Mereana Topia, better known as Maria, and her daughter Heni Hoana or Jane Topia, were outstanding leaders in their local communities. Among their many activities they fostered the practice of traditional Maori arts and crafts.
Te Waaka Perohuka was a tohunga and carver of the Rongowhakaata people of Turanga (Gisborne). The most famous carving on which Perohuka worked was the canoe Te Toki-a-Tapiri, which is now in the Auckland Museum.
Ngati Awa leader, carver.
Wepiha was trained as a carver by his father; they worked as a team for a number of years. It is not known which meeting houses, storehouses or canoes they carved, with the exception of the meeting houses Mataatua and Hotunui.
Tamati Ngakaho is celebrated as a leading exponent of the style of carving that had been founded by Iwirakau in the Waiapu--Te Araroa area in the sixteenth century.
