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This extract originally appeared in Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa (Te Papa Press, 2024).
This extract was authored by Rebecca Rice.
In November 1868, Maraea Mōrete, also known as Maria Morris, gave testimony against the captured followers of Te Kooti in a Supreme Court hearing in Wellington. Maraea, daughter of Pākehā William Morris and Puihi, a woman of mana of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, had married Pera Taihuka (Hararehe) in 1863, and had settled with him at Wī Pere’s village on the Waipaoa river at Matawhero.
On 10 November, Te Kooti and a group of his followers carried out targeted killings of European settlers at Matawhero, including Reginald Biggs, the local military officer and Crown official charged with finalising land confiscations in the area. According to Vincent O’Malley, Te Kooti also targeted Māori who had wronged him, including Pera and others suspected of framing him as a spy. Maraea’s husband was killed and she was taken prisoner.
In 1869 Maraea not only gave testimony against Te Kooti’s followers, but also gave evidence in the Native Land Court in Tūranga to ensure her family’s rights to their lands. The photograph opposite of Maraea was taken by Samuel Carnell, most likely in about 1870, and presents a proud figure, with moko kauae and wearing elaborate European clothing, including a military belt with a snake buckle and a fur coat.