Eruera Maihi Patuone - Later Years

Later Years

Patuone's later years in Auckland did not preclude his being called upon to perform specific duties including being part of the welcome to the Prince and Princess of Wales. As well as continuing business in timber, potatoes and flax (Phormium tenax). Patuone also bred horses. Grey had gifted a horse to him called New Zealander which enjoyed some success at the Auckland races. Patuone was also the source of the first horse ever owned by Te Arawa, a piebald horse called Taika. In the Māori value system, horses carried great value, being regarded as superior property.

Patuone and Nene were both to outlive all the old chiefs of Ngapuhi, the deaths of whom began in 1828 with Hongi, Te Whareumu and Muriwai. Patuone directed the rituals leading up to and following the death of Hongi, his relative and fellow warrior. It was a time of great upheaval and Hongi's death, some two years after sustaining a bullet wound in battle with Ngati Pou, led to great fears about revenge attacks from the south. Through Hongi, much suffering had been visited upon the southern tribes. But, New Zealand was developing into a new nation, forged as were many in conflict and difference. 1828 was also a year of family deaths for Patuone: his first wife, Te Wheke, his first born son Toa, another son Mata and a daughter. Most likely, these deaths were due to some introduced infectious agent such as Tuberculosis. Like many indigenous peoples, Māori had no resistance to introduced diseases and suffered greatly as a result of these. Even things like influenza proved deadly, quite apart from more serious infectious agents and venereal diseases brought in by sailors and settlers.

Having outlived all their fellow chiefs, both Patuone and Nene were subjected to considerable resentment from Kawiti's son, Maihi Paraone Kawiti. In addition to his resentment over the matter of Kawiti and Heke and the final stand at Ruapekapeka, Maihi P. Kawiti also had personal pretensions and supporters seeking to have him made arikinui or paramount chief of Ngapuhi. Aside from issues of lineage, descent, seniority and mana, this plan foundered. Ngapuhi was always a coalition of closely related chiefs, all of whom had "standing" in their own right and therefore any notion of a paramount chief was fraught with challenges. It was certainly not a debate into which Patuone and Nene entered: they had no reason to do so as their senior status and great personal mana was clear to all. Nene certainly offered to build a flour mill at his own expense for Kawiti and Heke's people as part of a peace offering but equally, sought the re-erection of the flagstaff at Maiki Hill, an undertaking given by the senior Kawiti prior to his death. Maihi P. Kawiti's petulance was thus many-layered and complex.

Patuone was also given a suit of armour by King William IV of Great Britain and a range of other clothing. The official record indicates that the gift was released from the Tower of London on 16 July 1836 and was finally delivered to and signed for by Patuone on 4 November 1837 by the Royal Navy ship HMS Buffalo. The delivery directly to Patuone at his pa at Whakatiwai on the Hauraki Gulf, where he was living at the time indicates considerable efficiency on the part of the Royal Navy. HMS Buffalo had also brought Governor Hindmarsh to South Australia and remained there while a suitable house was built for the Governor in order that the Governor could live on board in comfort in the interim.

The precise reasons for the gift are unclear but may be related either to Patuone's provision of Kauri spars to the Royal Navy or be a gift as part of consolidation of a commercial relationship. The fate of the suit of armour (which was from the time of King Charles II) is unknown, however, the damp New Zealand climate and likely storage in less than ideal conditions, may well have affected it. Further, since it would have been regarded as a significant taonga (treasure), it is unlikely that it would have been broken up and forged into weapons. No detail is recorded in family archives.

Patuone's four wives (Te Wheke, Te Hoia, Takarangi and Rutu) bore a total of twelve children. Hohaia (c.1825-1901), outlived Patuone the longest. Hori Hare Patuone (c.1835-1878) also outlived Patuone and another unnamed Patuone child died in 1886. Patuone's whangai (adopted) son Timoti (son of a relative, Matetakahia, killed in unfortunate circumstances by Nene), died in 1896. Nene was frequently too hasty in meting out 'justice' and his killing of Matetakahia, whom he thought guilty of the killing of an English trader named Wharangi, was but one example of this haste. The person responsible for the killing of Wharangi was Te Ngarara, who was in turn shot dead as utu (retribution)for the wrongful death of Matetakahia at the hands of Nene. Nene's high status prevented direct utu against him.

While some have questioned Patuone's birth details and recollections about Captain Cook's visit to the Bay of Islands in 1770, it is important to recognise the supreme intellectual capacities of great rangatira like Patuone who were trained within the whare wananga over many years to learn and retain copious details across a wide range of everyday and esoteric/priestly knowledge. Tohunga were really the means by which critical knowledge was preserved and handed on; they were the encyclopaedia for Māori. Error was not permitted and would have resulted in instant expulsion from the whare wananga. The mental capacities of senior chiefs and tohunga like Patuone would astound early pakeha explorers and lead to much comment. Therefore, errors in facts and information were highly unlikely, especially from authoritative sources such as Patuone.