by Sorrel Hoskin

A sacred document

On the shores of Port Nicholson (now Wellington) a group of men stand in a marquee discussing a sheath of papers - the Treaty of Waitangi.  Among those 34 men is just one woman. Kahe Te Rau-o-te-Rangi strides forward, dips a quill in a bottle of black ink and signs her name "Kahe" on New Zealand's founding document. The date is 29 April 1840.

Kahe, of Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Mutunga (North Taranaki) decent, was one of 13 remarkable, high-ranked      Māori women who signed the Treaty - more would have added their names in ink to the founding document if they had been allowed - but the prejudices of those collecting signatures stopped them. In early Victorian New Zealand woman did not yet have the vote and were seen as second class citizens by some signature collectors. In protest at this  Māori pointed out that the document was an agreement with a woman - Queen Victoria - so why shouldn't they sign?

So why was Kahe there? She probably signed on behalf of her family and father, says her descendant Miria Pomare. "Had Te Matoha been alive he would have signed the Treaty. He was regarded as someone with a substantial amount of mana and influence." Te Matoha had been one of Te Rauparaha's warriors, and was allocated land on Kāpiti Island. "It was probably because of the mana of her family and her father. Certainly she would have been challenged (by other members of the tribe) if she didn't have that mana." 

Like her cousin Te Rangi Topeora, another woman who signed the Treaty on Kāpiti, Kahe was held in high regard by the Maori signatories and Pākehā negotiators. The missionary Henry Williams, had more understanding of Māori society and allowed some high-ranking women to sign.

Kahe is said to have signed the Treaty twice: at Port Nicholson and at Kāpiti, on behalf of both her families- Ngāti Mutunga from North Taranaki and Ngāti Toa.

A woman of great strength and mana

On 10 November 1841, Kahe and John Nicoll, a whaler, were formerly married on board a ship off the coast of Kāpiti. The pair had been together for many years and had children, but the formalisation of the partnership was probably recognition of the changing world they lived in, says Miria. "Ngāti Toa was taking on Christian values, recognising the importance of embracing change and all it brought - education especially - which would be very important for positioning themselves positively for the future."

"It's likely Kahe and John Nicoll knew each other from pretty early on. Probably for his own protection and Ngāti Toa's commercial development it would have been important to fix him up with a Ngāti Toa woman sooner rather than later," says Miria. Pākehā traders were seen as important elements to the future prospects of many tribes in the early days of European settlement - to the point where they were almost possessions. Their know-how and international networks for trading were very important to tribes who wanted to succeed in this new world.

Described as a woman of "great muscular strength and endurance" Kahe was often the only crew on her husband's boat trips sailing between the Marlborough Sounds, Kāpiti and the mainland of Aoteroa.

The couple had a small whaling station and farm on the northern end of Kāpiti.
When whaling declined in the 1840s the family moved to the mainland, setting up an inn at Paekākāriki. "She was a very entrepreneurial woman, a woman who wasn't afraid to look adversity in the face - she could see opportunities in it. The completely new way of life didn't phase her." 

A dive back in time

This was the woman, who, as a teenager had made the heke/migration south from Kāwhia to the Cook Strait region between 1821 and 1822.  The Te Rauparaha- led Ngāti Toa people stopped first at Kaweka, home to     Ngāti Mutunga and Kahe's mother Te Hautonga, where they harvested crops and gathered followers.  The migration was named Te Heke Tātaramoa - the bramble bush after the many troubles they were to encounter along the way.As Ngāti Toa and their Taranaki relations travelled further south through lands of other iwi, Te Rauparaha and his followers were determined to show their dominance. They did - but were to live in fear of retribution.

Kahe swam 10km from Kāpiti Island to the coast of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Image: Wikipedea.

Such fear led to Kahe undertaking an epic swim to save her tribe. About to be attacked by enemies who wanted revenge or utu on Te Rauparaha, Kahe was the only one who could slip past the approaching waka and swim for help on the mainland. It was a 10km trip and she did it with baby Ripeka on her back.

"She was well-known for her swimming and diving abilities," says Miria. "They oiled her down with kōkōwai (red ochre oil) to keep the cold out and constructed a little raft out of raupō to keep the baby buoyant and out of the water, a tohunga would have said a karakia."

The karakia ringing in her ears Kahe would have slipped into the water. Motivated by the fear of attack, swimming for survival, she reached the mainland and raised the alarm. Unbeknown to her the reinforcements weren't needed for that 1824 attack - the Kāpiti based warriors were too strong for the attackers. Kahe went down in history for her epic swim and the channel was named after her. It was to be 125 years before another attempt, by trained surf swimmers, was made on the channel.

Back to the future

Fast forward to 1845 and the Paekākāriki inn where Kahe and John raised a family. Kahe was  well known to travellers along the coast for her hospitality. Governer George Grey often stayed at the inn and took two of the couple's children away to be educated. Tragically the children both died. Only three of Kahe's children survived to adulthood: Heni Te Rau (Janie Brown) who married Henry Brown, Hone, who married Amiria; and Mere Hautonga who married Inia Tuhata and then Wiremu Naera Pōmare, with whom she had four children: Mui, Piritaka, Te Hia and Pahi.

Sir Maui Pomare is Miria's great grandfather.

A remarkable woman

Kahe's date of death is unknown  - possibly in the early 1870s. It is believed she is buried at Karewarewa on the northern shores of the Waikanae River. John Nicoll died in 1886 and was buried at Waikanae.

Her great-great grandmother lead a life packed full of incredible challenges and change, says Miria.  "It's a very, very colourful life. She experienced more than most of us would see in many life times, and met all the challenges head on."