Hirawanu Tapu

Hirawanu Tapu was, and still remains, a highly respected and influential Moriori leader of the 19th Century. Born 11 years before the Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga invasion of Rēkohu, he endured the hardship of enslavement and rose to become a skilled trader and a key organiser of Moriori petitions to successive Governors. A visionary and tireless advocate for his people, Hirawanu was also a principal source of knowledge on Moriori traditions and language. Moriori today owe him a deep debt of gratitude for the vast body of cultural and historical knowledge he preserved for future generations.

Preserving Moriori History and Traditions

In the late 1860s, Hirawanu worked closely with Alexander Shand, a Pākehā ethnographer, to document Moriori traditions, language, karakii, hokopapa, and history. These records became the most comprehensive archive of Moriori culture and were later crucial in proving the distinct identity and history of Moriori as a people.

Challenging Myths and Misrepresentations

At a time when the dominant narrative was that Moriori were an extinct race, Hirawanu’s oral histories directly challenged this. His work helped refute colonial and academic misinformation that had long marginalised Moriori. These myths were used to justify land confiscation and the erasure of Moriori rights, so Hirawanu’s efforts laid the intellectual foundation for later claims under te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Foundation for the Moriori Waitangi Tribunal Claims

The information preserved through Hirawanu was instrumental in the Waitangi Tribunal’s findings in WAI 64 ‘Rekohu’ report on the claims of both Moriori and Ngati Mutunga ki Wharekauri in 2001. The Tribunal recognised that Moriori were “tangata whenua tuturu ake” or the “true tangata” of Rēkohu and Rangihaute and that our mana and customary rights to the land and moana had remained intact as at 1835, 1842, 1870 and right up to the present day despite the invasion by Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga in 1835 and the multiple breaches by the Crown of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Hirawanu’s work essentially served as strong evidence that helped restore Moriori status and rights, culminating in the Moriori Claims Settlement Act.