TE KAWAU, APIHAI (1790-1869) was the principal chief of the Taou hapu of Ngati Whatua at Kaipara, and paramount chief of the tribe in the early part of the nineteenth century. A finely tattooed warrior, and the most strictly tapu man that S.P. Smith ever met, he was described by Butler as a man of bold disposition and a good countenance. Marsden met him in 1820, when he boarded the Dromedary, offering spars from his forests at Waitemata, and accompanied the missionary to inspect the harbour of Manukau. He had a great aversion to war, and in later years deplored the losses of his people at the hands of Ngapuhi, which compelled them to evacuate their ancestral lands about Tamaki for several years. Some accounts say that Kawau took part in the defence of Mau-ina-ina (Nov 1821), but it is better established that he initiated the Amiowhenua expedition to the south, leaving Oneone-nui (southern Kaipara) with his taua in Sep 1821 for lower Waikato, and being joined there by Ngati-Maniapoto and other forces under Tu-Korehu. Some Ngati-Maru from Thames also joined. The combined force invaded Hawkes Bay by way of Rotorua, Kaingaroa and Wairoa, and passed on by the Manawatu gorge and Wairarapa to Port Nicholson. Returning by the Whanganui river, they became involved in extraordinary developments in Taranaki and were eventually besieged in Pukerangiora, whence they sent an appeal to Te Wherowhero for assistance. Kawau assisted Waikato in the defence of Matakitaki (May 1822) and, having made peace, he returned to Tamaki in Jun, having marched 800 miles and had a basket of human flesh for his pillow every night. S.P. Smith says this was the longest march ever made by a taua. Fearing the guns of Ngapuhi, Kawau and Te Hinana retreated with their people to Pukewhau, on the Waipa river, while other hapu moved to Mahurangi, where they were later attacked by the Parawhau hapu of Ngapuhi. This dispersion, and the departure of a force to avenge the victims of Parawhau, accounted for Kawau's absence from Te Ika-a-ranganui (Feb 1825). After the death of Hongi, the Ngati-Whatua returned to their lands at Tamaki, resuming the cultivations at Mangere, Onehunga and Horotiu and the fortified pa at Okahu (Orakei), where they made closer contact with the missionaries.

Kawau invited Captain Hobson to visit Waitemata, used all his influence to make land available for the capital (1840), and welcomed the official party at Waiariki (Official Bay) in 1841. He lived for the most part at Orakei, being confirmed in a reserve of 700 acres by the judgment of 1868. In his later years he was much in the company of Sir William Martin (q.v.) and eventually was baptised, taking the Christian name of 'Apihai' (Abishai). He died at Ongarahu (Kaipara) in Nov 1869.

S.P. Smith, Wars; Thomson; Davis; Butler, Journals; Marsden, L. and J.; Lady Martin, Our Maoris; Cowan, Sketches (p).

Reference: Volume 1, page 242

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