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Overview
This hei tiki (pendant) originally belonged to Te Rangipurewa, a Ngāti Rarua tohunga (elder).
A sincere gesture
After a dispute between the Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Rarua tribes over the settlement of the Nelson district in the late 1820s, Te Rauparaha (celebrated warrior cheif of Ngāti Toa) took a near relative of Te Pukekohatu (Ngāti Rarua) for his personal attendant as surety against further hostilities. Desperate to secure the safe return of his relative, Te Pukekohatu turned to his tohunga, Te Rangipurewa, for advice. Te Rangipurewa took Te Maungārongo from his neck and, giving it to Te Pukekohatu, instructed him to secure it to the neck of his wife's female attendant and present them both to Te Rauparaha. Te Rauparaha, moved by the sincerity of the gesture, immediately returned Te Pukekohatu's relative to him unharmed.
Te Kooti
Te Maungārongo was later given to Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (a Rongowhakaata leader, military leader, prophet, and religious founder), although it remains something of a mystery as to exactly how he acquired it. According to historian Judith Binney, Te Kooti despatched Te Maungārongo to King Tāwhiao, possibly as a gesture of peace, on his departure from Tokangamutu on the 25 July 1869. But it was intercepted and never reached Tāwhiao. A Ngāti Maniapoto chief latter gave Te Maungārongo to Ropata Kaihau of Ngāti Te Ata, who in turn gave it to William Searancke, the resident magistrate of the Waikato region. Searancke was led to believe that the hei tiki was intended as a gift for the governor, Sir George Bowen, as a gesture of peace from Ngāti Maniapoto and the Waikato region. Any association with Te Kooti was disclaimed.
Acquisition
Te Maungārongo was later acquired by Auckland retailer and collector A Eady, whose collection was deposited in the Auckland War Memorial Museum. After his death it was put up for public auction by his beneficiaries and purchased by the Dominion Museum, Te Papa's predecessor, in 1977.