Hemi te Waka (“Big Jim”) fought against the Pākehā in Taranaki during 1860 but, for some, now unrecorded reason, changed sides and became a valued scout for the Imperial Regiments in the wars of the mid-1860s.The 43rd Regiment presented him with this revolver for his scouting work during the conflict. It was recorded, that he “wore it with pride.”
It was presented to Taranaki Museum in 1919 by the NZ Army Veteran’s Association.
Hemi te Waka continued work as a scout with the elite Corps of Guides under Colonel Whitmore. In 1869, he was killed in an ambush while pursuing Te Kooti’s forces in the Urewera. He is still remembered by our local, unofficial name for the western rise from the Waitara valley to Brixton – Big Jim’s Hill.