KING TAWHIAO

Over 70 years ago Texaco appropriated images of revolutionary King Tawhiao to help sell their petrol to locals. They branded him simply a “Power Chief”!
So, who was this King Tawhiao, and why not use his head – his moko, to sell stuff?
Tamihana Te Rauparaha – a Maori from New Zealand, had been to England in the 1850’s and visited Queen Victoria. He deduced that Maori would be more likely to prevent the loss of land by uniting under the rule of a sovereign- this time from among Maori. The search for a strong leader – a king, was immediately instigated. In 1856, a great assembly of tribal chiefs was called. Potatau Te Wherowhero was honored as chief of chiefs. From then, in direct line, the decent continues with Te Heitia Paki (ascended 2006), as the seventh sovereign since 1858. The Kingitanga is a symbolic bond that links Maori together in common association of kinship, welfare and authority. It was established to prevent further alienation of land and to unite Maori tribes. Today the King Movement is very much alive in my home area of Waikato.
Tawhiao – the son of Te Wherowhero, became the second king in 1860, and led the movement during the difficult times of the Waikato War of 1863–4 and land confiscations that followed. These were crucial times for the fledgling activist movement Te Kingitanga. Tawhiao, who was also a prophet, led his people into exile south of Te Awamutu, an area now known as the King Country (this is were my studio is). He managed to keep the Kingitanga together when it was viewed as a direct threat to the authority of the British Crown and to European settlement in general. King Tawhiao is respected as a fighter for Maori - a Prophet, Poet, Teacher and leader of Maori (New Zealand’s indigenous people). I don’t know what strange marketing plans caused this great man’s image to be used to sell petrol many years ago.
Today - as a contemporary artist with tribal affiliations to Kingitanga, I’m an active manipulator of the image my tipuna (or ancestor). King Tawhiao’s coat of arms, devised at his request late in the nineteenth century, includes the seven stars of Matariki and is known as –Te Paki o Matariki (The fine weather of Matariki - or Pleiades, the Seven Sisters cluster of stars). In this re-worked poster, King Tawhiao’s title changes from the original “Tetra-Ethyl Lead” to “Terra-Lethal Head”! Perhaps his original mana (or prestige) is restored to this graphic context as Texaco’s logo star mutates to “Utu” (or balance). Nowadays Maori are no-longer passive receivers of Western sales and marketing. This reappropriation is a slap back at the multinational corporations that have in the past colonized us - even our ancestor’s image. I trust this poster now presents equilibrium, even fine weather for the future.


Rangimarie (peace)…
James Ormsby (09/07/07)
Te Awamutu, Aotearoa/New Zealand