From an oil-painting by G. Lindauer, in the Municipal Art Gallery, Auckland]
Topine te Mamaku

This old warrior was prominent in the fighting at the Hutt (1846) and Wanganui (1847). He was the principal chief of the Ngati-Haua-te-Rangi Tribe, of the Upper Wanganui. One of his honorific names was “Te Ika nui o roto o te Kupenga” (“The Great Fish in the Net”). A celebrated tribal proverbial saying in reference to Te Mamaku was: Ka unuunu te puru o Tuhua, ka maringiringi te wai o puta,” meaning, “If you withdraw the plug of Tuhua you will be overwhelmed by the flooding hordes of the north,” in allusion to this chieftain's strategic position, holding the passage of the Upper Wanganui. Te Mamaku died at Tawhata in 1887.