Reweti Kohere's Model Village

Abstract

Rēweti Kōhere’s paper on a hypothetical model Māori village at a Te Aute College Students Association conference in 1897 encapsulated the Te Aute vision for a reformed Māori society. When editor of the Anglican newspaper, Te Pipiwharauroa, Kōhere published this paper in an extended form in 1902. This article discusses the content of this piece of writing in the context of the time, and how the advent of Maori Councils in 1901 led him to broadcast it to a larger Māori audience five years later. It also seeks to position Kōhere, a figure eclipsed in history by Ngata, Pōmare and Te Rangi Hīroa, as one of the leading Te Aute intellectuals of his time.