In February 1887 newspapers reported Ngāti Tūwharetoa’s proposal to ‘gift’ the British Crown the mountaintops of Tongariro, Ngāuruhoe and Ruapehu to form the basis of a national park.
Ngati Tuwharetoa
Events In History
Biographies
A paramount chief of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Iwikau Te Heuheu was an ardent proponent of Māori nationalism, supporting the movement to set up a Māori king.
Horonuku Te Heuheu Tūkino IV succeeded his uncle, Iwikau, as paramount chief of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. He gifted the mountains of Tongariro, Ngāuruhoe and Ruapehu to the Crown in 1887 to be part of a national park.
As chairman of the Ngāti Tuwharetoa Trust Board, Hoani Te Heuheu, advised Ngāti Tūwharetoa on taking stock of its resources, both land and people, and planning a future based on economic and social principles.
Main image: Iwikau Te Heuheu Tukino III
Portraits of four Maori in two groups by George French Angas, 1847. Mananui Te Heuheu and Iwikau Te Heuheu (sitting) are on the
left, with the palisades of their pa, Te Rapa, at Taupo behind them. Apihai Te
Kawau and his nephew Tamakihi Te Rewiti are on the right, with the wall
of a whare and a view of Orakei Bay, Auckland, behind them.
