Tuai of Ngare Raumati: Teaching Europeans in the Early 19th Century

Authors

  • Alison Jones University of Auckland
  • Kuni Kaa Jenkins Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.126.1.7-32

Keywords:

Tuai, Tui, 19th-century Aotearoa New Zealand, Pākehā settlers, Ngare Raumati, Bay of Islands, Ngāpuhi

Abstract

Tuai of Ngare Raumati was probably the most written-about Māori in the first quarter of the 19th century. He was a man who lived in unstable times, who moved flexibly within European and Māori society, and who engaged with almost everyone he met, according to a French observer, with “the tact and shrewdness which enabled [him] to realise with whom he had to deal and by what means he could commend himself to all” (Dumont D’Urville in Sharp 1971: 38). His name—or a version of it—appears in most indexes of books about the pre-1830s Bay of Islands. But almost all modern references to him are in passing. Our article seeks to bring into focus this shadowy figure who played a significant role in New Zealand history, and in particular the relationships between Māori and the first Pākehā settlers in the north of New Zealand.

Author Biographies

Alison Jones, University of Auckland

Alison Jones, Pākehā, is a Professor in Te Puna Wānanga, School of Māori and Indigenous Education at the University of Auckland. Kuni Kaa Jenkins, of Ngāti Porou, is a Professor in the School of Education at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in South Auckland. They have a long-standing shared interest in Māori education, and have published numerous articles together on Māori-Pākehā educational relationships. The focus on Tuai developed from their previous book (He Kōrero: Words Between Us—First Māori-Pākehā Conversations on Paper, Huia Publishers, 2011) about the establishment of the first New Zealand school in 1816, and early Māori interest in reading and writing as technologies. Tuai of Ngare Raumati, Bay of Islands, was a key player in that story, and this article is a result of research for Alison and Kuni’s latest book entitled Tuai: Traveller in Two Worlds (Bridget Williams Books, 2017, forthcoming).
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Kuni Kaa Jenkins, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi

Kuni Kaa Jenkins, of Ngāti Porou, is a Professor in the School of Education at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in South Auckland. Working with Alison Jones, they have a long-standing shared interest in Māori education, and have published numerous articles together on Māori-Pākehā educational relationships. The focus on Tuai developed from their previous book (He Kōrero: Words Between Us: First Māori-Pākehā Conversations on Paper, Huia Publishers, 2011) about the establishment of the first New Zealand school in 1816, and early Māori interest in reading and writing as technologies. Tuai of Ngare Raumati, Bay of Islands, was a key player in that story, and this article is a result of research for Alison and Kuni's latest book entitled Tuai: Traveller in Two Worlds (Bridget Williams Books, 2017, forthcoming).

Dr. Yosihiko Sinoto teaching a class of Tahitian students on Huahine

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Published

2017-03-30

Issue

Vol. 126 No. 1 (2017): March 2017

Section

Articles

License

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The Polynesian Society
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