Te Haeata 1859-1862

The Dawn Streaks of Light

Bibliographic Details    Background    Subject Matter    Availability

Bibliographic Details

Published: Auckland, April 1, 1859 - March 2, 1862.

290 x 230mm., 4 pages, 3 columns, all Maori, issued monthly, no illustrations but each issue begins with a calendar for the month with significant dates marked on it (for example, Queen Victoria's Birthday, the Resurrection of Christ), some advertisements. The cost was 2 shillings and 6 pence per year, with 3 pence for a single issue. The imprint at the end reads, "Printed by W. C. Wilson, at the "New Zealander" Printing Office, Shortland Street"; in Vol. III no. 5 the imprint reads, "Akarana: - I taia e W. C. Wilson ki te Whare Perehi o te "New Zealander", Hoterana - Tiriti".

Te Haeata was a religious newspaper edited by Te Patara [Reverend J. Buddle] at Onehunga.

For further physical details refer to Herbert W. Williams, A Bibliography of Printed Maori to 1900, Item 305.

This paper is written in Maori.

Background

The newspaper was established by the Wesleyan missionaries to convey the good news to people desiring knowledge, particularly of the church, and to instruct them in the good customs of the Pakeha: "Na te komiti o nga Minita o te Hahi Weteriana i mea kia taia tenei pukapuka, hei kawe korero pai ki nga tangata e hiahia ana ki te matauranga. Tona tikanga nui to Te Haeata nei, hei korero i nga peheatanga o nga Hahi... he nui ana ta matou hiahia kia whaia tonutia nga ritenga pai a te Pakeha e te tangata Maori."(April 1, 1859: 1).

The intention of Te Haeata was love, goodness, and instruction, "he aroha te take o tenei pukapuka hou, he ritenga pai tona, he ritenga ako hoki"(ibid. ), and its aim is best summed up in the following lines, probably taken from a haka or a waiata:

Tenei te Haeata
Hapai ana mai
Te tara ki Akarana (ibid.)
[Here come the dawn streaks of light (knowledge)
Highlighting (the darkness or ignorance)
The peak (Rangitoto?) at Auckland].

Subject Matter

Content and subjects include:

• scriptural lessons
• correspondence, mostly from Waikato
• instructions on bringing up children
• meetings held by Wesleyan missionaries
• a plea to halt Maori feasts
• moral tales
• the Kohimarama Conference between Maori chiefs and the Governor in 1860
• speeches from gatherings at Waikato and Kawhia
• accounts of the war in Europe
• accounts of the warfare at Taranaki
• collecting money for building churches
• warnings about the 1860 smallpox epidemic in Auckland
• information about the runanga (Maori self-government) system.

Availability

This newspaper is on microfilm and microfiche. Original copies are held at:

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington:

1859	April-Sept., Nov.
1860	Jan.-Dec.
1861	March, May-Sept., Nov.-Dec.
1862	Jan.-Feb.

Auckland Institute and Museum Library:

1859
1860

Auckland Public Library:

1859	April, July-Sept., Nov.(some issues not held)
1860	Jan., March, April
1861	March-Nov.
1862	Jan.

The Parliamentary Library, Wellington:

1859	April-Dec.
1860	Jan.-Dec.
1861	Jan.-Dec.