Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Maniapoto soldier and lay preacher Ruka Aratapu served as one of Major Rāpata Wahawaha’s lieutenants, involved in pursuing Te Kooti and his supporters and was renowned for his abilities in hand-to-hand combat.¹ He received the New Zealand War Medal for his services.

Aratapu married Hārata Parata, who joined him on many of his manoeuvres with Wahawaha.

A committed Christian, Aratapu taught with his wife at Te Rau Theological College, established in 1885 at Tūranga Gisborne to train Māori from across the country for the Anglican ministry. He later became a trader and kept a hotel at Awanui, near Gisborne.

Aratapu made headlines in 1889 after spending two days at sea without water. While he was fishing in a small boat, a gale came up that blew him out to sea. He survived his ordeal by eating raw crayfish, eventually navigating his boat back to land.²

Aratapu visited the Lindauer Art Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland on 3 June 1901 – his signature is the fourth written in the gallery’s Māori Visitors’ Book, but he left no comment. He died in 1904. Given a full military funeral, he was buried at Kaitī in Poverty Bay.

In his portrait, Lindauer portrays a distinguished, older Aratapu, with a pensive expression on his face, dressed simply in a dark three-piece suit and white shirt.