Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Ria Tikini

Grutness: added Category:Kāti Māmoe using HotCat


'''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]].

== Personal life ==
Tikini was born around 1810 at [[Ruapuke Island]]. She was 17 at the time of [[Te Rauparaha]]'s attacks on [[Kaiapoi]],<ref name="benger">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>, whether this referred to the initial raid in 1927<ref name="benger"/> or to the later capture in 1931<ref name="beattie">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>. She was variously said to be 20<ref name="taylor">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> or a young woman<ref name="lore"></ref> in the early 1840s during the Wesleyan missions of Reverends Watkin and Creed at [[Karitāne|Old Waikouaiti]].

Little is documented about her family, however Tikini had an elder sister<ref name="temuka">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>. She married Tikini Paha<ref name="benger"/> and adopted (in the traditional whāngai way) a son Henare (Henry) Parata.<ref name="plunket"></ref> She lived in a small wooden house below the railway line on the slope of the [[Puketeraki]] hill.<ref name="brown">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>

Tikini was tattooed in the ''tuhi'' style, "each side of her face being adorned with two straight lines and from mouth to ear"<ref name="beattie"/>. 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.<ref name="tattoo">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> 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<ref name="brown"/>, and referred to her himself as a "rangatira wahine" or female chief.<ref name="taylor"/>

She was known as a "shrewd businesswoman"<ref name="lore"/> who sold poultry. It was either this<ref name="plunket"/> or an attempt to transliterate her name into English<ref name="brown"/> 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.<ref name="plunket"/>

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.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>

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.<ref name="temuka"/>

By 1915 Tikini was "very deaf"<ref name="beattie"/>, however she was active even in early 1919 entertaining a visiting group of invalid soldiers.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Predeceased by her husband, she died in the house of her son Henare Parata on Saturday 19 July 1919.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> She was noted at the time as "probably the oldest inhabitant of the dominion".<ref name="benger"/>

== 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".<ref name="taylor"/> She was also among those visited by [[Herries Beattie]].<ref name="beattie"/>

== Plunket ==
Tikini also worked among both Māori and [[Pākehā]] in the district as a midwife, [[tohunga|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]].<ref name="plunket"/>

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<ref name="spinoff"></ref>, and in 2020, Plunket rebranded its logo to acknowledge its founding Māori midwives.<ref name="rnz">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>

== References ==
<references/>



[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:Ngāi Tahu]]
[[Category:New Zealand midwives]]
[[Category:People from Waikouaiti]]
[[Category:People from Ruapuke Island]]
[[Category:Kāti Māmoe]]


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