Artwork Information

Born in 1823 Kamariera Wharepapa was one of fourteen Māori who travelled to England aboard the ship Ida Ziegler under the sponsorship of Wesleyan missionary William Jenkins. While in England he was presented to Queen Victoria and married Elizabeth Reid, an English housemaid. The first of their five daughters was born on the return journey to New Zealand and the family settled in Maungakahia in 1864 where Elizabeth helped her husband lobby for a school, which was eventually built. He died in 1920 at his birthplace Mangakahia.