1815: Death of Chief Ruatara

May 2, 2022

By AHNZ

Today in history, 3 May, 1815, Chief Ruatara of Ngapuhi died. He was the bridge between two other famous Ngapuhi chiefs who also tied connections to the world outside New Zealand. These were Te Pahi, directly before him, and Hongi Hika, directly after.

Ruatara was a favorite of the Missionaries and gave them shelter to set up shop. Governor Macquarie gave Ruatara a British uniform and a sword and made him a ‘Judicial Assistant’ (which was probably illegal.) Before finding this favor, Ruatara voyaged the sea and even visited London but did not get the fine reception of his successor and uncle, Hongi.

To the Christian historian Ruatara is a big deal, an essential bridge for Christ and civilisation into New Zealand. In their book he is their eager industrious disciple but in reality he was an unenthusiastic supporter of Mission with no desire to be friends with Jesus.

Ruatara’s primary wife committed suicide in response to his death, as was the Maori custom back then. The Western Missionaries were horrified. To a Collectivist mindset a person is simply a cog or a wheel inside a larger tribal machine not an end in herself. This was even more dramatically true for the classic Maoris as it is today so the natives back then didn’t blink an eye in surprise let alone horror that Mrs Ruatara took her own life when she lost her patriarch. Missionary Thomas Kendall, on the other hand, regarded this attitude as primitive and sociopathic. He was beginning to see what he was up against in bringing Western Civilisation to the savages.

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Image ref. Ruatara, Jan Pendergrast (2016)

Ref. also 1806: Te Pahi’s Medal, AHNZ

Ref. also 1838: Fanatical Flogger Founding Father Falls, AHNZ

Ref. The Legacy of Guilt, Judith Binny (1963)

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