Tene Waitere

Tene Waitere was of Ngāti Tarāwhai and Te Arawa descent. According to Roger Neich, after a tumultuous young life, Tene and his family settled “at Ruatō, on Lake Rotoiti.” Here he joined the Ringatū faith, to which he held for his life, and was trained in whakairo by Wero Tāroi. Tene’s acclaim began with his carving for meeting houses in Rotorua and Taupō working with Wero, Ānaha Te Rāhui and Neke Kapua.

At the time of the Tarawera eruption in 1886, Tene, and his family [including wife Ruihi Te Ngahue and their daughter Tuhipo Kereopa], were living at Te Wairoa and were among the survivors who sheltered in the famous carved house, Hinemihi. The family were then given land at Ngāpuna by Ngāti Whakaue.* Although times were hard, Tene managed to provide for his family through hunting, fishing and building. Later his commercial carving activity became a main source of income.” In the 1890s this commercial carving included commissions from Charles E. Nelson, of the Geyser Hotel (Whakarewarewa). There Tene completed several large architectural carvings as well as smaller objects.

Through the European patronage of these commercial projects Tene “took the opportunity […] to produce some of the most innovative carvings yet seen at Rotorua. This work shows the influence of European concepts of time and space, and is naturalistic in a way impossible in his more orthodox productions.”

"His last work was the design for a monument for his own late daughter [Tuhipo Kereopa], erected at the home of his grand-daughter Rangitiaria (Guide Rangi) at Whakarewarewa. Three weeks after the unveiling of this monument, on 28 August 1931, Tene died at Rangitīaria's home. He was buried at Ngāti Tarāwhai's Ruatō burial ground.”

* incorrectly listed as Ngāti Wāhiao on Te Ara

See also:

• Roger Neich. 'Waitere, Tene', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand