Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikāheke

Ko **Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikāheke** (1815?-1896) he rangatira no Te Arawa, he pūkorero, he kaimahi Kāwanatanga.

I whānau a Te Rangikāheke i te tau 1815 pea ki Puhirua, ki Te Awahou rānei, i Rotorua. Ko Te Rangikāheke anō hoki te ingoa o tana matua, he tohunga nō Ngāti Kererū o Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Ko tana whaea ko Kaihau, he uri nō Tamahou, nō Pūpū mē Hinepō. I te tau 1823 ka mau hereheretia rātau ko ana tamariki e Ngā Puhi. Nā te whakaritenga a tana pāpā i te utu mō rātau, i tukuna ai tana whānau. Ka tata ki te tau 1836 kua mate atu tana matua rāua ko tana whaea.

Nō te tau 1835 ka tae mai te Hāhi Mihinare ki Rotorua whakatū teihana ai ki reira. Ko te minita ko Tāmati Hāpimana. Nō reira pea te kaha o Te Rangikāheke ki te tuhituhi, ki te kōrero pukapuka. Tērā pea nā Te Hāpimana ia i iriiri i taua wā.

## Āna mahi tahi ki te Kāwana
Nō te wā i a Hōri Kerei, i te tau 1849, ka timata te mahi tahi a Te Rangikāheke ki te kāwanatanga. Ōrite tonu ō rāua whakaaro mō ngā kaupapa tōrangapū. Nā te kūare tonu pea o te kāwana ki te reo Māori me ngā tikanga Māori i noho ai ia ki te taha o te kāwana ki tētahi wāhanga tonu o tōna whare ake i Tāmaki-makau-rau hei tohutohu, hei āwhina i a Hōri Kerei. Ko te utu mō ana mahi, e £36 i te tau.

He nunui rawa ngā mahi tuhituhi a Te Rangikāheke. E toru tekau mā waru ngā wāhanga kōrero i tuhia e ia. E rua tekau mā tahi, motuhake ake, nāna. Tekau mā whitu nā rāua tahi. Ko ngā kaupapa o ana kōrero, mō ngā kōrero pūrākau, mō ngā tikanga, mō ngā mahi a te Māori, mō te reo, ngā whakapapa, ngā tikanga ā-iwi, ngā take o te wā, ngā āhuatanga tōrangapū, ngā mōteatea, te wehenga o Rangi rāua ko Papa, ngā mahi a Māui, te hekenga mai o ngā waka i Hawaiki, ngā kōrero mō Hinemoa, te noho a te Māori me te Pākehā, te tū a te rangatira, ngā riri a Tūmatauenga, te taha wairua, me ētehi kōrero mōna ake.  I tua atu i ēnei, ko ngā āwhina ki ngā pepa a Kerei e whakamārama ana i ngā waiata me ngā whakataukī. 

Ka puta ngā pukapuka i raro katoa i te īngoa o Hōri Kerei. Kīhai ia i whakaatu nā Te Rangikāheke ia i whāngai ki ngā kōrero. He maha rawa ngā pepa nāna i tuhituhi, kei te whare pukapuka o Tāmaki-makau-rau e tiakina ana. Mai i te tau 1950, ka tāia, ka whakapākehātia, ka pānuitia nuitia ngā tuhituhi a Te Rangikāheke, kia mōhiotia ai nāna kē ērā tuhituhi.

Ka wehe atu a Kerei i Aotearoa i te tau 1853, ka noho ngoikore a Te Rangikāheke, kua kore he tauranga. I te tau 1860, ka hoki ia ki Maketū, ki Rotorua. I te tau 1862 ka timata tana mahi hei karaka ki te Tari Mō Ngā Take Māori, mō te Kōti Porotiti. Ka taka ki te tau 1880, ka tū ia hei āteha ki Ōhinemutu. Nuku atu i te kotahi tekau mā waru ngā tau o Te Rangikāheke e mahi ana mā te kāwanatanga.

Ka mate ia ki Te Awahou i te 1896. He tangihanga tino nui rawa atu mōna ki reira.

## Ingoa atu
*Wiremu Maihi (William Marsh)
*Wī Maihi

## Herenga whakapapa
*Ngāti Kererū
*Ngāti Rangiwewehe
*Ngāti Rangitihi

## Tirohia hoki
*Jenifer Curnow, 'Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikaheke: his life and work', Journal of the Polynesian Society, 94 (2) (Pipiri 1985):97-147.

## Tohutoro
*A. Ballara et al., 'Te Rangikāheke, Wiremu Maihi', *Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau 1760-1869*. Wellington: Te Tari Taiwhenua, Allen & Unwin, 1990:276-279.