Maori Centenarian Dies At Ngawha

Northern Advocate, 28 August 1947, Page 6

Maori Centenarian Dies At Ngawha

Believed to be the oldest person in New Zealand, and a link with the Treaty of Waitangi, a Maori woman, Mrs Teowai Pokaihau died yesterday at her home at Ngawha, near Kaikohe. Mrs Pokaihau’s age is not known for certain, but she is believed to have been at least 107 years old. She retained her memory to the end, with a fund of reminiscence of early New Zealand. Her lifetime, in fact, covered most of the European history of the country. Some of the leading chiefs who led the successful defence of the Ohaeawai Pa at Ngawha against the British troops, were close relatives. Descendants of her two marriages, numbering over COO, are living in Auckland, Rotorua and Hawke’s Bay, as well as throughout Northland, where she was connected with many families in the Bay of Islands district. One of her sons is nearly 90 years of [ age. Her many relatives are gathering at Kaikohe for the tangi, which is ex.pected to be one of the largest seen in the North. Maoris from all parts of the North Island are gathering to pay their last •respects to a member of their race, who in her lifetime had seen the beginning of British rule, war with the whites, and finally Maori and pakeha living in brotherhood.