Wahanui Huatare

Wahanui Huatare, of Ngati Maniapoto, was born in the late 1820s. Raised as a Christian, he also became a notable tohunga (Maori spiritual expert) and an influential chief. In the 1850s he organised a mail service between Te Awamutu and Napier, and set up a system of tribal administration and law enforcement which was admired by John Gorst, the Waikato resident magistrate. Near the end of the 1850s Wahanui became opposed to further European settlement, and became a key figure in the growing King Movement. He fought in the Waikato war of 1863–64, and was wounded.

After the war Wahanui's diplomatic skills were in demand. In 1881 he spoke for the King when peace was finally made. He remained strongly opposed to land selling, but realising that European settlement within the King Country could not be prevented, he tried to limit and control the process of land alienation.

In 1883–84 Wahanui agreed to provide land for the main trunk railway. Premier Robert Stout had promised to make the King Country a "dry" area (free from alcohol). Stout had also assured Wahanui that the Native Land Court would be kept out of the district. Maori referred to this as a "compact". The government later either ignored the promise to exclude the Land Court, or denied that Stout had ever agreed to it. In the end, Wahanui's attempts to engage with the European system in a manner that preserved the authority and the land of his people ultimately proved unsuccessful. He died in 1897.

• See also: biography of Wahanui Huatare at DNZB website