Ropata Wahawaha Major Ropata Wahawaha, the warrior chief of Ngati Porou on the East Coast, was a fearless, often ruthless soldier who fought on the Government's side against Te Kooti. In his boyhood he was taken prisoner in a raid by the Rongo Whakaata tribe of Poverty Bay. Later he took a grim revenge on his enemies. From 1864 until 1871 he pursued Te Kooti, spending much of this time in the wild forests of the Ureweras, where he and his men withstood terrible hardships. Innumerable stories were told of his fierceness and bravery in battle, his cleverness as a strategist and his great powers of leadership. Yet despite his single-mindedness as a fighter, throughout the Urewera campaign he bombarded the Government with letters imploring. and indeed demanding, generous treatment for his enemies, the defeated Tuhoe. After the war Major Ropata Wahawaha became a member of the Legislative Council, highly respected by the Pakeha and venerated by his own people.

Patuone This Maori tribute to Patuone and his brother Tamati Waka Nene is from C. O. Davis' The Life and Times of Patuone' (1876). ‘Patuone and Waka Nene were great in counsel and great in fight… they gave good advice to their tribes and to the Ngapuhi nation generally. Patuone was present at many Maori fights north and south, east and west. Often he acted as a peacemaker, because it was his custom to prevent bloodshed. In the early times, Patuone and Waka befriended Europeans who visited New Zealand in ships. … All the world knows that these men were true in action and speech. In their death, the Maoris say that great trees, giving shade to many, have been uprooted; but the Maori proverb is. ‘When one great chief dies, another great chief lives’, and a second proverb is ‘The sun goes down when its course is run’… Patuone reached the end of his journey, and lay down to die. Waka Nene did the same. They have gone to be greeted by generations that went before… Their good sayings and good deeds will be long remembered.