11. Closing Chapters:

What were the final chapters in Kehu's most eventful life? We can't be absolutely certain about this for he seems to 'drop out' of the European records as the era of major explorations drew to a close in the late 1840s, and there was a decline in the settlers' dependence on the assistance, knowledge and skills of local Maori. However, as well as commanding tremendous respect from those Europeans who had come to know him well, Kehu must have enjoyed considerable mana in Maori communities as well. Why do we say that? We say it because even his masters, the Ngati Rarua chiefs Aperahama Panakenake and Poria (themselves also baptised Wesleyans), granted to Kehu a life interest in six acres of their land in Motueka, and his name appears as an owner of this section (Pt Section 181, Motueka S.D.) on an original cadastral map of that district, Kehu may have returned to the Matakitaki as he had intimated in mid-1848, but we think it most likely that he returned to Motueka to work his land; why else would Panakenake and Poria formally grant him life tenure if he was not in occupation? In regard to Kehu's land tenure, Hohaia Rangiauru (Motueka chief of Te Atiawa) gave the following evidence to the Native Land Court 1901:

"Hone Mokehakeha belonged to Ngati Tumatakokiri the original tribe who occupied the district. He was a slave of Aperahama and Poria's, and according to Native custom the land occupied by him would go back to his rangatiras. He accompanied Mr Brunner on his exploration of the interior in 1846, Pikiwati of the same tribe went with him."

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Tuiti Makitonore (later M.P.) of Rangitane was next witness and confirmed Rangiauru's evidence:

"Hone Mokehakeha was a captive. He belonged to Ngati Tumatakokiri, the original tribe. Aperahama and Poria were his rangatira 's… " ²¹

Hohaia Rangiauru also intimated that Kehu had an interest in Section 165 in Motueka:

"…Heard that Mokehakeha was allotted a portion of the land. " ²²

We hope that Kehu's wife was forgiven by Te Iti and was also allowed to return to Motueka with him.

Kehu's end is cloaked in mystery. There is a curious death notice/obituary in The Colonist of 16 June 1893 of "Ekehu, better known as Charley Brunner…at the age of 75 years"; this man had died at Wakapuaka Pa where he had spent his declining years with Huria and Hemi Matenga. This creates a real mystery because the man known as "Charley Brunner" who died at Wakapuaka that day was Eruera Rawiri Te Rauhihi, who was of Ngati Rarua/Ngati Tama descent. Te Rauhihi was certainly not Hone Mokekehu of Ngati Tumatakokiri. Understandably, historians have taken the newspaper report as gospel e.g. the Wastney history which has later been retold by others such as Lesley Richardson and Phillip Temple (although Lesley was sorely exercised trying to reconcile the whakapapa and biography of Te Rauhihi with the then known biography of Kehu). We do not believe the newspaper account to be accurate; the confusion probably arises from Rauhihi's nick-name, "Charley Brunner". We have never seen any reference to Kehu in the 1840s journals, diaries or official records as "Charley Brunner", although he was called 'Jackey' on rare occasions (Hone = John = Jack = Jackey?), ²³

There are other difficulties in trying to reconcile Kehu's age with the above account (and other indications in the journals). In 1893 Kehu would have been near to 100 years old. Even though Brunner sometimes referred to Kehu as "my lad", and Heaphy's pencil sketches are claimed by some to represent a young man, we believe that by the mid-1840s Kehu would have been in his late 40s. Commentators have also referred to the then life-expectancy of Maori and have even claimed that 48 was "old" for a Maori; however, any number of tipuna of Nelson and Marlborough reached grand old age, as recorded time and again by anthropologists and historians and in the Native Land Court records. The simple conclusion is that at the time of writing, Kehu's later life remains a mystery as does the date and place of his death.