Signing details
Te Awa, also known as Te Awa Kapo, was probably born in the 1770s. Based at Kaikohekohe inland of Pēwhairangi (Bay of Islands), Te Awa was closely connected to Te Rēweti Atuahaere of Ngāti Tautahi and was part of Ngāpuhi’s Northern Alliance. With Ketura, one of Te Awa’s three known wives, he had a number of children, including the mātāmua Te Hira Mura Te Awa, Hone Piro Te Awa, and others. Te Awa and his whānau were associated with land throughout the Kaikohekohe region: Matakohekohe near Tautoro, Rangihamama, Te Ngaohe, Kirioke, and the Taraire Block. His connections to other rangatira of his generation, such as Hongi Hika and Tāreha, meant Te Awa also had links to land in and around Whangaroa.
In the early 1800s, Te Awa took part in a tauā (war expedition) against Ngare Raumati, which was led by Hongi Hika’s father Te Hōtete. The cause of this tauā was the death of Te Auparo, the mother of Rewa, Moka, Te Wharerahi (who later took the hapū name Te Patukeha to remember her death). Te Awa was also present at the Battle of Te Tōtara Pā in 1821, when he and other future He Whakaputanga signatories attacked the stronghold of Ngāti Maru in Thames.
Te Awa was part of the move into Whangaroa by Hongi Hika, Ururoa and others in the late 1820s, as he and his sons are recorded on a number of Whangaroa land deeds. This includes the January 1836 sale of land at Te Kumi, Kaeo, to a Pākehā surveyor Thomas Florance. Te Awa signed the document with part of his moko (the original is held at Archives New Zealand).
Before Te Awa signed He Whakaputanga on 28 October 1835, missionaries had noted his leading role at Kaikohekohe. When a rangatira was accidently killed during the construction of a mill at Te Waimate, Te Awa was called upon to restore balance. As Richard Davis wrote in his journal, after Te Awa 'heard how the accident happened, he said, "Had I possessed my former feelings, the mill would ere this have been destroyed; but as the case now stands, I shall not take up the affair. My views of these matters are changed; and further, the man destroyed himself foolishly: he was not destroyed by the White People."'
Missionaries also described a dispute between Kaikohekohe and Waitangi hapū that broke out in late 1839. During a hui at Kaikohekohe, Te Awa addressed the visitors (which included Hōne Heke), acknowledged their visit, and offered to return to Waitangi to 'drink a little water from their river; to see the old people; to sleep with them one night or so; and from thence to send some of his children to see Tāreha and his son; that so, peace might be established.'
By the 1840s, many in Te Awa’s family had been baptised or had undergone European marriages, but it is not clear that he ever accepted Christianity.
It is likely that Te Awa was the ‘Te Awa’ who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Karaka Bay, Waitematā on 4 March 1840. Historian T. Lindsay Buick notes that ‘Te Awa’ was the father of Te Hira, and a number of other signatories that day were also from Te Tai Tokerau.
Te Awa was present at the famous 1843 hākari at Kerikeri . As one of the speakers, Te Awa argued to take up arms against the tribes at Ōruru, which subsequently occurred at Taipā.
Te Awa and/or his first born son to Ketura, Te Hira Te Awa, were allies of Hōne Heke Pōkai during the 1845–46 Northern Wars. Born around 1806, in 1862 Te Hira Te Awa also joined with Matiu Te Aranui of Ngāti Pongia in pā warfare against Te Tirarau at Waitomotomo. A government Register of Chiefs from 1866 notes the dispute and that Te Hira was 'son of the late chief Te Awa.' This suggests the senior Te Awa had died by this time.
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