Te Whiti-O-Rongomai
Te Whiti-O-Rongomai was born around the 19th century in 1830, born in Taranaki. Te Whiti-O-Rongomai III was a Maori Spiritual leader and founder of the village Parihaka, which were in New Zealand Taranaki region. As a child, Te Whiti was well educated by Maori elders, who taught him about the tradition of his culture.
Te Whiti established the Parihaka community as a place Sanctuary and peace for Maori. Many of whom seeking refuge as their land was confiscated in the early 1860s. Parihaka became a place of peaceful resistance to the encroaching confiscations.
Te Whiti protested against the confiscations and the loss of all lands. He objected particularly to occupation of confiscated land which had long been left unoccupied by settlers and was believed to have been returned through the quiescence of the native minister, Donald McLean.
Tohu Kakahi
Tohu Kākahi was a Māori leader, a warrior leader in the anti government Hau Hau Movement 1864-66 and later a prophet at Parihaka, who along with Te Whiti o Rongomai organised passive resistance against the occupation of Taranaki in the 1870s in New Zealand. Details of Tohu’s early life are unclear.
Tohu Kākahi, whose historical importance has often been ignored, was responsible along with Te Whiti-o-Rongomai III for making the village of Parihaka in Taranaki a symbol of pacifist protest against government land acquisitions.