Haora Tipa Koinaki.

A famous fighting chief of the Ngatipaoa tribe of the Thames. He took a prominent part in the tribal wars with the Waikato and Ngapuhi tribes. He was at Mauinaena (Mt Wellington near Auckland) when Hongi attacked and took that pah. The Ngatipaoa had only four flint muskets to oppose the enemies well armed force. Koinaki had one of these, and had one of his teeth knocked out by the recoil of the piece. When the Natives fled, they left their head chief Te Hinaki in the pah wounded. A Ngapuhi came to despatch him with a tomahawk; Te Hinaki was seated on the ground dressed in his best mats, and he quietly handed his greenstone "mere" to the man, saying "kill me with the weapon of my ancestors, not with that foreign thing".

The next Ngapuhi expedition which came to Waikato was annihilated by the Thames Natives under Koinaki and two tribes of Waikato led by Kukutai. During the Waikato war of 1863 Koinaki staunchly adhered to the Government side. He ably assisted Mr Commissioner Mackay in making peace with the Thames rebels in 1864, and subsequently in opening up the Thames District for gold mining. He was a quiet unassuming man, but brace and

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thoroughly honest and reliable. He died in 1872 at an advance age.

James Mackay
Late Civil Commissioner. NZ