Nga Tohu

In 1840 more than 500 chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document. Ngā Tohu, when complete, will contain a biographical sketch of each signatory.


Signing

SignatureSheetSigned asProbable nameTribeHapūSigning Occasion
62Sheet 1 — The Waitangi SheetHira PureTe Hira PureNgāpuhiTe Uri-o-Hua, Te Uri TaniwhaWaitangi 6 February 1840

Te Hira Pure signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840 at Waitangi.

In 1858 Te Hira Pure was one of a number of Māori introduced to Governor Thomas Gore Browne at Russell. He was described as an assessor. In 1859 Te Hira Pure sent a letter to the governor on behalf of the rūnanga (council) of Te Uri-o-Hua, complaining that surveyors were straying onto Māori land that had already been surveyed.

In 1862, Civil Commissioner George Clarke noted that ‘four of the most influential chiefs of the Ngapuhi tribes’ had died recently. One of them was Te Hira Pure, who, Clarke noted, had known former Governor George Grey and ‘had attained a good old age’. [1]



[1] Quoted in Te Karere Maori – the Maori Messenger, 16 December 1862, p. 8


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