TE MOANANUI, TAREHA, a celebrated chief of the Ngati-Kahungunu, was a son of Te Oneone and grandson of Te Katino te Rangi of Ngati-Tuwharetoa. Oneone's slave wife was Hamene, a woman of Warahoe, who was captured in the fight of Kohikete (c. 1822). Tareha was well connected in Hawke's Bay and Wairoa. As a youth he was one of the chiefs captured by Waikato, Ngati-Raukawa and their allies at Pakake, where he arrived as the pa fell. Hope Blake says he was a Hercules, graceful and dignified. His pa was Te Motu Iwi. He sold the site of Napier on 11 Apr 1855. Tareha and Karaitiana claimed a block of land on which Hapuku and his brother Puhara resided. When the dispute became critical Hapuku commenced to erect a pa. He was then attacked and defeated (on 18 Aug 1857) at Pakiaka, near Clive. This secured Tareha's hold on the Heretaunga lands, though there was further fighting on 14 Oct and 3 and 9 Dec. Tareha sided with the King movement in 1858. In Oct 1868 he kept Donald McLean apprised of the movements of the Hauhau force under Rangihiroa, and then hastened with his men to take part in the investment of Omarunui. He took the oath of allegiance in that year after the passing of the colonial courts-martial act, and later in the year led a contingent in pursuit of Te Kooti. In Dec he was at the fight at Makaretu, but in consequence of a dispute with Ropata he withdrew with about 500 of his followers. He took part in the expedition to Puketapu, which was countermanded.

Tareha was elected M.H.R. for Eastern Maori in 1868 (defeating Karaitiana Takamoana), and sat till 1870.

His son KURUPO TAREHA, born in 1871, was educated at the Mission School and Te Aute College. He was a sergeant-major of the N.Z. Coronation Contingent (1897) and amateur golf champion of New Zealand in 1903.

App. H.R., 1858, 1874, C, p. 383; Lambert; Cowan.

Reference: Volume 2, page 47

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