Hemi Parai
Date of birth / Date established
Circa 1815
Date of death / Date closed
Circa 1887
Person/Corporate type
Individual
Biography
Hemi Karena Parai, Ngati Haumia and Taranaki rangatira, was a strong advocate for his people in land negotiations with the Crown during the nineteenth century. Parai's parents were Whangateataura and Tapuiatini. With his first wife Tawhirikura Karopihia, Parai had two children, Tahana Niwa and Arapera Rongomaroa. Parai's second wife, Pirihira Matangi, was the widow of Wi Kingi Te Awhitu. Together, Matangi and Parai had two sons, Te Awhi Parai and Mohi Parai. Matangi also had three older children from her marriage to Te Awhitu who were Hana Te Awhitu, Ani Te Kai (Bluett), and Te Waaka Houtipu.
In his youth, Hemi Parai settled in Te Whannagnui-a-Tara with a leading group of Ngati Haumia, including Mohi Ngaponga. They firstly established themselves at Ngauranga and later at Te Aro. In 1844, Parai signed the Deeds of Release at Te Aro and in September 1847, he was appointed the Native Land Assessor.
Hemi Parai frequently corresponded on matters relating to land negotiation, often writing letters to Governor Grey and his officials. In 1860 Hemi Parai voiced his concerns in a letter to Governor Gore Brown, along with Te Rira, Wiremu Tamihana Te Neke, and Te Manihera Matanoiruhau. The letter expressed their disapproval of English law being applied differently to Māori and Pākehā in land disputes, where authorities discriminated against those Māori who did not wish to sell their land.
In 1863, Parai was one of three remaining land lease signatories in Wellington to have land granted at Porirua. In 1873, Parai sold sections 1, 2, and 7 of Te Aro pā to the superintendent of Wellington, and along with Hori Ngapaka, sold section 8. On the 17th of August 1875, section 120 and 121 of the Hutt Valley were proclaimed as a native reserve, with Hemi Parai receiving a Crown grant to assign the land to his people in twelve separate blocks.
Some time between 1862 and 1872, Parai had his portrait photographed by Edward Smallwood Richards in Wellington. The image has been reproduced by William Francis Gordon in his album ‘Some "Soldiers of the Queen" who served in the Maori Wars and Other Notable Persons Connected Herewith' (c. 1900), and by the Public Works Department in October 1947 (Loose Prints #6612).
In 1865, Hemi Parai built an addition to Te Aro pā, used as a guest house for visiting rangatira. Previously, the conditions at Te Aro had been criticised by Native Secretary Henry Tacy Kemp, who noted the disrepair and high mortality rates of those living there. From 1866-1868, land titles at Te Aro and Pipitea pā were individualised through the Native Lands Act 1865. The Commissioner of Native Reserves Charles Heaphy, disliked the communal aspects of pā living, encouraging Māori to relocate thus making way for individual land sales and further European settlement. Hemi Parai and eight other land owners then left for Taranaki in 1871, allowing Te Aro pā to dissipate. According to Ben Schraeder, this reflected the capitalist process of social relations and the commodification of land under the new legislation. Despite the shift of Parai and other Māori to Taranaki, the new resident dwellings at Pipitea and Te Aro initially remained minimal.
In April 1869 during a ball at Government House, Parai was granted 142 acres, at Vogeltown in Wellington, with Wiremu Tako Ngatata.
External Sources:
A. R. Cairns. 'Ngatata, Wiremu Tako', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1n10/ngatata-wiremu-tako
Schrader, Ben. The Big Smoke : New Zealand Cities, 1840-1920. 2016, 159-160.
'Te Rira Porutu', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/signatory/8-9, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 27-Jun-2016
‘Hemi Parai’, URL: www.wcl.govt.nz/maori/wellington/bio-parai-hemi.html, (Wellington City Libraries Te Matapihi Ki Te Ao Nui)
In his youth, Hemi Parai settled in Te Whannagnui-a-Tara with a leading group of Ngati Haumia, including Mohi Ngaponga. They firstly established themselves at Ngauranga and later at Te Aro. In 1844, Parai signed the Deeds of Release at Te Aro and in September 1847, he was appointed the Native Land Assessor.
Hemi Parai frequently corresponded on matters relating to land negotiation, often writing letters to Governor Grey and his officials. In 1860 Hemi Parai voiced his concerns in a letter to Governor Gore Brown, along with Te Rira, Wiremu Tamihana Te Neke, and Te Manihera Matanoiruhau. The letter expressed their disapproval of English law being applied differently to Māori and Pākehā in land disputes, where authorities discriminated against those Māori who did not wish to sell their land.
In 1863, Parai was one of three remaining land lease signatories in Wellington to have land granted at Porirua. In 1873, Parai sold sections 1, 2, and 7 of Te Aro pā to the superintendent of Wellington, and along with Hori Ngapaka, sold section 8. On the 17th of August 1875, section 120 and 121 of the Hutt Valley were proclaimed as a native reserve, with Hemi Parai receiving a Crown grant to assign the land to his people in twelve separate blocks.
Some time between 1862 and 1872, Parai had his portrait photographed by Edward Smallwood Richards in Wellington. The image has been reproduced by William Francis Gordon in his album ‘Some "Soldiers of the Queen" who served in the Maori Wars and Other Notable Persons Connected Herewith' (c. 1900), and by the Public Works Department in October 1947 (Loose Prints #6612).
In 1865, Hemi Parai built an addition to Te Aro pā, used as a guest house for visiting rangatira. Previously, the conditions at Te Aro had been criticised by Native Secretary Henry Tacy Kemp, who noted the disrepair and high mortality rates of those living there. From 1866-1868, land titles at Te Aro and Pipitea pā were individualised through the Native Lands Act 1865. The Commissioner of Native Reserves Charles Heaphy, disliked the communal aspects of pā living, encouraging Māori to relocate thus making way for individual land sales and further European settlement. Hemi Parai and eight other land owners then left for Taranaki in 1871, allowing Te Aro pā to dissipate. According to Ben Schraeder, this reflected the capitalist process of social relations and the commodification of land under the new legislation. Despite the shift of Parai and other Māori to Taranaki, the new resident dwellings at Pipitea and Te Aro initially remained minimal.
In April 1869 during a ball at Government House, Parai was granted 142 acres, at Vogeltown in Wellington, with Wiremu Tako Ngatata.
External Sources:
A. R. Cairns. 'Ngatata, Wiremu Tako', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1n10/ngatata-wiremu-tako
Schrader, Ben. The Big Smoke : New Zealand Cities, 1840-1920. 2016, 159-160.
'Te Rira Porutu', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/signatory/8-9, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 27-Jun-2016
‘Hemi Parai’, URL: www.wcl.govt.nz/maori/wellington/bio-parai-hemi.html, (Wellington City Libraries Te Matapihi Ki Te Ao Nui)
