Taraia, principal Taranaki chief, was reported as killed at Waireka in The Taranaki Herald 'Journal of Events' dated 29 March 1860, published 31 March 1860 and this report was confirmed by Tamati Wiremu, a chief at Poutoko, near the road taken by the retreating taua and just outside the Omata Block.

He was listed as a Taranaki chief killed, in The Taranaki Herald 7 April 1860. The same list is given in an open letter written in Maori by Native Secretary Donald McLean, dated ‘Taranaki’, 4 April 1860, in the order as in the newspaper to indicate the same origin (Parkinson and Griffith 2004:519).

He was later described as Taraia Te Ruru Takahi Kare of Taranaki by Grayling 1862:93 (Fig. 3) but Prickett (2005) suggests this may be the names of two men or a spelling error.

The Taranaki Herald 31 March 1860, 7 April 1860. Grayling, W.I. 1862. The war in Taranaki, during the years 1860-61. New Plymouth, G.W. Woon. Belich, J. 1986. The New Zealand Wars: and the Victorian interpretation of racial conflict. Auckland, Auckland University Press AWMM