The lore of the Whare-wananga, or, Teachings of the Maori College on religion, cosmogony, and history

Hoani Te Whatahoro made important collections of Maori traditions and nineteenth century literature, much of this material was passed on to several European scholars. Elsdon Best, T. W. Downes, S. Percy Smith and John White all wrote articles which incorporated information supplied by Hoani Te Whatahoro, but made little or no acknowledgement. Percy Smith, president of the Polynesian Society, used other writings of Hoani Te Whatahoro. He translated and published, under the title The lore of the whare-wananga, the teachings of Te Matorohanga and Nepia Pohuhu that had been written down by Hoani 48 years earlier. The first part of these teachings was printed as volume three of the Polynesian Society's Memoirs in 1913, the second part was first printed as chapters in the Journal in 1913 and 1914, and then reprinted in 1915 as volume four of the Memoirs. In these publications the ideas, opinions and interpretations of Smith dominate the English translation. Important manuscripts of Hoani Te Whatahoro are now held by the University of Auckland, the Alexander Turnbull Library and the National Museum.

Parsons, M. J. 'Jury, Hoani Te Whatahoro 1841 - 1923'. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 22 June 2007.