[1] Tara Te Irirangi died in 1852, after falling ill, his daughter Ngeungeu having been kidnapped by Nga Puhi who sided with the crown to arrange a marriage to a Scotsman losing her Mother tongue as arranged by the crown, extradited her from her father, he passed away at the mouth of the Wairoa River.

[3] Tara Te Irirangi was the paramount chief during the early years of Pākehā settlement in the Tāmaki region, and also during the Musket Wars of the 1820s.

One notable incident involving Te Irirangi occurred in 1821 during the Musket Wars, when a Ngāpuhi detachment led by Patuone, a Ngāti Hao chief, arrived in Maraetai with the intention of attacking Ngāi Tai.

[7] On 11 January 1840, Te Irirangi was one of six chiefs involved in the sale of the islands of Motutapu, Hurakia (Rakino), Otata, and Motu Horopapa (Noises), to Thomas Maxwell, a prominent Scottish trader and boat builder in the Hauraki Gulf area, and Te Irirangi's son in law.

[8][9] Te Irirangi was not fairly compensated for this sale, and refused to relinquish part of Motutapu, nor Hurakia or Otata, until payment was received.