IWI / HAPU AFFILIATIONS
The name of Tuhoto Ariki is synonymous with the 1886 eruption of
Mount Tarawera.1 Heavy showers
of dust and pumice covered the landscape as far Whakatane and
Opotiki and the explosive cannon sounds of the mountain erupting
were said to have been heard as far away as Auckland. Tarawera had
three craters that sent volleys of rocks, stones, fireballs and
larva mud flying into the sky. The famed Pink and White Terraces of
Rotomahana were destroyed; the vegetation was stripped and the
village of Te Wairoa was completely devastated.
Tuhoto died soon after the 1886 Tarawera eruption which buried
his kāinga. He
survived for four days with no food and water and was rescued by
Alfred Warbrick. The official death toll was put at around 150, but
it is more likely between 108 and 120 people were killed. According
to a Partridge family history, while he was recovering in Queen
Elizabeth hospital in Rotorua, Henry
Partridge visited Tuhoto and gave him a cigar.2
NM
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