WAHANUI, or REIHANA TE HUATARE (1827-97), one of the most celebrated of the King leaders, was a Ngati-Maniapoto chief of very high lineage, tracing his descent to Raka and Hotunui. His lands were on the upper Waipa river, in the mission territory of the Wesleyans, and he was sent as a boy to be educated at Three Kings College in Auckland. He assisted the Rev W. Gittos in building the College, and was an apt pupil of great natural ability. He was, in fact, intended for the ministry, but returned to live amongst his people at Te Kopua. At that time he was known as 'Te Reihana Whakahoehoe.' Already a distinguished orator, with a fine command of poetry and grace of language, he took a leading part in the debates of the fifties connected with the rise of the King movement. He was then actively interested in promoting the mail route from Waikato to the Mokau. Later he gradually turned against pakeha institutions, and conceived a growing bitterness and resentment on account of the social grievances of his people. When Hochstetter met him at Maungawhitikau in 1859 he was inclined to stoutness, highly intelligent and kindhearted. He was over 6 feet in height, slightly tattooed and his impression of high intelligence was combined with an air of command which was unquestionable. His father, Huatare, had recently died at Mania. On the outbreak of the Waikato war Wahanui accompanied his people in the field, and was present at most of the engagements up to and including Orakau. At the battle of Hairini (Feb 1864) he is said to have shot two soldiers, and he was wounded in the leg. After the war his influence in the councils of the Maori King grew. He encouraged Tawhiao to resist the advance of civilisation into his country and firmly opposed land selling. As nine-tenths of the land in the King Country was owned by the Ngati-Maniapoto, the Government felt it advisable to propitiate such an influential opponent. In the late sixties Wahanui relented somewhat, and once more opened the mail route between Rangiaowhia and Mokau. In 1870 he proposed inviting the Ngati-Tama, who had been ejected from Poutama for the murder of his ancestor Rangihapainga, to return to their lands. It was Wahanui who in the post-war days of isolation invented the device 'Tarahou' (cockcrow) for the Kingites, signifying the dawn of the day. In the early eighties the Native Minister (John Bryce) made overtures to him. At a meeting at Kihikihi in 1881 he persuaded Wahanui that it would benefit his people to have a railway constructed through their lands. Wahanui was the principal speaker at the meeting at Alexandra on 11 Jul 1881, when Tawhiao tendered his submission, and thereafter he threw the weight of his influence in favour of the Government. He led a party of his people to liberate Hursthouse, who had been seized and maltreated by Te Mahuki (1883). The route of the railway having been decided upon, Wahanui assisted the surveys, but he still firmly resisted landselling. In 1883 he paid a visit to Wellington to discuss land questions, and demanded that the four tribes of the King Country (Ngati-Maniapoto, Ngati-Raukawa, Ngati-Tuwharetoa and Whanganui) should have power to fix their own boundaries and suppress drink and immorality within them. On 1 Nov 1884 he appeared at the bar of the House of Representatives to plead the right of the King Maori to manage their own affairs and to keep liquor out of the King Country. In the following year he was present at the turning of the first sod of the main trunk railway by Sir Robert Stout. He intended contesting the Western Maori election in 1886, but withdrew.

When the Government erected him a house in Pirongia and gave him a free pass on the railways, Wahanui to some extent lost the confidence of his own people. In his latter days he lived at Whetaroa, near Otorohanga, in the enjoyment of a pension of £100 a year. He died there on 5 Dec 1897, leaving no issue. An elder brother, Te Wiwini Huatare, was a famous tohunga with a gift of matakite.

Wahanui was described by Nicholls as a nobleman of very pronounced Tory principles, courteous and dignified. Tall and massive, he was an imposing figure in any gathering and his wise counsel and powerful oratory swayed many audiences both on the marae and in Parliament.

App. H.R., 1883, J.1, 1A; N.Z.P.D., 1 Nov 1884 vol. 50, p. 427, 555; Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxii, 525; Polyn. Jour., i, 226, ix, 51, 60, xiii, 241, xiv, 59, 210, xv, 31, 46, xvi, 86, xvii, 197, xxi, 97-100, xxvi, 97, xxviii, 215; Ancient Hist. Maori, iv, 104; Cowan, Wars (p); Sketches (p); The Old Frontier; Gorst; Auckland Weekly News, 4 Mar 1882; N.Z. Herald, 4 Aug 1881, 23 Dec 1897; Auckland Star, 6 Dec 1897.

Reference: Volume 2, page 220

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