Born Tarapīpipi Te Waharoa, Wiremu Tāmihana was deeply influenced by the missionary teaching of Archdeacon Alfred Brown, whose mission station was established near Matamata.
Following the death of his father, Te Waharoa, in 1838, Tarapīpipi became chief of Ngāti Hauā. On Brown’s advice, he established the Christian pā of Tapiri nearby, where many converts gathered. A raupō chapel was built, and regular worship was maintained.
In 1839 he was baptised and took the name Wiremu Tāmihana. Though involved in warfare in his early years, he later pursued peace as he embraced Christian teaching. He helped settle longstanding rivalries between Ngāti Hauā and neighbouring iwi, marked by a hākari at Matamata celebrating peace with Rotorua tribes.
In the 1850s, Tāmihana became involved in wider Māori affairs. Concerned about relationships between Māori and Pākehā, he envisioned a future of peaceful coexistence and greater Māori unity. He encouraged agriculture, education, and the retention of whenua.
He played a leading role in the establishment of the Kiingitanga movement, earning the title “kingmaker” in the lead-up to the coronation of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero in 1858. He did not see the movement as opposing the British Crown, but as complementary to it: “love and law surround them, and above is God.”
Wiremu Tāmihana died in 1866. An obelisk was erected in his memory shortly after his death. A century later parishioners of All Saints’ Church Matamata unveiled a cairn in his memory, and he features in a stained-glass window installed in 1984.
Karakia:
E te Atua kaha rawa i hoatu e koe ki a Wiremu Tāmihana he whakakitenga i tāu i whakatakoto ai, ā, me te whakapūmautanga o tōu aroha me tōu mana. Meinga anō hoki ki a mātou, kia mau pū ki te tūmanako kei roto nei i a Īhu Karaiti te Huarahi, te Pono, me te Ora. Āmine.
Reading:
Ka hari te tangata e pākia ana e koe, e Ihowā; e whakaakona ana i roto i tāu ture.
Waiata 94: 12
Blessed are those you instruct O Lord; to whom you give teaching out of your law.
Psalm 94: 12