13 Facts About Wi Pere

Wi Pere represented Eastern Maori in the House of Representatives from 1884 to 1887, and again from 1893 to 1905.

Wi Pere was born in 1837 at Turanga, the son of English Poverty Bay trader Thomas Halbert and esteemed Maori Riria Mauaranui of Te Whanau-a-Kai hapu of Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki and Rongowhakaata.

Wi Pere was baptised William Halbert but commonly went by his Maori name, Wiremu Wi Pere.

From a young age Wi Pere was noted for his shrewdness and identified by elders as having exceptional intelligence.

Wi Pere was raised largely under the tutelage of his mother and was schooled in tribal lore and genealogy by Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki iwi elders of the Maraehinahina whare wananga.

In 1865, as Pai Marire emissaries gained support in Poverty Bay and tensions grew amid local iwi, Wi Pere remained a government supporter and constant to his Anglican allegiance.

Wi Pere attracted much attention when he won the Eastern Maori seat in the 1884 general election.

Wi Pere joined the Kotahitanga movement and supported its efforts to establish a separate Maori Parliament.

In both the 1887 and 1890 elections Wi Pere lost the Eastern Maori seat to James Carroll, who was opposed to the Kotahitanga separatist movement.

When Carroll stood down in 1893 to contest the Gisborne seat, Wi Pere won Eastern Maori back as a member of the Liberal Party.

Wi Pere served a further four terms before losing the seat to Apirana Ngata in the 1905 general election.

Wi Pere was appointed to the Legislative Council on 22 January 1907, where he was effectively the only Maori member.

Wi Pere died on 9 December 1915, and was buried in a vault at Waerenga-a-Hika on 3 January 1916.