Kehu

Kehu, also known as Ekehu, Hone Mokehakeha and Hone Mokekehu, was an important ancestor to the Māori iwi (tribes) Ngāti Tūmatakokiri and Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō. He was an expert on how to traverse their regions and knowledgeable on natural resources contained within them. He was a guide to Thomas Brunner and Charles Heaphy, who were English explorers in the 1800s traversing parts of Te Waipounamu (now commonly known as the South Island of New Zealand).

Early life Kehu is from the Golden Bay region, he was born circa 1798. He was Māori, and on his mother's side, of the nations Ngāti Apa, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe and Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri, on his father's side Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri. His mother's name was Matanohinohi or Mata Nohinohi and was high-born and his father's name was Tamane. Kehu's half brother, born to Mata Nohinohi, was Mahuika who was the leader of a settlement on the Kawatiri River in the 1840s.

In 1846 Kehu guided Heaphy, Brunner and Fox to the large glacial lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa; the English explorers were the first Europeans to see them. He used the Porika track through Howard Valley and Mātakitaki. There is a memorial to Kehu that was revealed at the Department of Conservation Field Centre, Saint Arnaud, 30 June 1995.

Records about Kehu are found in European colonial journals and the Native Land Court records.

Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō refer to the tramping track commonly known as the Heaphy Track as Kehu's Track due to its use by their ancestors for several hundred years.