Whakapau taniwha – Maria Aminta Maning

To see each photo in larger size click the small images above

Maria Aminta (sometimes spelled Amina) Maning was the second daughter of the infamous Frederick Maning, a legendary merchant and Land Court Judge in the Hokianga. Her mother was Moengaroa, sister of Chief Hauraki, a rangatira of Te Hikutū.

Maria was five when her mother died. She was so distressed by Moengaroa’s death that Frederick sent her to Hobart to live with her grandparents. She returned to the Hokianga aged 23, to rejoin her siblings Susan, Hauraki Hereward and Mary. In Maria's time away, Maning encouraged his daughter to take pride in herself and lineage. This resulted in several pieces of writing about her Pākehā-Māori heritage including this moteatea or lament.

Maria was only two when her uncle Chief Hauraki died from wounds received in a battle against Hone Heke at Waikare. The moteatea she wrote is dedicated to a beloved uncle she was denied getting to know. Through her writing, Maria’s emotional connection to Chief Hauraki is lovingly evoked with a depth and quality of language and meaning. Her bilingual insights together with her poetic style of writing, allowed the full strength of the person and his deeds to be understood in both the English and Māori version of her moteatea.

The sentiment inscribed on Maria Amina Maning’s gravestone acknowledges her father’s best known book. It is also testament to how she was regarded by those who best knew her, for she was truly ‘A Daughter of Old New Zealand’. Maria Amina Maning was born 15 May 1842 and she died on 15 March 1892.

Kate de Courcy