Pōtatau Te Wherowhero
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero | |
---|---|
Māori King | |
Reign | June 1858 – 25 June 1860 |
Coronation | 1858 |
Successor | Tāwhiao |
Born | c. 1770–1800 |
Died | 25 June 1860 Ngāruawāhia, Auckland Province, New Zealand |
Burial | |
Spouse | Whakaawi Raharaha Waiata Ngawaero |
Issue | Tāwhiao |
Father | Te Rauangaanga |
Mother | Parengaope |
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (died 25 June 1860) was a
Early life
Te Wherowhero was the eldest son of Te Rau-angaanga, who belonged to the senior chiefly line of Ngāti Mahuta and was a prominent war leader before and during the 1807–1845 Musket Wars.[1] When Te Wherowhero was born near the end of the 18th century his father had just become the principal war chief of the Waikato tribes. Te Rau-angaanga defeated a much larger coastal Tainui and Taranaki force of about 7,000 warriors led by Ngāti Toa chief Pikauterangi in the battle of Hingakaka near Ohaupo. Te Wherowhero's mother, Te Parengaope, was a daughter of a chief of Ngāti Koura, a hapū (subtribe) of Waikato.[2] Te Wherowhero was thus descended from the captains of both the Tainui and Te Arawa waka (canoes),[1] which are said to have brought Māori to New Zealand.
Te Wherowhero grew up in a period of relative peace for the Waikato tribes, following his father's victory over Ngāti Toa in the battle of Hingakaka. He was taught traditional lore, first by his father and then at Te Papa-o-Rotu, the Waikato whare wananga (school of knowledge) at
When his fellow Ngāti Mahuta chief and relative Te Uira killed a Ngāti Toa man, and was in return killed by a war party led by Ngāti Toa chief
When Marore, a wife of Te Rauparaha, was visiting relatives in Waikato for a tangihanga in about 1820, Te Wherowhero instigated her murder by Te Rangi-moe-waka.[4] After a series of revenge killings, Te Wherowhero led 3,000 Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto warriors on an overland attack on Kāwhia, while 1,500 of their allies from Whaingaroa (Raglan) attacked by a sea route. Together they defeated Ngāti Toa at Te Kakara, near Lake Taharoa, and Waikawau, south of Tirua Point.[1][4] Te Rauparaha and Ngāti Toa were then besieged at Te Arawi, near Kāwhia Harbour. Some of the Waikato and Maniapoto besiegers did not want to see Ngāti Toa exterminated, so they were permitted to give up their territory at Kāwhia and migrate to northern Taranaki.[1]
Te Wherowhero led a large army to Taranaki, partly to pursue Ngāti Toa and partly to rescue Peehi Tukorehu, a Ngāti Maniapoto chief, whose war party was besieged by Taranaki tribes at Pukerangiora, on the Waitara River.[1] Although never forced to retreat, he incurred large costs in human life in sieges which were sometimes unsuccessful.[2] Early in 1822 the Waikato forces suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Ngāti Toa and their allies at Motunui in north Taranaki. Te Wherowhero was almost killed[5] when he refused to retreat and abandon the body of a slain Waikato chief. The intervention of Te Rauparaha saved him, but subsequently he had to engage a number of enemy chiefs in single combat, armed with only a digging implement.[1] Eventually his own people returned and a negotiated truce ensued.
Te Wherowhero returned to the Waikato that year in time to take command in an unsuccessful defence of his tribe at Matakitaki (
In 1831 Te Wherowhero led an immense war party against the Taranaki Māori and killed many hundreds of the Ngatiawa tribe, whose lands more than ten years later he claimed by right of conquest.[5]
In 1832 the Waikato tribes led by Te Wherowhero fought a large battle at Ngunguru sandspit against the local Te Waiariki, ending a sustained campaign against Ngapuhi and their coastal allies such as Te Waiariki.[6]
By 1836 Te Wherowhero made peace with the Taranaki tribes.[1] This occurred at a time when missionaries were having a greater impact on iwi in the Waikato. Te Wherowhero himself regularly attended services, but was never baptised.[1]
Waikato's (or more specifically Ngāti Maniapoto's) involvement in the Taranaki war against Government forces in the 1860s can be traced back to Te Wherowhero's long series of attacks against the Taranaki iwi Te Āti Awa.[7] Te Wherowhero at one stage claimed Te Āti Awa were slaves who lived there only on his sufferance, but he was prepared to end all interest in the land when he was paid £250.[8] Keenan argues that Te Wherowhero never occupied Te Āti Awa's land long enough to constitute possession according to Māori customary lore. Nor did Te Āti Awa ever entirely abandon their land, thereby maintaining their occupation rights. During the latter stages of the war in Taranaki it was the involvement of Waikato warriors in bringing food and war materiel (lead and powder) that enabled the Taranaki warriors to keep fighting in the infertile, wet and inhospitable uplands.[7]
Treaty and influence with Grey
In March 1840 Te Wherowhero was living at Awhitu in the western Manukau. Captain William Symonds brought a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi to Manukau for chiefs to sign, but Te Wherowhero refused.[1] However he was friendly towards the colonial government and not opposed to Pākehā presence in areas he controlled. Initially Te Wherowhero favoured the Pākehā arrivals in his territory: his daughter, Tiria, married the trader John Kent.
In May 1844 Te Wherowhero hosted a large intertribal gathering at Remuera, near Auckland, with the view mainly of impressing Governor Robert FitzRoy with the power of Northern Māori. He was subsequently received at Government House, Auckland, and treated with great distinction by Fitzroy.[5] Te Wherowhero built a house at Pukekawa (in today's Auckland Domain) and it witnessed many discussions and negotiations concerning the implementation of the Treaty.[1]
The Waikato tribes sold land initially; Te Wherowhero sold some tribal land around Manukau. However in 1846 he protested vehemently to Queen Victoria about an edict that land not actually occupied or cultivated by Māori was to be considered Crown property.[1]
Between 1847 and 1852 Governor Grey arranged for 861 retired British soldiers called fencibles and their families to establish a number of military villages at Howick, Panmure, Otahuhu and Onehunga. In April 1849 Te Wherowhero signed an agreement with Governor
Although he never ceded sovereignty to the
As more settlers came to New Zealand, from the early 1850s Te Wherowhero became less friendly to the Pākehā. This was at least partially due to the nature of these arrivals in the Waikato lands, who often encroached on Māori tribal lands with no formal jurisdiction or consensual purchasing or gifting of the land. [citation needed]
Māori King
In the early 1850s, a
Mātene Te Whiwhi travelled throughout New Zealand seeking a chief of high standing who was willing to be king. Iwikau Te Heuheu Tūkino III of Ngāti Tūwharetoa suggested that Te Wherowhero should be approached, and his choice was supported by Wiremu Tāmihana of Ngāti Hauā.[1] Pōtatau, then elderly, expressed initial reluctance, but agreed in April 1857 at Rangiriri.[10] He was installed as king at Ngāruawāhia in June 1858.[10]
Pōtatau himself wished to continue to work in co-operation with the British Government, but many of his followers adopted a much more independent position. Gradually the two sides polarised and grew apart, culminating five years later in warfare (see Invasion of the Waikato and New Zealand Wars).
Death
Pōtatau died at Ngāruawāhia on 25 June 1860 and is buried on Mount Taupiri, a mountain close to his royal residence in Ngāruawāhia. His son Matutaera Tāwhiao succeeded him.[1]
See also
- Māori King Movement
- Treaty of Waitangi
- Waikato (iwi)
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oliver, Steven. "Te Wherowhero, Potatau". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ a b c Ross, Walter Hugh (1966). "Te Wherowhero, Potatau, or Potatau I". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ^ Ballara, Angela. "Te Paea Tiaho". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
- ^ a b c "Te Rau-paraha and his doings at Kawhia". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 18 (2): 47–70. 1909.
- ^ a b c Mennell, Philip (1892). . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ "Sandspit Timeline". Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ^ a b Keenan 2009, p. ?.
- ^ Keenan 2009, p. 79.
- ^ The Royal New Zealand Fencibles 1847–1852 .R Alexander. G Gibson. A. LaRoche. Deed . Waiuku. 1997.p108
- ^ a b "Pōtatau Te Wherowhero". NZHistory. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
References
- Keenan, Danny (2009). Wars Without End: The Land Wars in Nineteenth-century New Zealand. Auckland: Penguin.
External links
- University of Queensland - Maori Kingitanga
- Kingitanga - The Maori King Movement (NZHistory.net.nz)
- Media related to Pōtatau Te Wherowhero at Wikimedia Commons