Rārangi wā ki te Tohutoa a Te PahiTimeline of The Te Pahi Medal
He taonga nui te tohutoa a Te Pahi ki te motu whānui: ko te koha tapu tuatahi nā te kāwanatanga ki tētahi rangatira Māori.
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The Te Pahi medal is a taonga of national importance: the first official state gift given to a Māori chief.
Explore the history of the Te Pahi Medal (in English and te reo Māori) in this timeline.
January 1806: The medal is gifted
The Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King, had the medal made to mark Te Pahi’s three-month visit to Sydney. John Austin, a convict silversmith, probably crafted it from two watch cases.
King hoped to secure resources for his colony from Te Pahi, and protection of whalers and traders in the Bay of Islands. Te Pahi aimed to establish trade ties and acquire new technology.
I te wā ka manaakitia a Te Pahi, māuiui kē a King, kua wherū i te noho ture kore o te koroni o Niu Haute Wēra. Ka rua ngā tau ka mate i te tau 1808.
Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales, had the medal made for Te Pahi ‘to give him some proof of the estimation he was held in’.
Philip Gidley King, about 1800. State Library of New South Wales (IE204307)
About 1810: The medal disappears
In 1810, tragedy struck in Northland. A local chief’s son had been flogged on the Boyd, a cargo ship. In retaliation, his tribe massacred all on board. Te Pahi was wrongly blamed.
Revenge was swift – British whalers sacked Te Pahi’s island pā, killing up to 60 Māori. Te Pahi was fatally wounded. During the turmoil, the medal vanished.
I ponitaka te whenua o Te Pahi i te rohe o Rangihoua i Pēwhairangi.
Te Pahi’s rohe surrounded Rangihoua Bay in the Bay of Islands. It included Rangihoua Pā, shown in this landscape 11 years after his death.
Augustus Earle, Ranghe Hue, [i.e. Rangihoua] a New Zealand fortified village, the residence of Warri-Pork [i.e. Wharepoaka], 1827. National Library of Australia (Solander Box C18 #T178 NK12/141)
1810–2014: Where was the medal?
Te Pahi’s medal all but disappeared between 1810 and 2014. It was only mentioned once, in an Australian will dated 1899. How it got to Australia from the Bay of Islands is a mystery.
April 2014: The medal reappears
In 2014, the medal resurfaced at Sotheby’s Sydney auction house. Te Pahi’s iwi, Ngāpuhi, explored a legal challenge to its sale, fearing the taonga could be lost to a private collector.
On auction day, Ngāpuhi performed a haka outside the sale venue. Meanwhile, Te Papa and Auckland Museum, with Ngāpuhi’s endorsement, put in a joint bid – and won.
November 2014: The medal returns
Te Pahi’s descendants welcomed his medal back to the Bay of Islands in November 2014. Afterwards, it was handed into the care of Te Papa and Auckland Museum, its new co-owners.
Currently, Te Papa is custodian of the Te Pahi medal – a tribute to a leader of great mana, and a symbol of friendship between two peoples.
Gallery
E tohu ana te kōhao o runga ka whakamauria te tohutoa ki te kakī: I tuhia e Kāwana King inā ‘he mea whakamau ki te kakī o [Te Pahi] e tētahi mekameka hiriwa kaha.’
The hole in the medal shows it was designed to be worn: Governor King wrote that it ‘was suspended by a strong silver chain around [Te Pahi’s] neck.’
Te Pahi Medal, 1806, New South Wales, by John Austin. Collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira. Purchased 2014. Te Papa (GH024416)
Ko Philip Gidley King, Kāwana o Niu Haute Wēra, nāna i whakarite kia hanga he tohutoa mō Te Pahi ‘hei tohu i ōku whakaaro mōna’.
Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales, had the medal made for Te Pahi ‘to give him some proof of the estimation he was held in’.
Philip Gidley King, about 1800-05, artist unknown. State Library of New South Wales (a8300002)
Ko Te Pahi, rangatira o Ngāpuhi o Ngāti Awa, nāna ngā taonga rangatira ka hoatu ki a Kāwana King – he patu kuratapu me ētahi kākahu.
Te Pahi, rangatira of the Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Awa tribes, brought his host Governor King fine gifts – a ceremonial patu and several kākahu.
Tippahee A New Zealand Chief, 1827, engraving by William Archibald from an original drawing by George Harris. Alexander Turnbull Library (A-092-007)
I te wā ka manaakitia a Te Pahi, māuiui kē a King, kua wherū i te noho ture kore o te koroni o Niu Haute Wēra. Ka rua ngā tau ka mate i te tau 1808.
When Philip Gidley King hosted Te Pahi, he was already unwell, and exhausted from governing the unruly New South Wales colony. He died two years later, in 1808.
Philip Gidley King, about 1800, artist unknown. State Library of New South Wales (IE204307)
Ka mīharo te tini i a Te Pahi nōna i Poihākena, ko Māui waewae kakama tōna rite – e tata ono pūtu tōna hūroaroa ā, he mau moko.
Te Pahi fascinated many in Sydney with his striking physical presence – he was nearly six feet tall and wore a mokomoko facial tattoo.
Tippahee [Te Pahi] a chief of New Zealand, 1808, by James Finucan. State Library of New South Wales (SV*/Mao/Port/14)
Ka manaakitia a Te Pahi e Philip Gidley King i te Whare Kāwanatanga i Parramatta, i Poihākena, mai i te marama o Noema 1805 ki te marama o Hānuere 1806.
Te Pahi was a guest of Philip Gidley King at Government House in Parramatta, Sydney, from November 1805 to February 1806.
First Government House, Sydney, about 1807, by John Eyre. State Library of New South Wales (SV/31)
Te whakaekenga a Ngāti Pou me te whakapakūtanga o te Boyd ki Te Taitokerau. Ka whakapaetia hētia a Te Pahi nāna te pāhuahua me te parekuratanga o ngā tangata eke.
In Northland, Ngāti Pou iwi [tribe] attacked the Boyd, triggering a gunpowder explosion. Te Pahi was wrongly blamed for the ship’s looting and crew’s massacre.
Louis John Steele and Kennett Watkins, The Blowing Up of the Boyd, 1889. Purchased 1992 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds (1992-0019-2)
I ponitaka te whenua o Te Pahi i te rohe o Rangihoua i Pēwhairangi. Ka kitea ake ko te pā o Rangihoua i tēnei whakaahua whenua, ka 17 ngā tau i muri iho i tōna matenga.
Te Pahi’s roherohe territory surrounded Rangihoua Bay in the Bay of Islands. It included Rangihoua PāPā fortified village, shown in this landscape 11 years after his death.
Ranghe Hue [Rangihoua] a New Zealand Fortified Village, The Residence of Warri-Pork [Wharepoaka], 1827, by Augustus Earle. National Library of Australia (T178 NK12/141)
Kei tēnei peita waikano, atu i te tihi he mārama te kite atu ko te pā o Rangihoua, tētahi o ngā kāinga o Te Pahi. Kua pīreretia i te wā i peita ai tēnei whakaahua whenua e Edward Ashworth.
Rangihoua Pā, one of Te Pahi’s villages, is visible on the highest peak in this watercolour. It was deserted when Edward Ashworth painted this landscape.
Hemioramic view of the North part of the Bay of Islands New Zealand, 1844, by Edward Ashworth. Alexander Turnbull Library (E-042-036/037)
Ka whakahoahoa a Minita Mātenga rāua ko Te Pahi i Poihākena. I te tau 1814, ka ara i a Mātenga te kāinga mihingare tuatahi o Niu Tireni ka tū nei i te take o te pā o Rangihoua.
Reverend Samuel Marsden had befriended Te Pahi in Sydney. In 1814, he founded New Zealand’s first missionary settlement below the late chief’s village, Rangihoua Pa.
Tepoanah [Te Puna] Bay of Islands New Zealand a Church Missionary Establishment, about 1827, by Augustus Earle. National Library of Australia (T176 NK12/139)
Ko motuapo te kāinga o Te Pahi ka pāhuatia, arā, te motu iti o mua o tēnei whakaahua. I tēnei rā, ko te nuinga o ōna whenua kei te Rangihoua Heritage Park.
Te Pahi’s sacked island pā was on Motuapo, the island in the foreground in this image. Today, this area is Rangihoua Heritage Park.
Rangihoua Bay, Bay of Islands. Image from the 2014 documentary Tippahee, directed by Komako Silver
