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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 8 (November 1, 1935)

Iwikau te Heuheu

Iwikau te Heuheu.

The great Te Heuheu's younger brother Iwikau became head of the clan on the death of the sacred Ariki in 1846. He had been a warrior of renown, a famous wielder of the taiaha. He was a kindly old man, in the experience of early pakeha visitors to South Taupo. In 1849–50 he accompanied the Governor, Sir George Grey, from Auckland to Pukawa, which became the headquarters of the tribe after the destruction of Te Rapa by the great landslip. The first resident missionary at South Taupo, the Rev. Thomas Samuel Grace, who settled there in 1850, found in Iwikau a friend and protector. The chief was a leading man in the movement to set up a Maori King, and he was offered the kingship himself but declined and suggested Potatau te Wherowhero as a more suitable head. Upon that suggestion the chiefs assembled at Pukawa acted—the date was November, 1856—and old Potatau was proclaimed King at Ngaruawahia and Rangiaowhia.

(Continued on page 41.)