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Kia whāia tonutia e tātau te kaha o te wahine rangatira ki te hāpai tao me te pupuhi pū pērā i a Rakitu me Pipi Haerehuka i kōrerongia i te wiki ko hori.Tērā anō tētehi wahine rongonui onamata kai te poti o te arero o te tokoiti o Ngai Te Arawa.
Ko Heeni Te Kirikaramu tōna ingoa. Ko Heeni Pore rānei ko Jane Foley etehi o ona ingoa karangaranga.
He uri heke iho a Heeni Te Kirikaramu nō ngā kāwai toa o Ngāti Uenukukopako me Ngāti Te Rangiteaorere. Kai te kāwai o ēnei tūpua e kitea ai te toatanga onamata, te mārama ki te hāpai akerautangi, te pakeke hoki o te whakaaro ki te whakatakoto rautaki otīā he iwi rangatira hoki wēnei ki te tukituki whenua.
Tērā tētehi kōrero whakamiharo nō tātau nō ngā wai karekare o Marupunanui.
Nō te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau,e wha tekau ka whānau a Heeni Te Kirikaramu i Kaitāia. Ko te tau hoki tēnei i waitohungia ai Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Mō te roanga o tana oranga i kuhu noa a Heeni ki ngā hītoria nui o Hawaiki Tahutahu mai i te eketanga o Kororareka i a Hone Heke me Te Ruki Kawiti, tae te whakawāteatanga o Tamaki Makaurau.
Whai noa i ēnei tūāhuatanga matua, ka whāngaia ia e ngā Mihingare te reo Wīwi, te reo Ingarihi hoki.Ko Maraea te matua wahine o Heeni he Pākehā tona matua tāne kāore i mōhiotia tōna ingoa.He herehere tōna matua wahine nā Hongi Hika te take i nōhia ai te taone o Kaitāia e Heeni mā.
Atu i tōna kaha ki te hāpai akerautangi, he wahine taute whakapapa, he wahine tunaha tātai kōrero a tona iwi. E rua, e rua, kai te ao o ōna tupuna tetehi waewae, kai te ao hou hoki tetehi o ōna waewae e haere tu ana.
He hinengaro pakiki i kaha ai te ako te reo Wīwī me te reo Ingarihi. Ki a ia hoki te whakaaro ki te waihanga haki hou hai haki whakahikihiki i te mana o ngā rangatira Māori e āwangawanga nui ana ki ngā ritenga o te Kāwanatanga me te hiakai o te tauhou ki ngā whenua Māori.
Nō te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau, e ono tekau te tau e kīa ana tēnei wāhanga ko Ngā pakanga o Aotearoa.
Nā tēnei take i ngaru ai te whenua, i ngaoko ai te tangata, i totara wāhi rua ai ngā hapū. Ka huri te taina ki te patu i tona tuakana, ko te tuakana ki te patu i tona taina, i tohea ngā ritenga me ngā kawenga tawhito, otīā, ka tamarutia ngā pokeao ki runga i te ūpoko o ngā rangatira me ngā ariki Māori.
He hāpai pū hoki nāna hai whakahōtaetae i te kaha o te Kawanatanga me tana hiahia nui ki te tāmi i te mana o ngā iwi taketake o Hawaiki Tahutahu. Nō te orokohanga o ēnei riri whenua ka kitea nuitia te kaha o tēnei wahine.
Ko Heeni Te Kirikaramu te kanohi kitea ki te pā whakairo o Pukehinahina (te keeti pā), kai te kōrerotia tonutia āna mahi whakaora tangata. He whāngai nāna i te taotū ki te wai Māori, he ahakoa hoa tata, he ahakoa hoa ngangare.
Ko te pakanga i Te Ranga i whai i te riri i Pukehinahina, ki reira hoki a Heeni me tana tūpara e whakahahani atu ki ngā ngohi o ngā koti whero. He ahakoa he parekura nui a Te Ranga ko Heeni tētehi o ngā rangatira i ora.
Kāore i oma atu ki te nehenehe, huna ai,ka hoki kaha ia ki Te Waiariki ki ōna whānaunga o Uenukukopako e noho nā i Kahuwera he pā tawhito nō Taketakehikuroa e kitea tonutia ana ki te taha Tokerau o Te Rotoiti ki tua o Ōtaramarae.Ka iti kau noa te noho i kōnei ka haere iho te rongo kōrero kai te ara o Te Rotoiti ngā apataki o Te Ua Haumene e kōnihi haere ana.He kimi huarahi e tae atu ai rātau ki a Te Kooti Rikirangi.
Ka hinga ngā rangi i a Heeni me ōna pakeke e hoe ana i Te Rotoiti e kimikimi ana i te tauā huna a te hoa ngangare. Ki Te Ruatokia ka kitea ngā takahanga o te tapuwae tangata , ka whāia rawatia ka rokohanga e rātau te ope me tō rātau rangatira a Hori Tupaea e karakia ana. Nā reira i mauheretia ai a Hori. Te mutunga iho o ngā pakanga ka hoki a Heeni ki Katikati ki ōna hoa o te iwi Airihi, nā wai rā ka takihoki mai rātau ko tōna whānau ki ōna whenua i Rotorua.
Ka kuhu atu a Heeni ki ngā mahi Kooti hai pouwhakarite whenua, ā, i hau atu hoki ia ki te whakamana i ngā tikanga pōti wahine. Nō te tau kotahi mano, e iwa rau, e toru tekau mā toru nō te rua tekau mā toru o Hune ka mate tēnei wahine taumata rau.I kawea atu ai taua ruruhi e ōna uri ki te urupā o Sala tapuke ai.
E kui e te koperu tawhana i te ao tawhito o ngā kaumātua me te ao hou, te pī whakamautaringa a Ue, te kakaho whare moe mai rā i raro i ngā taketake o Tāne.
Following on from last week’s story about the bravery shown by the late Rakitu and Pipi Haerehuka, another brilliant, brave, groundbreaking and to some controversial formidable wahine rangatira of the past was Heeni Te Kirikaramu. Also known as Heeni Pore or Jane Foley.
Heeni Te Kirikaramu was a descendant of Ngati Uenukukopako and Te Rangiteaorere. The warrior lineage itself speaks volumes of the tribe’s notoriety as strategists with a command of knowledge in the art of warfare. Moreso, caretakers of the fertile lands that fell under their guardianship.
Heeni Te Kirikaramu was born in 1840, the year the founding document of New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi, was signed.
Her life encompassed the sacking of Kororareka by Hone Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti; she was alive during the evacuation of Auckland and was educated by Church Missionaries. Her association with Kaitāia and the North was due to her mother, Maraea, being taken captive during the raids upon Rotorua in 1823.
Heeni Te Kirikaramu was a noted authority in whakapapa; she was also a repository of tribal knowledge which put her hands to the requirements of the day, ensuring the well-being of self, whanau, and the prestige of the tribe.
A schoolteacher who spoke French and English, she is also credited with designing the flag carried by those who opposed Crown and Government law, which erupted into what today is known as the New Zealand Land Wars of the 1860s.
Family members turned on each other, belief systems were challenged, and more importantly, the sovereignty of Māori was threatened.
Heeni Te Kirikaramu took up arms to fight the onslaught of oppression.
She fought at Gate Pā and was said to have been the individual who passed water to the wounded European soldiers who lay immobile during the conflict.
With the ever-increasing pressure from the settler population of the time, the battle again sparked at Te Ranga where she was a noted combatant. She travelled as a toa, fighting with her male relations throughout the Bay of Plenty and was present at Kahuwera near Ōtaramarae, where with her whānaunga Wiremu Mātenga Te Ruru and other noted chiefs, they tracked supporters of the Pai Marie movement through the Ruatonga/Ruatokia region of Te Rotoiti which led to the capture of Hori Tūpaea.
Among many other outstanding moments in her life, it is recorded by her descendant Alfred Foley that Heeni Te Kirikaramu spent a part of her life amongst the Irish settlers in Katikati before returning to Rotorua to practise as a Native Agent on the Native Land Court and finally, she played an active role in the emancipation and winning of the vote for all New Zealand women.
Heeni Te Kirikaramu passed away June 24 1933 and is buried at the Sala St cemetery.
'[We are] just as staunch and ferocious in saying we hold sovereignty over our own.'