Dead Tell Tales: A patriotic chief with ‘clear, straight-forward views’

Saturday, 23 September 2023

Tarapipipi Te Waharoa (Wiremu Tamihana), circa 1805-1866

“A man of peace forced into war” - Evelyn Stokes

The Ngāti Hauā chief Tarapipipi Te Waharoa, or Wiremu Tamihana, was also named The Kingmaker for his role in promoting the idea of a Māori king and advocating at several hui during the 1850s for Pōtatau Te Wherowhero to take up the role of king. Te Wherowhero belonged to the senior line of Ngāti Mahuta; he had been a warrior and was respected for his mana. He did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi but was “kindly disposed towards the European government” however he later objected to the instruction that “all land not actually occupied or cultivated by Māori was to be regarded as Crown property” (citing Stokes’s biography on the Te Ara website).

As the Kīngitanga movement grew in strength, the selection of a king became paramount. A reluctant Te Wherowhero was persuaded by Tamihana, and at a major hui at Ngāruawāhia in 1858 he was installed as king. Tamihana “provided a statement of laws, based on the laws of God. The King would exercise power over people and lands, over chiefs and councils of all the tribes; the tribes would continue to live on their own lands, and the King would protect them from aggression”.

Tamihana saw no conflict between the King movement and the English monarchy, and David Moxon quotes Tamihana as saying “The Queen and the King, they are one. Each is on the piece which belongs to each”. This seems naïve, perhaps, in the face of the British government’s desire for more land and its disregard for the rights of iwi and traditional ownership of land. Tamihana was a great letter writer, and in this period wrote many letters to the governor and to other Māori chiefs.

The encroachment south by the government with the building of the Great South Road into the Waikato saw the outbreak of war in 1863. Tamihana tried to keep the peace but his efforts were ignored, by both sides. The outcome was the confiscation of Waikato and Ngāti Hauā land.

On 27 May 1865 Tamihana met Brigadier General GJ Carey at Tamahere and in an act that was seen by Pākehā as surrender, Tamihana laid down his taiaha “and agreed that the Queen’s laws would also be the laws for the Māori King.

Tamihana had a close relationship with Auckland businessman Josiah Firth. After the Waikato war, Firth leased land from Tamihana and began acquiring freehold of several thousand acres of Matamata land.

Tamihana died after a long illness on 27 December 1866, at Turanga-o-moana near Peria.

In 1867 Firth paid for a monument to be placed on the site of Tamihana’s death. Designed by James Wrigley of Auckland, it took the form of an obelisk in hard wood and included a portrait of Tamihana with a lengthy inscription: “Haere atu ra, e te hoa. ‘I te oranga o te tama a Kiripuai, he kura te Tangata.’ Ko Wiremu Tamehana Te Waharoa i hemo ki tenei wahi, i te 27 o nga ra o Tihema, 1866. Ko tana kupu poroporoaki tenei:- ‘Ki atu ki a Hohaia, mehemea ka pai a ia ki te noho tonu i konei, e pai ana ahau.’.” Translated as: “Go hence, O friend. …. William Thompson Te Waharoa died here on the 27th day of December, 1866. This was his last sentence:- ‘Tell Mr Firth, if he is willing to reside here continually, I am agreeable.’ ” The monument was unveiled by Firth and Hone Piahana, in front of a large crowd.

A final quote from the missionary Richard Taylor: “There is something very sad in the death of this patriotic chief; a man of clear, straight-forward views; sad that a man, who possessed of such an influence for good, should thus have been ignored by the Government, when, by his aid, had he been admitted to our councils, a permanent good feeling might have been established between the two races.”

Note: For more information about Tamihana, read Evelyn Stokes’s article and David Moxon’s article.