Historical significance of extraordinary hei tiki

This hei tiki is extraordinary in more ways than one. Most notably, it has just one eye - a feature that is extremely rare, making this tiki a bit special. Leading hei tiki expert and author of Te Hei Tiki, Dougal Austin, has noted that he’d ‘never come across one like it before. The eye is clearly closed, not unfinished.’ He said there would have been ‘plenty of kōrero about that feature.’

Another remarkable aspect of this piece is its historical significance. It was once owned by the formidable Ngāti Toa leader, Te Rauparaha (1768-1849). An association with such a prominent figure gives this tiki considerable mana and historical weight.

So where did the piece originate, and why does it seem to be winking? Might the tiki have been made for someone mischievous, or does it represent an ancestor who had only one eye?

Interestingly, Te Rauparaha was nicknamed Māui Pōtiki in his youth, after the fabled ancestor Māui-Pōtiki-a-Taranga. It is possible that this hei tiki was crafted specifically for him, acknowledging his adventurous and intelligent nature.

Some hei tiki come with big stories and a name, yet this tiki’s narrative is unrecorded. Scientific dating could potentially reveal its age but might also risk damage to the artifact. So, until oral histories shed light on this hei tiki, its story will remain a mystery.

Some other avenues to uncover the story of this precious object have opened up through the work of Māori ethnologists. Taonga Māori expert H.D. Skinner noted that of the half dozen hei tiki collected during Cook’s voyages all were less than ten centimetres in length. He observed a growing trend toward larger hei tiki sizes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and by the mid-nineteenth century, the average size of hei tiki had increased to around eighteen centimetres in length. There were, of course, plenty of exceptions to that rule, but by that rationale, this eight-centimetre piece, which could fit in the palm of your hand, might well date back to the eighteenth century, the time of Te Rauparaha’s youth.

Austin also noted that “surface wear reflects the prized adornment’s ancestral mana.’ His point is that the worn appearance of this hei tiki could indicate its long history and its role as a treasured taonga tuku iho, lovingly passed through generations.

Te Rauparaha had eight wives during his life and fourteen children. This taonga tuku iho was passed to Ria Te Uira, granddaughter of Te Rauparaha, and eventually to his great-grandson Wi Neera Te Kanae, a fact that indicates that it was indeed, a cherished hei tiki.

One of Aotearoa’s greatest militarists, during the Musket Wars Te Rauparaha orchestrated several campaigns down the West Coast of Te Waipounamu/South Island. His ambition was for Ngāti Toa control of the pounamu trade, an aim central to his ambition to expand Ngāti Toa’s economic power.

Among his bloodiest East Coast campaigns were his attacks on Kaiapoi Pā (1831) and Ōnawe Pā (1832), two key Ngāi Tahu Pā.

Te Rauparaha took Kaiapoi Pā, which was Ngāi Tahu’s exceptional educational and economic center, a Pā site rich in resources. At Ōnawe Pā, few Ngāi Tahu survived Ngāti Toa’s attack, only the young and strong who were taken into slavery; the rest were slain on the flats at Barry’s Bay.

Museum records document that this hei tiki was with him during those attacks in Akaroa Harbour and when he returned home to Kawhia.

Te Rauparaha’s hei tiki has been in the Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust collection since 1966. It was gifted by Mrs. F. I. Macalister, who was herself gifted it by Wi Neera Te Kanae.

Published in the Hawke’s Bay Today newspaper 17 August 2024 and written by Toni MacKinnon, Art Curator at MTG Hawke’s Bay.

Image: Hei tiki pounamu, pounamu (īnanga), 80 x 38 x 5mm, collection of Hawke's Bay Museums Trust, Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, 66/468

19 August 2024

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