri, killed in an attack on Maunga-wharau pa, to the west of Waimarama; and a younger daughter, Hurihia, who mourned the death of Manuhiri. With Tokotoko, Herea had a son, Tokena Te Kerehi.

Herea lived in the fortified pa Waitahanui, at the mouth of the Tongariro River. He ruled wisely over Ngati Tuwharetoa for many years. During his time the goodwill between his tribe and Ngati Maniapoto and the Waikato tribes increased. He died at Waitahanui probably in the early 1820s. His body was taken with much ceremony to Motuoapa, the peninsula between Korohe and Te Rangi-ita. Later his bones were removed by Ngati Te Rangi-ita and taken to a cave at Pari-karangaranga, a rocky cliff close by.

For a brief time after his death each hapu of Ngati Tuwharetoa tried to go its own way. However, Mananui Te Heuheu Tukino II was chosen to succeed his father, and the Te Heuheu line has lasted to the present day. Recent generations have continued to use Tukino in the name, and have adopted Te Heuheu as the family surname. Till we meet again - Regards - edmondsallan