Pomare Place

The street takes its name from Sir Māui Pōmare whose full name was Māui Wiremu Piti Naera Pōmare. He was born at Pāhau Pā, near Waitara, in 1875 and his father was Naera from Ngāti Mutunga and his mother, Mere Hautonga Nicoll, from Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Toa. Both parents died when he was young so Māui was raised by Mere's aunty, Hēni Te Rau Nicoll.

Māui was present when British troops invaded Parihaka, on 5 November 1881, and lost several of his toes when a horse trampled his foot. Māui attended schools at Waitara, Christchurch Boys' High and Te Aute College. He then headed to the United States to study medicine where a reporter described him as "a native prince from some outlandish island in the Pacific". After being the first Māori to graduate in medicine in 1901, he became the medical officer to Māori, which started a lifelong campaign for decent housing and sanitation.

On 8 January 1902, he opened the first Māori Council in the Chatham Islands. A year later he married Mildred Amelia (Mīria) Tāpapa Woodbine Johnson. He won the Western Māori seat in Parliament in 1912 which saw him appointed to the Executive Council to represent Māori, where he obtained compulsory registration of Māori births and deaths in 1913. Sir Māui's first major political battle was to regain leased lands in Taranaki. A commission in 1912 recommended Māori owners be allowed to bid in the open market for leaseholds. He worked hard to reach a settlement with lessees, but other legislation undermined his efforts. With the outbreak of war in 1914, Māui Pōmare and Te Rangi Hīroa travelled around the country recruiting Māori. In 1922 he was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire.

In 1930, Pōmare died at the young age of 54 and his ashes were placed in a tomb beneath a marble statue depicting him at Ōwae Marae. Pōmare Day is held at the marae on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of his death - 27 June 1930. Te Ātiawa use the weekend to celebrate Sir Māui's life and to discuss matters of importance to the iwi and the Waitara community.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.