Hemi Haukākawa signed the Bay of Plenty (Fedarb) sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi at Whakatāne on 16 June 1840. He was a Ngāti Pūkeko rangatira (chief) of the Ngāti Awa iwi (tribe) from nearby Kopeopeo. Haukākawa was married to Putanui. Their granddaughter was Ngaraka, of the Patuwai hapū (subtribe).
In 1865 Haukākawa gave evidence at the trial of Wiremu Kepa Te Amopu, his half-brother. Haukākawa had gone to Whakatāne after the Pai Mārire prophet Horomona arrived there. Haukākawa had seen Wiremu on shore after a boatload of people had cast off to kill the interpreter James Fulloon and the Pākehā crew of the cutter Kate. [1]
[1] Fifth day—November 10, Daily Southern Cross, 12 December 1865, p. 5