 Beetham's first commission to paint Māori came within a month of his arrival to NZ when Tamihana Te Rauparaha requested a posthumous portrait of his father Te Rauparaha, a Māori rangatira Chief and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who composed the famous Haka called Ka Mate.Beetham also painted Te Rauparaha's wife Rita or Ruth.Beetham's portraits of Māori preceded those of C. F. Goldie and Gottfried Lindauer and many commissions followed with the Māori noting Beetham’s accurate painting of the Tā moko.