IWI / HAPU AFFILIATIONS

A notable individual, Ruka Aratapu was said to have had cool courage in battle. Aratapu was Major Ropata Wahawaha's right hand man in pursuits against Te Kooti and his rebels,¹ and he was renowned for his abilities in hand-to-hand combat. For his services he was awarded the New Zealand war medal.

Aratapu made the headlines in 1889 after spending two days at sea without water. He went out fishing and a gale came up which caused him to be blown out to sea in a 12ft boat. He eventually steered himself back in the direction of land and survived his ordeal by eating raw crayfish.²

Ruka Aratapu's signature is the fourth written in the Lindauer Art Gallery's Māori Visitors' Book.  He visited the gallery in Auckland on 3 June 1901 with a group from Poverty Bay, just three years before his death. Aratapu died in 1904 and was given a full military funeral and buried at Kaiti in Poverty Bay. His tangihanga was attended by Hon. James Carroll and Wi Pere, M.H.R., Judge Jones, and Major C. D. Pitt. Little is known of his personal life and Ruka is a baptismal name, for it is the Māorified version of Luke.

NM