Portrait of Hoani Wiremu Hipango

Portrait of Hoani Wiremu Hipango, 1855.

The Putiki chief Hoani Hipango was a leader of Ngati Tumango, of Te Ati Haunui-a-Paparangi. His mana over Te Ati Haunui-a-Paparangi tribal lands extended some 100 kms up the Whanganui River. He was one of the first Wanganui Maori to convert to Christianity. Hipango was described by the missionary Richard Taylor as the most influential Wanganui leader from the 1840s to the 1860s.

In 1846 Hipango provided men to defend the township of Wanganui, under threat from hostile Taupo and upper Whanganui Maori, until the arrival of government troops. He helped apprehend those responsible for the Gilfillan killings in April 1847.

Hipango was chosen by a meeting of Wanganui and Rangitikei leaders to accompany Richard Taylor on a visit to England in 1855. Leaving in January, they travelled via Sydney, where Hipango visited the former home of Samuel Marsden at Parramatta. In London he had an audience with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, whom he presented with gifts from the Wanganui tribes.

Hipango played a key role in the battle at Moutoa Island in May 1864 and in the ongoing campaign against Pai Marire. He died in February 1865 as a result of wounds he received during an attack on Ohoutahi, the main Hauhau pa below Pipiriki.