MAORI KING MOVEMENT

This article, by the late E. H. Edwards, appeared in “Tupu Whakarangi” in the May-June issue, 1968, by permission of the “Morrinsville Star”.

The dignity, power and unity of the British people under Queen Victoria’s rule, so impressed the younger Te Rauparaha that he decided to return to New Zealand and to endeavour to establish a king for the Maori people. His object was to unite the tribes, and thus end the bloodshed which was slowly destroying a noble race.

Te Rauparaha was welcomed home by a large gathering of chiefs and tribesmen at Otaki, where immediately he put his plan to the people.

Queen Victoria, he said, had advised him to establish a Maori king. Te Rauparaha himself offered to become king, but he was rejected because his own ancestral home and birthplace on Kapiti Island was in enemy hands. This was considered a disgrace, and for this reason he could not be honoured with kingship.

At this stage Te Rauparaha dropped the whole idea, but a cousin, Matene Te Whiwhi, who had listened to the discussion, became so enthusiastic that he travelled from tribe to tribe trying to persuade the various paramount chiefs to support the election of a king for the Maori people. He went first to Waitotara, in southern Taranaki, where chief Whitikau refused to become king. Returning to Whanganui, Matene met refusal from Opia, a paramount chief, on the grounds that, because of poor fishing in the Whanganui River and on the nearby coastline, he would be unable to feed the crowds. Plenty of kai was considered essential to kingship.

Determined to find a king, Matene travelled to Taupo, where Heu Heu also bemoaned the shortage of fish in the lake. Then he went into Hawkes Bay where refusal came again, this time from Karauria, the Ngati Kahungungu chief, and continued on to the East Coast where his proposition was put to the chief Kani. Refusal this time was based on the fact that the East Coast was too far removed from the centre of the island. The king, according to Kani, should live at a central point, convenient for all tribes.

Returning to Taupo, Matene was advised by Heu Heu to approach the well known and powerful Waikato chief, Potatau and, accompanied by Heu Heu, he journey north. 22

To Heu Heu Potatau said, “I’m not the right man. It’s you who should be king”. But Heu Heu replied, “No it’s you, because you are chief of many chiefs. Your Waikato proverb says, ‘He piko, he taniwha’,” which meant that every bend of the Waikato River was the home of a Maori chief, all of whom recognised Potatau as the paramount chief of them all.

Finally Potatau agreed and preparations were made for notifying the tribes that a Maori king was set up in the Waikato.

However, living in the Matamata area of the Waikato was another powerful tribe, The Ngati Haua, whose paramount chief was Tarapipipi, the son of Te Waharoa a ruthless fighter. But Tarapipipi, who had come under the Gospel’s influence, turned to Christianity and gave up following in his father’s footsteps. He desired peace, and expressed regret for an early life of slaughter and warfare.

Tarapipipi welcomed the idea of a Maori king, and immediately gave it support. But before adopting Christianity he had been the leader of a Ngati Haua war party which killed Potatau’s grandmother, and he was not quite sure how Potatau would receive his friendship and support. Nevertheless, he offered his support and, ultimately, Potatau was crowned by Tarapipipi, who placed a Bible on the new king’s head, saying, “I now create you as king of the Maori people. You and Queen Victoria shall be bound together as one. The Gospel of Christ shall be your mantle, and the law shall be a mat for your feet for ever and ever”.

It was at this point that Potatau made the historic statement so often quoted by Maori orators since: “Kotahi te kohau o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, miro, pango, miro whero” (The needle has only one eye through which may pass white, black and red thread).

With these words he expressed a desire for the Maori tribes to unite, not only among themselves, but with the Pakeha and with all other people of goodwill. Scripture from the Book of Deuteronomy and the Gospel of Matthew were quoted at the coronation, and a well known hymn, “Mahue Ihipi”, was sung. Potatau’s death occurred in 1860, his son Tawhiao being crowned by Tarapipipi, and the former in turn was succeeded by Mahuta, Te Rata and finally Koroki. All were crowned with the Bible and the singing of the coronation hymn, and all by members of the Tarapipipi family. Queen Atairangikaahu was the daughter of Koroki and was the first queen to be crowned by the Maori people. Once again the crowning ceremony was the responsibility of the Tarapipipi family. [The current king, Te Arikinui Tūheitia Paki, is the seventh Māori monarch. He was crowned on 21 August 2006, following the death on 15 August of his mother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.]

The first Tarapipipi became known as Kingmaker and Peacemaker, and was renamed Wiremu Tamehana at his baptism, and this name, in conjunction with Tarapipipi, became well known and famous in the Waikato. A monument was erected on the road to Matamata, at the very spot where Tarapipipi (Wiremu Tamehana) died while on his last journey.

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