Te Kooti - Early Life

Early Life

Te Kooti's early years are obscure. He was born at Te Pa-o-Kahu in the Gisborne region as a son of Hone Rangipatahi (father) and Hine Turakau (mother), of the Rongowhakaata tribe (iwi). Their hapū was Ngati Maru, whose villages were situated near the Awapuni lagoon, where the Waipaoa River runs into the ocean. Arikirangi is thought to be the original name of Te Kooti. His birthdate is thought to be approximately 1832.

A matakite (visionary) of Nukutaurua on Mahia Peninsula, named Toiroa Ikariki (Ikarihi), prophesied the birth of Te Kooti (as well as the coming of the white men, the Pākehā):

Tiwha tiwha te pō.

Ko te Pakerewhā

Ko Arikirangi tenei ra te haere nei.

Dark, dark is the night.

There is the Pakerewhā

There is Arikirangi to come.

The song is dated 1766. The Pakerewhā where strangers with red or white skin and Arikirangi was a grandchild of Toiroa, still to be born.

Te Kooti is understood to be his Christian baptismal name.

Te Kooti was apparently a very troublesome boy to his father, who tried to kill him. Te Kooti escaped and hid in the house of an uncle. Te Kooti's behaviour appears to have been quite maladjusted. There was a time that he could no longer control his body, nor even sit still. He gathered friends around him, and they gained a bad reputation.

He was sent to the Mission School at Whakato, near Manutuke. In 1846–1847 he was taught by Samuel Williams. Samuel and his uncle, William Williams “helped the boy to find a new world in the Bible”.

But his reputation was still suffering, also after contacts with the Reverend Thomas Grace, who was to replace William Williams for a few years (1850–1853).

He had to leave home and went to sea on different ships that traded along the coasts of the North Island.