{{Short description|New Zealand politician}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = The Honourable |name=Wi Pere |honorific_suffix = |image= Portrait_of_Wiremu_Pere.jpg |caption=Wi Pere, circa 1884 |constituency_MP2=Eastern Maori |parliament2=New Zealand |term_start2=1884 |term_end2=1887 |predecessor2=Henare Tomoana |successor2=James Carroll |term_start3=1893 |term_end3=1905 |predecessor3=James Carroll |successor3=Sir Āpirana Ngata |birth_date={{birth date|1837|3|7|df=y}} |birth_place=Gisborne, New Zealand |death_date={{death date and age|1915|12|9|1837|3|7|df=y}} |death_place=Gisborne, New Zealand |spouse={{marriage|Arapera Matenga Toti|1856}} | relatives = Thomas Halbert (father)<br/>{{nowrap|Rongowhakaata Halbert (grandson)}} |party=Liberal }}
'''Wiremu''' "'''Wi'''" '''Pere''' (7 March 1837 – 9 December 1915), was a Māori Member of Parliament in New Zealand. He represented Eastern Māori in the House of Representatives from 1884 to 1887, and again from 1893 to 1905.<ref name="nzhistory" /> Pere's strong criticism of the government's Māori land policies and his involvement in the turbulent land wars in the 1860s and 1870s made him a revered Māori leader<ref name="monument" /> and he was known throughout his career as a contentious debator<ref name="mackay" /> and outstanding orator in the use of the Māori language.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-01|title=A man ahead of his time|url=http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/lifestyle/profile/20190601/a-man-ahead-of-his-time/|access-date=2020-10-15|website=Gisborne Herald }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Ward|first=Alan|date=1993|title=Pere, Wiremu|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2p11/pere-wiremu|access-date=2020-10-15|website=Te Ara}}</ref>
thumb|Condolences lamenting the death of Queen Victoria sent to Duke and Duchess of York (1901).
==Biography== Wi Pere was born in 1837 at Tūranga (Gisborne), the son of English Poverty Bay trader Thomas Halbert and esteemed Māori Rīria Mauaranui of Te Whānau-a-Kai hapū of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Rongowhakaata.<ref name="nzhistory"/><ref name="teara-bio" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Paterson |first1=Lachy |title=He Reo Wahine : Maori women's voices from the nineteenth century |last2=Wanhalla |first2=Angela |date=2017 |publisher=Auckland University Press |isbn=978-1-77558-928-0 |location=La Vergne |oclc=1000453795 |author-link2=Angela Wanhalla}}</ref> Pere was baptised William Halbert but commonly went by his Maori name, Wiremu Pere (William Bell).<ref name="teara-bio" />
From a young age Pere was noted for his shrewdness and identified by elders as having exceptional intelligence.<ref name="wiperetrust">{{cite web|title=The Man – Wi Pere|url=http://wipere.com/about-wi-pere-trust/wi-pere-the-man.aspx|website=Wi Pere Trust|access-date=6 May 2017}}</ref> He was raised largely under the tutelage of his mother and was schooled in tribal lore and genealogy by Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki iwi elders of the Maraehinahina whare wānanga. This formed the basis of his authority in land dealings and Native Land Court proceedings from the 1870s.<ref name="teara-bio" />
The local Anglican mission also identified Pere as an emerging leader, and he became a member of the first standing committee of the Diocese of Waiapu.<ref name="teara-bio" />
In 1856, Pere married Arapera Matenga Toti at Waerenga-a-hika.<ref name="teara-bio" />
==Political career==
{{NZ parlbox header|nolist=true|align=left}} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1884}} |end = 1887 |term = 9th |electorate = Eastern Maori |party = Independent politician }} {{NZ parlbox break}} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1893}} |end = 1896 |term = 12th |electorate = Eastern Maori |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1896}} |end = 1899 |term = 13th |electorate = Eastern Maori |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1899}} |end = 1902 |term = 14th |electorate = Eastern Maori |party = New Zealand Liberal Party }} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1902}} |end = 1905 |term = 15th |electorate = Eastern Maori |party = New Zealand Liberal Party}} {{End}}
In 1865, as Pai Marire emissaries gained support in Poverty Bay and tensions grew amid local iwi, Wi Pere remained a government supporter and constant to his Anglican allegiance.<ref name="teara-bio" /> However, despite this, he protested against the exile of Poverty Bay Māori to the Chatham Islands, and strongly opposed the government's attempts to confiscate their land.<ref name="nzhistory" /> Through his work in the Repudiation movement to support Māori land owners, Pere became an important Māori leader in the region and gained wide support in his first bid for Parliament in 1884.<ref name="teara-bio" />
Pere attracted much attention when he won the Eastern Māori seat in the 1884 general election.<ref name="mackay" /> As the fourth representative for the electorate, Pere spoke strongly against the Native Land Court's actions of giving land title to individuals, believing land should be owned by hapū (sub-tribes) or whānau (family). He also joined the Kotahitanga movement and supported its efforts to establish a separate Māori Parliament.<ref name="nzhistory" />
In both the 1887 and 1890 elections Pere lost the Eastern Māori seat to James Carroll,<ref name="mackay"/> who was opposed to the Kotahitanga separatist movement. When Carroll stood down in 1893 to contest the Gisborne (European) seat,<ref name="carroll-bio"/> Pere won Eastern Maori back as a member of the Liberal Party. He served a further four terms before losing the seat to Āpirana Ngata in the 1905 general election.<ref name="Wilson"/><ref name="teara-bio"/>
Pere was appointed to the Legislative Council on 22 January 1907, where he was effectively the only Māori member.<ref name="teara-bio" /> By this time Pere had become a strong empire loyalist. He offered to lead a Māori contingency to the South African war of 1899–1902 and urged military training for all New Zealanders.<ref name="nzhistory" /> Pere was unseated from the Legislative Council in 1912.<ref name="teara-bio" /><ref name="pbh-seat">{{cite news|title=Wi Pere's Seat |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19120927.2.27 |access-date=6 May 2017|agency=Poverty Bay Herald|issue=12879|date=27 September 1912}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== alt=the paved side of the river an obelisk style monument sits on a plinth|thumb|Wī Pere Monument Wi Pere died on 9 December 1915, and was buried in a vault at Waerenga-a-Hika on 3 January 1916. In his eulogy Apirana Ngata remarked: "No man ever did more for his people...never was there a greater fighter for his race than Wi Pere".<ref name="mackay" />
As a final tribute to Wi Pere, a monument was erected along Reads Quay, Gisborne in 1919 to coincide with the return of Māori troops from war. It was unveiled on 9 April 1919 by Hon. James Carroll.<ref name="monument" /><ref name="pbherald" />
His son, Albert, was a lawyer and Petone Borough Councillor from 1922 before his death, aged 30, in 1926.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19220209.2.59 |title=Petone Borough – Election of Councillor |work=The New Zealand Times |date=9 February 1922 |volume=XLIX |issue=11130 |page=7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/FS19260427.2.19 |title=Personal |work=Feilding Star |date=27 April 1926 |volume=4 |issue=767 |page=5 }}</ref> Māori historian Rongowhakaata Pere Halbert was a grandson of Wi Pere.<ref name="DNZBHalbert"/>
==References== {{reflist|3|refs= <ref name="monument">{{cite web|title=Wi Pere Monument|url=https://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/3535|website=Heritage New Zealand |publisher=Ministry of Culture and Heritage|access-date=6 May 2017}}</ref> <ref name="mackay">{{cite book|author1=Joseph Angus Mackay|title=Historic Poverty Bay and the East Coast, N.I., N.Z.|date=1949|publisher=J. A. Mackay|pages=353–354|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-MacHist-t1-body-d38-d7-d1.html#name-208955-mention|access-date=6 May 2017}}</ref> <ref name="carroll-bio">{{cite web|title=James Carroll Biography|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/james-carroll|website=NZ History|publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|access-date=6 May 2017}}</ref> <ref name="DNZBHalbert">{{DNZB|title=Rongowhakaata Pere Halbert|first=Peter|last=Gordon|id=4h4}}</ref> <ref name="Wilson">{{cite book|last=Wilson|first= Jim | author-link=Jim Wilson (librarian)|title=New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984|edition=4th|orig-year=1913|year=1985|publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer|location=Wellington|oclc=154283103}}</ref> <ref name="nzhistory">{{cite web|title=Wiremu Pere|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/wiremu-pere|website=NZ History|publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|access-date=6 May 2017}}</ref> <ref name="teara-bio">{{cite web|author1=Alan Ward|title=Pere, Wiremu – Biography|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2p11/pere-wiremu|website=Dictionary of New Zealand Biography|publisher=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand }}</ref> <ref name="pbherald">{{cite news|title=Wi Pere Memorial|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19190410.2.3#|access-date=6 May 2017|issue=14883|work=Poverty Bay Herald|date=10 April 1919|pages=2}}</ref> }}
==External links== *[https://www.wipere.co.nz/ Wi Pere Trust] *[http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2p11/pere-wiremu Wiremu Pere Biography from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography]
{{s-start}} {{s-par | nz}} {{s-bef | before = Henare Tomoana }} {{s-ttl | rows = 2 | title = Member of Parliament for Eastern Maori | years=1884–1887<br>1893–1905}} {{s-aft | after= James Carroll }} {{s-bef | before = James Carroll }} {{s-aft | after= Āpirana Ngata}} {{end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pere, Wi}} Category:1837 births Category:1915 deaths Category:Independent MPs of New Zealand Category:New Zealand Liberal Party MPs Category:New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Category:Members of the New Zealand Legislative Council Category:Māori MLCs Category:People from Gisborne, New Zealand Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1887 New Zealand general election Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1890 New Zealand general election Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1905 New Zealand general election Category:19th-century New Zealand politicians Category:Rongowhakaata people Category:Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki people Category:Halbert-Kohere family