Te Mamaku

Hēmi Tōpine Te Mamaku (died June 1887) was a Māori chief in the Ngāti Hāua-te-rangi iwi from the Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island.

Te Mamaku was born probably in the late 18th century and raised in the Whanganui area. As tribal chief he commanded a pā at Tuhua, at a strategic position on the Ohura River, north of Taumarunui. Afterwards, he sent letters to other chiefs in the Whanganui area urging them to join in the conflict. Some were intercepted and forwarded to the government, which may have precipitated George Grey's decision to arrest Te Rauparaha.

Te Mamaku was baptised by Richard Taylor and took the baptismal name Hēmi Tōpine (James Stovin) on 25 December 1853.

In 1857, Te Mamaku was offered the Māori kingship, but declined. He did join the Kingitanga movement in 1858 in their opposition to the sale of Māori land. He did not get involved in the Battle of Moutoa Island, but was probably fighting alongside the Pai Mārire forces at Ōhoutahi in the Second Taranaki War.

Despite this, within a few years, he was regarded as a man of peace and had the respect of the government. He opposed Te Kooti but was firm in his belief that the King Country was sacrosanct Māori territory, even to the extent of executing one Pākehā man who persisted in entering the area. In 1880, he joined Te Keepa te Rangihiwinui in a trust to protect the Māori land of the upper Wanganui River from sale to the Pākehā.

In his later years, Te Mamaku appears to have accepted many of the changes that Europeanisation brought to his area. He died in June 1887 at Tāwhata, near Taumarunui.