Hand-painted Watercolour Portrait of Patara Te Tuhi by Fern Brenner. Signed verso with additional text : "a cousin of King Putatau missionary - educated editor who was scribe, newspaper publisher and warrior of the first Maori King - Waikato 1930's.
Fernanda Brenner, Wellington, NZ.
245mm x 195 mm.
In his youth Te Tuhi attended mission schools and lived for a time at Kāwhia. He appears to have become a Christian, taking Wiremu Pātara (William Butler) as his baptismal name. In 1856 Iwikau Te Heuheu Tukino III held a meeting at Pūkawa where it was decided to offer the Māori kingship to Te Wherowhero. Te Tuhi, then known as Taieti, attended as Te Wherowhero's representative.
In 1884 Pātara Te Tuhi went to England with Tāwhiao, as the King's assistant and secretary. After returning to New Zealand he lived at Māngere, near his brother, Hōnana Te Maioha. His portrait was painted by C.F.Goldie and a number of photographs were taken of him, showing him to be an imposing figure with a fully tattooed face. He represented Tāwhiao at an intertribal conference at Ōrākei in 1889 and was responsible for issuing proclamations for Mahuta, who succeeded Tāwhiao as King in 1894.
Pātara Te Tuhi was admired by both Māori and Pākehā for his shrewdness and his good nature. John Gorst, his rival editor in Waikato, praised his 'wit and ability', and was pleased to meet him again on a visit to New Zealand in 1906. He died at Māngere on 2 July 1910 and was said to be aged 85 or 86. He was buried at Taupiri, near the Waikato River.