Hiangarere signed the Cook Strait (Henry Williams) sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi at Waikanae on 16 May 1840. He was from the Te Āti Awa iwi (tribe).
Hiangarere is thought to have been the first person in New Zealand to be operated on while under a general anaesthetic On 27 September 1847 Dr Fitzgerald removed a tumour from between his shoulders at the Native Hospital in Wellington after administering ether through a device constructed from descriptions in English newspapers. On his return to Waikanae Hiangarere is said to have lectured his people about their health, throwing away rotten karaka berries that a boy was about to eat.