PATUONE, ERUERA MAIHI (? 1776-1872), a celebrated chief of the Ngati-Hao tribe of Ngapuhi, was born at Hokianga. He was the younger son of Tapua (a renowned warrior and priest) and his wife Te Kawehau, and the elder brother of Tamati Waka Nene (q.v.). He was educated for the sacerdotal office, but as a young man took his part in the fierce campaigns at the dawn of the nineteenth century. He first distinguished himself in the defeat of Ngapuhi at Waituna in 1806, when he killed the Roroa chief Tatakahuanui in single combat, and barely escaped with his life. In 1810 he was one of the leaders of his tribe when they were defeated by the Roroa at Waima. He first used a gun in the fight at Kuratope, where he was wounded in the leg and the arm. Patuone and Nene were from the first benevolently disposed towards the whites. They favoured the establishment of the mission at Rangihoua in 1814, and thereafter protected all missions in the north without distinction. Samuel Marsden met Patuone at his home in 1819, when he was about to leave in command of a taua of 800 men on the Amiowhenua expedition to the south (under Tuwhare). Joined at Kawhia by a strong force of Ngati-Toa under Te Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, they marched through Taranaki as far as Whanganui, where Patuone gained a victory over the Whanganui. The records indicate that the Ngapuhi taua returned from Whanganui, but Patuone told Marsden in Nov 1820 that he had gone as far as Cook Strait and crossed to the South Island. He wished then to visit Sydney for the benefit of his people. In 1822 he accompanied Hongi (to whom he was deeply attached) on his expedition to the Thames against Te Hinaki, and it was due to his advice that Hongi continued the siege of Mauinaina, which ended in the capture and death of Te Hinaki. In 1825 he was at Te Ika-a-ranganui. Patuone extended his protection to Lieutenant Thomas McDonnell's shipyard on the Hokianga, at which were built the first little vessels that carried the New Zealand flag. A few years later (1826) he welcomed the New Zealand Company's ships at Herd's Point, Hokianga, and took under his protection those who stayed behind. He and Nene went to the help of the Wesleyan mission at Whangaroa (1827) when its premises were plundered, and brought the staff away to a place of safety. They also, at Mangamuka, avenged the death of the first Christian martyr of New Zealand, and thereafter saw justice done whenever Europeans had to complain of ill-treatment. For many years they were engaged in the supply of spars for the British Navy, and they co-operated with other chiefs in protecting the European establishments on the Hokianga and traders visiting the river. In 1831 they signed the appeal to King William IV for protection.

Shortly afterwards, when fighting at the Thames on behalf of the Ngati-Paoa against Waharoa, Patuone married a Ngati-Paoa lady of high rank (Riria Takarangi). He then lived for some years at the Waitemata, which he protected against alarms of war. Though so far from his own tribe, he exercised great influence in the counsels of the district, and was constantly called in to settle local disputes. He lamented the small families of the Maori compared with those of missionaries. On the death of his second wife Patuone yielded to the wishes of his own people and returned to Hokianga. He again visited Thames with the Rev Henry Williams in the Active (1835), and he paid a visit to Sydney on business, returning in the Tranmere. Patuone took a leading part in the meeting at Hokianga to prevent the landing of liquor. He was one of the earliest signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi (Feb 1840), and in that month was baptised by the Rev Henry Williams (taking the names Eruera Maihi, after the missionary's son, Edward Marsh).

In Heke's disturbances at Bay of Islands (1844-45) Patuone and Nene took the field against the rebels, and his brother, Wiremu Waka Turau, particularly distinguished himself at the taking of Ruapekapeka (10 Jan 1845). The value of Patuone's services was appreciated by Sir George Grey, at whose invitation he left the Hokianga district to the care of his brother and took up his residence on a reserve of 110 acres which the Government gave to him at Waiwharariki, on the north shore of Waitemata harbour. This bulwark of protection for Auckland against attacks from the north was balanced by the settlement of Te Wherowhero at Mangere, between Auckland and the disaffected tribes of Waikato. The ripe judgment of the old warrior was often invoked by the Government in the anxious days of native wars. When Patuone's old friends the Ngati-Paoa advanced on Auckland 500 strong in their war canoes to demand the release of a chief who had been imprisoned, Patuone helped to man the redoubts opposite St Andrew's and on Britomart Point. When hostilities were imminent in Waikato in 1863 he impressed upon Grey that whoever first crossed the Maungatawhiri would be considered the aggressor.

In Whitaker's superintendency of Auckland (1865-67) Patuone was constantly consulted on Native questions, and the Government granted him a pension of £20 a year (increased in 1871 to £50). He was one of the chiefs who met the Duke of Edinburgh (1869) at Government House to present the Maori addresses. In later years he was a well known figure in the streets of Auckland, dressed in grenadier officer's uniform, with Inverness cape. On 19 Jul 1872 he addressed a letter of farewell to all of his European friends, and on 19 Sep he died. He was buried in the Church of England cemetery at the foot of Flagstaff Hill, North Shore. The state and military funeral, and the monument erected by the Government testify to the esteem in which this courageous and unflinching friend of the pakeha was held. He was for many years a pious member of the Church. Patuone had four wives. Of his family of nine sons and three daughters, only one son (Hohaia) survived him.

Marsden, L. and J.; C. O. Davis, Earle; S. P. Smith, Wars; Buller; Carleton; Angas (p); Waka Maori, 1872, p. 129; Cowan, Wars and Sketches (pp); H. T. Kemp in N.Z. Herald, 6 Apr 1901; N.Z. Herald, 18 Sep, 2 Oct 1872.

Reference: Volume 2, page 80

🌳 Further sources