Hikaraia, Ngatihaua, a Mahoetahi casualty is identified by Renata and recorded by Robert Parris of the Native Department, enclosed in General Pratt’s report to Browne, dated New Plymouth, 6 November 1860 (GBPP 1861), the same list is in The New Zealand Gazette, number 33, dated 7 November 1860.
Hikaruia is named in The Taranaki Herald of 10 November 1860, Renata identified the casualties and Robert Parris recorded the names. Renata, was the only unwounded prisoner and was said to be a Ngati Haua of rank (Maunsell to Richmond 15 Nov 1860, Scholefield 1960 I:659).
His name is spelt Ikaraika in Gilbert's (1861:193) list of 19 dead, it generally follows the order of Parris’s list in Pratt’s report, but gives the spelling some alternative spellings.
Two monuments check 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. The New Zealand Gazette. 1860. Number 33, dated 7 November. Great Britain Parliamentary Papers (GBPP) 1861 [2798] Vol. XLI, pp. 167–168. Gilbert, T. 1861. New Zealand Settlers and Soldiers, or the War in Taranaki, Being Incidents in the Life of a Settler. London. 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