Ngāti Hauā group at Te Wai o Turongo runanga house, Waharoa

Ngāti Hauā group at Te Wai o Turongo meeting house at Waharoa, near Matamata. Seated in the centre of the group is Hohua Ahowhenua (d 1889). The name "Hohaia" inscribed on the maihi refers to Josiah Clifton Firth, who owned large estates near Matamata. Photograph taken between 1880 and 1887 by Hemus & Hanna of Auckland.

This negative is part of a sequence which includes a portrait of Hohua Ahowhenua which was commissioned by Josiah Clifton Firth. The original negatives for these images, which are now part of the Alexander Turnbull Library collections, are dry plates, which would indicate that they were taken after 1880, but before Firth's departure from his Matamata estate in July 1887. In "Nation making" (pp 260-261) Firth states that after his departure Hohua was abandoned in the runanga house by his people. This photograph would appear to have been taken before this. The negatives form part of the collection of Herman Schmidt. Schmidt in 1904 took over the studio of Hemus & Hanna, who are therefore most likely to have taken the images.

Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s).

Physical Description: Dry plate glass negative 8.5 x 6.5 inches