Tame Parata

Tame Parata
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Southern Maori
In office
1885–1911
Preceded byHōri Kerei Taiaroa
Succeeded byTaare Parata
Personal details
Bornc.1837
Ruapuke Island, New Zealand
Died(1917-03-06)6 March 1917
Puketeraki, near Karitane, New Zealand
SpousePeti Hurene (Elizabeth Brown)
Children
RelativesHekia Parata
(great-great-granddaughter)

Tame Parata (c.1837 – 6 March 1917), also known as Thomas Pratt, was a Māori and a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand.

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1885–1887 9th Southern Maori Independent
1887–1890 10th Southern Maori Independent
1890–1893 11th Southern Maori Liberal
1893–1896 12th Southern Maori Liberal
1896–1899 13th Southern Maori Liberal
1899–1902 14th Southern Maori Liberal
1902–1905 15th Southern Maori Liberal
1905–1908 16th Southern Maori Liberal
1908–1911 17th Southern Maori Liberal

Parata was born on Ruapuke Island in Foveaux Strait.[1] His father was a Captain Trapp, a whaler from Massachusetts, and his mother was Koroteke of the Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe and Waitaha tribes. It is said that Tame reversed his father's name to Pratt, and transliterated it to Parata in Māori.[2]

He won the Southern Maori electorate in the 1885 by-election after the resignation of Hōri Kerei Taiaroa, and held it to 1911, when he retired; he was succeeded in the electorate by his youngest son, Taare Parata.[3][4] Subsequently, on 13 June 1912 Parata Sr was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council, where he sat until he died on 6 March 1917.[5][2] Hekia Parata, a former member of Parliament, is his great-great-granddaughter.[6] New Zealand academic and playwright John Broughton is his great-grandson.

  1. ^ "News Items". Colonist. Vol. XL, no. 8751. 30 December 1896. p. 3. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b Broughton, John. "Parata, Tame Haereroa". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  3. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 225.
  4. ^ Scholefield 1940, p. 147.
  5. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 161.
  6. ^ Calman, Matt (July 2011). "Taking sides" (PDF). Te Karaka (50). Christchurch: Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu: 18–19. ISSN 1173-6011.