Extracts from "Maori Tattoo" by Ko Te Riria and David Simmons, The Bush Press, Auckland, 1989.
Frontspiece.
"Ko Te Riria was born in 1930 at Wairoa, Hawke's Bay. When he was three years old he was taken into Te Arikimokowhakaitiiti, a whare wananga or college of learning in which he remained except for short periods until 1944. He then spent some time in the Urewera and on the Wanganui river learning and engaging in practical tasks under the supervision of tribal elders from those areas. He did not attend a European school. In 1944 he was blessed to succeed his grandfather as Te Ariki Taiopuru Ko Huiarau, the paramount chief of the United Tribes of New Zealand, and twenty-eight years later was formally installed as the Te Ariki Taiopuru Ko Te Riria V. The Assembly of the United Tribes of which he is the head, reopened its doors and met in formal session once again in 1988."
Page 20
A photo of a painting by G.F.Angus of the supposed Ko Te Riria Waikato (Tairea) Whareherehere, Te Arikinui Ko Huiarau. Includes false claim that he signed the TReaty at Mahia.
Page 29 onwards
The myth of Ko Huiarau is interwoven throughout the rest of the book, overlaid on genuine research. Readers of this book should be aware that the line between fact and fiction is very difficult to discern.