WĀHINE MĀORI, WHENUA MĀORI

ERENA WILLIAMSON

DESCRIPTION Maraea Mōrete, c. 1870

MAKER / ARTIST Photographer unknown

REFERENCE 1/2-C-016559-F

This portrait of Maraea Mōrete (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki; 1844–1907) is a reminder of the many wāhine Māori who have fought to retain or reclaim rights to their people’s whenua. Some were directly involved in combat in Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa, the New Zealand Wars, in the midnineteenth century, others petitioned and protested against government actions, and yet others pursued legal avenues in court, most often the Native Land Court (now the Māori Land Court).

Since the wave of would-be settlers began arriving in Aotearoa in the late eighteenth century, whenua has been a crucial part of interactions between tangata whenua and tauiwi (new comers). It has been traded, gifted, sold, appropriated and confiscated. Government involvement in these processes has varied; however, in 1865, one year after the Waikato War ended, the colonial Parliament passed the Native Lands Act, the consequences of which can still be felt today.

To administer the law, the government set up Native Land Courts in strategic locations around the country. These courts enabled whenua Māori to be assigned to individual owners, rather than being held collectively by hapū and iwi. The result was that land transfer to Pākehā settlers became much easier, and some 2 million hectares changed hands between 1870 and 1892.

Maraea Mōrete, also known as Maria Morris, became caught up in both war and legal processes. In 1868, during the Crown’s conflict with forces loyal to Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki (Te Kooti) in Tūranganui, she and her husband and child were captured by a Te Kooti raiding party. Mōrete’s husband was executed, but after two weeks as a prisoner she managed to escape with her child. In 1869, she appeared in the Supreme Court in Wellington to testify against the men involved in these events, who were on trial for high treason.

Aside from her strong desire to see Te Kooti and his followers brought to justice, Mōrete may have been motivated to testify to ensure she was not viewed as a rebel by the government, as the Native Land Court could exclude Māori from holding shares in whenua on this basis. And indeed, the Native Land Court minutes for Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne area) in 1869 record her presence and testimony in a successful fight on behalf of her whānau for rights to their whenua, to which they were able to return.

Later in life, Mōrete wrote about her experiences in a manuscript known as her ‘Reminiscence’. This is believed to be the first autobiography written by a wahine Māori, and a copy is held in the Turnbull Library.

This carte de visite portrait of Maraea Mōrete was possibly taken during her stay in Wellington to testify against followers of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki during their Supreme Court trial for high treason.