A MAORI CENTENARIAN.
DIES AT HUNTLY. On Good Friday there died at Huntly a Maori woman who claimed to have been born in 1817, which would make her the great age of 108 years at the time of her death. She was known in the district as “Old Ngawai,” but her real name was Hera Matewhitu. She must have been 23 years old before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed at the Bay of Islands, and was a little girl when Hongi Hika made his terrible raids on various Maori tribes. During the Waikato war Hera Matewhitu was livingin a district where, fighting was very fierce. While she may not have been actually 108 years old, the fact that; she has lived to see the fifth generation of her descendants, proved; “Old Ngawai” to have passed the 100 years mark.
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Bibliographic details
King Country Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 2102, 14 April 1925, Page 5
Word Count
140A MAORI CENTENARIAN. King Country Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 2102, 14 April 1925, Page 5
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