[3] Prior to this, in the Māori fashion, the name was simply Patuone, commemorating the deaths of two older brothers, Te Anga and Te Ruanui, killed fighting alongside their father Tapua during wars against the Whangaroa tribe Ngāti Pou, who had earlier been forced out of the Hokianga area by expanding hapu (sub-tribal) groupings of what later came to be called Ngāpuhi.

Patuone was to invoke her name in a famous pepeha (retort) to his kinsman Hōne Heke at Ōhaeawai: "Ko te whaiti a Ripia!"

Thus Patuone was both inheritor of famous warrior blood and of priestly authority, two attributes which explain in part his capacities and longevity through endless tribal wars and changes such as the arrival of the Pākehā.

As one of the senior chiefs of the Ngāpuhi confederation, Patuone was involved, together with his younger brother Nene, in many military campaigns throughout the North Island.

Pākehā also referred to him as the Father of the Pakeha since his protection afforded them the capacity to establish a foothold in what was a wild and challenging land, full of dangers to person and property.

At the negotiations at Waitangi on 5 February 1840, Ngāpuhi chief Te Wharerahi spoke for peace and the acceptance of the European, and was duly supported by Patuone and his brother Nene.

During the Flagstaff War (1845–46) he supported his brother Tāmati Wāka Nene in opposing Hōne Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti.

[5] Patuone participated in the Battle of Ruapekapeka together with Tāmati Wāka Nene, Nopera Pana-kareao, Eruera Maihi Tawhai, Repa and about 450 warriors.

[6] On the commercial front, Patuone, as a major chief of the Hokianga, controlled many resources, including extensive kauri (Agathis australis) forests.

Hongi named one of his muskets Te Teke Tanumia to commemorate his sister's terrible death: she was slit open from the genital region and filled with sand.

It was, however, the kinship links which led to a line being drawn in the sand by Te Teke under instructions from the chief Taoho, beyond which no further killing was to take place.

It would not be until 1825 and the battle of Te-Ika-a-Ranganui near Kaiwaka, that Ngāpuhi extracted a terrible utu (reprisal; payback) for their military disaster at Moremonui.

Part of the Ngāpuhi problem was their confidence in that they possessed more muskets but also an unfortunate choice of encampment, vulnerable to surprise attack from concealed positions.

Patuone's later years in Auckland did not preclude his being called upon to perform specific duties including being part of the welcome to the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The official record indicates that the gift was released from the Tower of London on 16 July 1836 and was finally delivered to and signed for by Patuone on 4 November 1837 by the Royal Navy ship HMS Buffalo.

The delivery directly to Patuone at his Pā at Whakatiwai on the Hauraki Gulf, where he was living at the time indicates considerable efficiency on the part of the Royal Navy.

The fate of the suit of armour (which was from the time of King Charles II) is unknown, however, the damp New Zealand climate and likely storage in less than ideal conditions, may well have affected it.

The person responsible for the killing of Wharangi was Te Ngarara, who was in turn shot dead as utu (retribution) for the wrongful death of Matetakahia at the hands of Nene.

By 1853 Ngāti Pāoa arrived and had settled the area, at this point in time a settlement known as Waiwharariki—located in Takapuna—had been established by Patuone, on land gifted to him by George Grey.

In 1851, when Ngāti Pāoa had threatened to attack Auckland, Patuone sided with the British was viewed positively by colonial authorities.

[8] While some have questioned Patuone's birth details and recollections about Captain Cook's visit to the Bay of Islands in 1770, it is important to recognise the supreme intellectual capacities of great rangatira like Patuone who were trained within the whare wananga over many years to learn and retain copious details across a wide range of everyday and esoteric/priestly knowledge.

The mental capacities of senior chiefs and tohunga like Patuone would astound early Pākehā explorers and lead to much comment.

Pākehā could not be sent home as a failed experiment and in the meantime, they had brought goods, animals, crops and technology which would greatly benefit Māori.

The negative aspects of settlement (especially new diseases, new weapons, unhealthy lifestyle changes, tobacco, alcohol) certainly alarmed many Māori leaders, including Patuone, however, he felt that the good came with the bad as a package.