TE HORETA TANIWHA (?1760-1853) was the principal chief of the Ngati-Whanaunga tribe, of the Coromandel and Thames, when the pakeha colonists arrived. He claimed as a boy of nine to have seen Captain Cook when he was in Hauraki Gulf, and was middle-aged when the first white settlers arrived. His daughter married William Webster (q.v.).

Horeta allowed the storeship Coromandel to take in spars in the gulf, and from her the name Coromandel was applied. He was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) and was consistently friendly to the whites, who called him 'Old Hooknose.' His name 'Taniwha' he adopted from having killed his assailant in the water after falling overboard wounded. A few months before his death Horeta convened a meeting of chiefs to discuss with Colonel Wynyard, Sir William Martin and Bishop Selwyn the conditions on which gold prospecting should be allowed. Feeble and stooped with age, he was proud that his ancestral lands should produce gold. He embraced Christianity early, but was baptised only a few weeks before his death (which occurred on 21 Nov 1853).

G.B.O., 1854/1779, p. 180; C. W. Ligar, in Illustrated London News, 24 Nov 1855 (p); Cowan, Sketches (p); S.P. Smith; Bowen, 291-2; Carleton; Thomson; White, Ancient History of the Maori, vol. v; New Zealander (Auckland), 15 Dec 1852.

Reference: Volume 1, page 223

🌳 Further sources