Hamiora Tu

Horatio Gordon Robley (1840-1930) arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand on the 8th of January, 1864, as part of the 68th regiment of the British Army sent as reinforcements for the Crown in the New Zealand Wars. Three months after landing in Auckland, the 68th were dispatched to Tauranga, where they were involved in the Battle of Gate Pā on April 29th. Following the battle, Robley remained stationed in the Bay of Plenty on garrison duty for almost two years, during which time he continued to produce a vast array of watercolours and sketches. The bulk of these works were related to Māori, a subject particularly favoured by Robley and revisited by him many times after his return to the United Kingdom on the 28th of June, 1866. For this reason it can be difficult to determine with certainty whether many of Robley’s works were executed in New Zealand, or abroad, despite their importance to New Zealand history.

Robley is famed for the accuracy of his draughtsmanship, particularly in relation to Māori elements such as moko and whakairo. This portrait of Hamiora Tū (Ngāi te Rangi) displays the pongiangia moko on his nose. It was completed in 1864, during the conflict in the Bay of Plenty, and is characteristic of Robley’s swift, yet remarkably personal renderings of the people encountered in his travels. A large, semi-circular slice is missing from the right hand side of the work, referred to in records as a ‘crescent-shaped tear’, and may be due to fire damage as indicated by the singe mark at the top of the curve. On the reverse, only the tail end of a sentence remains: “...in European clothing.”

The subject, Hamiora Tū, is a fighting chief of Ngāi te Rangi, who acted as a guide for Robley’s regiment during their campaign in the Tauranga area, and was befriended by Robley during his time spent with the 68th. In particular, Hamiora Tū was instrumental in leading the 68th infantry to their position in the Battle of Gate Pā, nestled in a corner of the swamp surrounding Pukehinahina. Tū was well respected both within his iwi and by the British forces that he aided during the New Zealand Wars, and was rewarded for his services to the Crown with gifts of confiscated land, as well as a Victoria medal for “gallant and courageous conduct.”

Hamiora Tū was also the subject of an oil painting by Gottfried Lindauer, now in the collection of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Sources:

Melvin, L.W. Soldier Artist in the Bay of Plenty, 1864-1866. Ed. R.W. Melvin. Tauranga: Tauranga Historical Society, 1990, pp. 38.

Walker, Timothy. Robley: Te Ropere, 1840-1930. Auckland: University of Auckland, 1985. Accessed online http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WalRobl.html 13 Jun 2018, pp. 40.

Obituary: “The Late Hamiora Tu.” Bay of Plenty Times, vol. IX:, issue 839. 29 Jan 1880. Accessed online https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT18800129.2.14 13 Jun 2018.

Photograph of Hamiora Tū from same time period: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23053405?search%5Bpath%5D=items&search%5Btext%5D=hamiora+tu

Text by Florence Esson, intern, June 2018.