Where did Te Puea Hērangi grow up and live?

📍Ngāruawāhia, Waikato, New Zealand

1883 – 1952

“Ko au ko Te Puea Hērangi. I was born on the 9th of November 1883 at Ngāruawāhia, granddaughter of King Tāwhiao, and I dedicated my life to the restoration of Waikato dignity after the devastation of the land wars and confiscations. I opposed conscription during the First World War — Waikato had not forgotten the invasion of 1863 — and I cared for our people through the influenza epidemic of 1918 that killed thousands of Māori. I built Tūrangawaewae Marae at Ngāruawāhia as the spiritual and cultural home of the Kīngitanga, fundraising through kapa haka performances when we had nothing else. I preserved the arts, the language, the protocols of my people through the darkest decades. Ngāruawāhia was the ground I stood on — the confluence of rivers, the seat of the Kīngitanga, home.”

👍 LovedTūrangawaewae Marae — the place I built as the home of the Kīngitanga. The kapa haka that raised the funds and kept the culture alive. The Waikato people whose dignity I spent my life restoring.

👎 DislikedThe conscription battles of the First World War. The influenza epidemic that I nursed my people through with almost no resources. The poverty of the rebuilding years.

Map showing where Te Puea Hērangi lived — Ngāruawāhia, Waikato, New Zealand

🗺️ Approximate location today

📷 Location image · via Wikimedia Commons

Sources: King, M. Te Puea: A Biography (1977), Hodder & Stoughton; Walker, R. Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou: Struggle Without End (1990), Penguin