Ria Tikini

Ria Tikini or Ria Te Kini (ca.1810 – 19 July 1919), also known as Mrs Chicken, was a businesswoman, cultural informant, and midwife from Kāi Tahu and Kāti Mamoe descent. She was an informant for ethnographer William Anderson Taylor's work on Kāi Tahu history, and is credited as one of the midwives who paved the way for the creation of the Plunket Society of New Zealand.

Tikini between 1904 and 1919

Personal life

Tikini was born around 1810 at Ruapuke Island. She was 17 at the time of Te Rauparaha's attacks on Kaiapoi,[1] whether this referred to the initial raid in 1827[1] or to the later capture in 1831.[2] She was variously said to be 20[3] or a young woman[4] in the early 1840s during the Wesleyan missions of Reverends Watkin and Creed at Old Waikouaiti.

Little is documented about her family, however Tikini had an elder sister.[5] She married Tikini Paha[1] and adopted (in the traditional whāngai way) a son Henare (Henry) Parata.[6] She lived in a small wooden house below the railway line on the slope of the Puketeraki hill.[7]

Tikini was tattooed in the tuhi style, "each side of her face being adorned with two straight lines and from mouth to ear".[2] By the twentieth century the ethnographer W.A. Taylor considered this an unusual and "ancient" style, which he dated back to the time of Tamatea 600 years previously.[8] Taylor photographed her in 1907 wearing a large korowai, probably a family heirloom, along with a feather in a headscarf as a symbol of high status,[7] and referred to her himself as a "rangatira wahine" or female chief.[3]

She was known as a "shrewd businesswoman"[4] who sold poultry. It was either this[6] or an attempt to transliterate her name into English[7] that led to her nickname of "Mrs Chicken". She was particularly known for keeping back the wings when she sold whole dressed chickens, which she kept as a "delicious" perk of the job.[6]

When over 80, she was among the public who went to see the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall on their visit to Dunedin. Despite being several times pushed back by an "officious" policeman, she was brought forward by his superior and the royal party shook hands and spoke with her.[9]

By 1913, Tikini's elder sister had died. The sister's land in Kaiapoi was in the name of her husband, but as he was not a member of that area, Tikini attempted to have the title amended in her own favour.[5]

By 1915 Tikini was "very deaf",[2] however she was active even in early 1919 entertaining a visiting group of invalid soldiers.[10] Predeceased by her husband, she died in the house of her son Henare Parata on Saturday 19 July 1919.[11] She was noted at the time as "probably the oldest inhabitant of the dominion".[1]

Ethnography

W.A. Taylor often gathered with Tikini among others including Mere Harper on a slope on the Huriawa Peninsula to talk about historic events. He noted that she "could speak with authority on the earliest European days".[3] She was also among those visited by Herries Beattie.[2]

Plunket

Tikini also worked among both Māori and Pākehā in the district as a midwife, tōhuka and healer. She worked for many years with Mere Harper, thirty years younger than her, to help with health issues in their community and deliver generations of children. In 1906, she and Harper delivered Thomas (Tommy) Rangiwahia Mutu Ellison. Tommy's older brother had died as a baby, so when Tommy also became ill the midwives brought him to Harper's friend, the doctor Truby King, where he thrived under their combined care. The Karitāne Home for Babies opened within a year, and, with the aid of the extensive networks established by Tikini and Harper, as well as Tikini's decades of experience and the traditional knowledge she held, soon developed into the Plunket Society.[6]

In 2016, David Ellison, Upoko of Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki, and the son of Mutu Ellison, sought recognition for Tikini and Harper. An interpretive panel overlooking the Waikouaiti River was updated as a result,[12] and in 2020, Plunket rebranded its logo to acknowledge its founding Māori midwives.[13]

References
  1. "Local and General". Mt Benger Mail. 6 August 1919. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  2. Beattie, Herries (1919). "Traditions and Legends Collected from the Natives of Murihiku (Southland, New Zealand) Part XI". Journal of the Polynesian Society. 28 (112): 212–225. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  3. Taylor, W.A. (19 January 1939). "Karitane". Press (22613). Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  4. Taylor, William Anderson. Lore and History of the South Island Maori. Christchurch: Bascands Ltd. p. 115. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  5. "Ministerial Visit". Temuka Leader (7315). 3 May 1913. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  6. "Ria Tikini". Plunket. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  7. Brown, Helen (2018). "'I Depend More on Photographs to Help Me Along': The Ngāi Tahu Portraits in Lore and History of the South Island Maori". History of Photography. 42 (3): 288–305. doi:10.1080/03087298.2018.1519937.
  8. Taylor, W.A. (30 November 1945). "Maori Artistry". Ellesmere Guardian (94). Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  9. "An Officious Policeman". Otago Daily Times (12084). 2 July 1901. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  10. "Wounded Soldiers Outing". Otago Witness (3384). 22 January 1919. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. "Death of Maori Centenarian". Otago Witness (3410). 23 July 1919. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  12. Brown, Helen. "Mere Harper: the Ngāi Tahu midwife who helped found Plunket". The Spinoff. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  13. "Plunket logo acknowledges founding Māori midwives". Radio New Zealand. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
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