Wharangi, chief is named in a Maori letter, from Rewi at Huirangi, dated 13 November 1860, to Wi One who was wounded and taken to the New Plymouth hospital: ‘Listen, ... Wharangi ...- the whole of you, thirty seven, are completely taken away by the Pakeha.’ published in The Taranaki Herald 17 November 1860.
Wharangi (Chief), Ngatiapakura is listed in the detailed information on Maori casualties in General Pratt’s report report to Browne, dated New Plymouth, 6 November 1860 (GBPP 1861), the names are published in The New Zealand Gazette, number 33, dated 7 November 1860, and published in The Taranaki Herald of 10 November 1860. Identifications in both lists were made by Renata, who was the only unwounded prisoner and said to be a Ngati Haua of rank (Maunsell to Richmond 15 November 1860, Scholefield 1960 I:659). The names were recorded by Robert Parris of the Native Department.
Wharangi, a chief, Ngatiapaku, head chief of Waikato, identified by Renata, was named in The Taranaki Herald 10 November 1860. Renata, a prisoner, was ordered to pass along the row of bodies and give the names to Mr Parris and Mr Hay.
He is named Te Wharangi, Ngatihaua by Grayling (1862:93; Fig. 3), seven ‘leading chiefs’ among the dead, the information said to be ‘…derived from native sources’.
Two monuments remember Maori killed at Mahoetahi. At the battlefield is a concrete cross erected in 1941 with the words: HE WHAKAMAHARATANGA I NGA RANGATIRA TOA O WAIKATO. A WETINI TAIPORUTU MA I HINGA KI KONEI TATA, I TE PAREKURA I TURIA TE 6 NOWEMA 1860. This is translated by Cowan (1922–23 I:193): ‘In remembrance of the brave chiefs of Waikato, of Wetini Taiporutu and his comrades, who fell close to this spot in the battle fought on the 6th November 1860’The older, wooden cross with the same words is now housed at Puke Ariki.
The second monument is in the St Mary's vicarage garden, Vivian Street, New Plymouth, where the chiefs and mortally wounded men brought into town were buried. At the time this was part of the churchyard and not the vicarage garden which it was to become (Alington 1988:71).
The Taranaki Herald 10 November 1860, 17 November 1860. The New Zealand Gazette. 1860. Number 33, dated 7 November. Great Britain Parliamentary Papers (GBPP) 1861 [2798] Vol. XLI, pp. 167–168. Grayling, W.I. 1862. The War in Taranaki, During the Years 1860–61. New Plymouth, G.W. Woon. War Office. 1865. Selections from Despatches and Letters Relative to the Conduct of Military Operations in New Zealand 1860–5. War Office, 0270 II.[Microfilm]. Cowan, J. 1922–23 The New Zealand Wars (2 vols). Wellington, Government Printer. Prickett, Nigel. 1994. Pakeha and Maori fortifications of the First Taranaki War, 1860–61. Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 31: 1-87. Belich, J. 1986. The New Zealand Wars: and the Victorian interpretation of racial conflict. Auckland, Auckland University Press. Alington, M.H. 1988. Goodly Stones and Timbers. New Plymouth, St Mary’s Church. AWMM