TE HUNIA

Hunia te Hakeke "Governor" was a chief of the Ngati Apa, Rangitikei (Manawatu). He was married to the colourful female ariki of the Wairarapa, Niniwa-i-te-rangi (see 19b). It is said that Kupe, a meeting house at Horowhenua, situated on a small hill called Panui-o-Marama, a short distance from Te Rae o Te Karaka, was built by Hunia and Major Kemp as an "act of defiance" over the Muaupoko land ownership question (described above). In the new tribal boundaries Muaupoko were barred from what had previously been a traditional source of food at the Hokio stream. Buick (in his book "Old Manawatu") states that the house was built on what had hitherto been regarded as Ngati Raukawa land, at the place where Tauteka, Te Whatanui's wife, was buried. Thus the construction of Kupe was an act of defiance against Ngati Raukawa. As a result of this, a meeting of the respective chiefs was called and the runanga agreed with Hunia's demands that the Muaupoko tribal boundaries should be moved up to a line parallel with Kupe and the Hokio stream. Native land court sittings reaffirmed this position.