A larger-than life character, Tommy Solomon was a prominent Chatham Island figure and successful farmer of the Manukau Point area. Tommy, whose real name was Tame Horomona Rehe is believed by most to have been the last true (full-blooded) Moriori. He took an active part in the social and political life of the Chatham Islands and was widely respected for his generosity and conciliatory nature.

The Moriori were the first inhabitants of the Chathams, estimated to have arrived there about a thousand years ago. They were a peace loving people whose culture forbade warfare. Maori arrived in 1835 to take over from the Moriori by fighting and occupying the majority of the land - the New Zealand Government allocated only some rather unproductive land to the Moriori. The last full-blooded Moriori, Tommy Solomon, died in 1933.

The Chatham Islands are an archipelago and New Zealand territory in the Pacific Ocean, over 800 kilometres east of southern New Zealand.