KING TAWHIAO

E whitu tekau tau i mua i whanako a Texaco i te mata o te toa, o Kīngi Tāwhiao hei hoko atu i tā rātou penehinu ki te iwi. I tapaina ia “Power Chief”.
Nā, ko wai tēnei Kīngi Tāwhiao? He aha te take me whakamahi i tana ūpoko hei hoko mea?
I haere a Tamihana Te Rauparaha, he Māori nō Aotearoa, ki Ingarangi i te 1850s kia toro i a Kuini Wikitōria. I whakapae ia kia mutu te whakangarotanga atu o te whenua me whakakotahi i raro i te maru o tētehi Kīngi Māori. I tīmata ki te rapu rangatira, he kīngi. I te tau 1856 i hui katoa ngā rangatira Māori o te motu, ā, i whakatūria a Potatau Te Wherowhero hei Kīngi. Ka heke taua rārangi Kīngi ki a Tūheitia Paki (i eke i te tau 2006) he Kīngi tuawhitu mai i te tau 1858. He tohu te Kīngitanga e tūhono ana i ngā Māori i raro i te whanaungatanga, te ora me te mana. I whakatūria te Kīngitanga kia mutu te whanako i te whenua me te whakakotahi i ngā iwi Māori. Kei te ora rawa atu tonu te Kīngitanga i Waikato, tōku kāinga noho.
I eke a Tāwhaiao, te tama a Te Wherowhero, hei Kīngi tuarua i te tau 1860. Nāna te iwi i ārahi i te wā o ngā pakanga a Waikato i nga tau 1863 – 64 me nga whenua raupatu i whai mai. He wā uaua ngēnei mo te Kīngitanga. He matakite hoki a Tāwhiao, a, nāna tōna iwi i ārahi ki te noho wehe i te tonga o Te Awamutu ki tētehi wāhi e mōhitia ana ko te Rohe Pōtae. Nāna anō i pupuri te Kīngitanga kia mau i te wā i kitea i taea e te Kīngitanga te Kāwanatanga me te noho hāpori i te iwi Pākehā te whakararu. Ka whakanuia a Kingi Tāwhiao hei toa mō te iwi Māori, hei matakite, hei kaituhi waiata, hei kaiako, hei rangatira i te iwi Māori. Kāore i te mōhiotia he aha i hiahiatia ai ko tōna mata hei hoko atu i te penehinu i aua tau o mua.
He kaitoi ahau o nāianei e whakapapa ana ki te Kīngitanga. Kei te raweke au i te mata o tōku tupuna. Ko te tohu a Kīngi Tāwhiao, i hangaia i te mutunga o te rau tau 1900 i runga i tana tono. Kei te tohu e whitu ngā whetū e tohu ana i Te Paki o Matariki. I tēnei whakaahua ka rerekē te taitara mai i te ‘Tetra-Ethyl Lead” ki te ‘Terra –Lethal Head”! Tērā pea ka hoki atu tōna mana ki tēnei whakaahua hou nā te tīni o te tohu a Texaco ki te “Utu”. I ngēnei wā kāore a Ngāi Māori i te whakaae noa iho mai ki ngēnei tūmomo mahi hokohoko. Kei te whakautu rātou i ngā kamupene nunui i whakapākehā mai i a mātou me ngā mata o tō mātou tupuna. E whakapono ana au kua whakatikahia tēnei tūāhuatanga e tēnei whakaahua, ā, tērā pea hei wā pai kei te tū mai.
Pai mārire!


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