The Meeting Place - A New Zealand History Blog

In The Great War for New Zealand, historian Vincent O’Malley tells the story of the Waikato War of the 1860s – how it set back Māori-Pākehā relations by generations and changed the course of New Zealand history for good. Here, in an original essay for The Spinoff, he explains how the war helped create modern Auckland. In 1845 the small township of Auckland (population 3635) faced an existential crisis. War raged in the north and it was rumoured that the assistance of the powerful Tainui tribes had been sought for an attack on the settlement. A nightmare scenario for the town’s residents was the prospect of a simultaneous assault from the north and south, with Ngāpuhi and Tainui combining to virtually assure Auckland’s destruction. Yet when a delegation came south to solicit assistance from paramount Tainui rangatira Te Wherowhero, the response was emphatic. “You must fight me if you come on to Auckland; for these Europeans are under my protection,” he told them. In Mā...

A new book published last month as part of Manchester University Press’s Studies in Imperialism series explores the many connections between European monarchies and their overseas colonies. Crowns and Colonies: European Monarchies and Overseas Empires is edited by Robert Aldrich and Cindy McCreery and draws in many cases on papers presented at a conference on the same theme held at the University of Sydney in June 2014. I presented a paper at that conference on the historical relationship between the Kīngitanga and the British royal family and a revised version of this appears in Crowns and Colonies . The following synopsis sets out some of the key themes explored in my chapter. In December 1953 Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to meet with a Māori monarch when she travelled to Tūrangawaewae. King Koroki (right) and Princess Piki, the future Te Arikinui Dame Te Ātairangikaahu (left), welcome the British visitors on to the marae. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en...

Recently, I appeared in the three-part documentary series Kiingitanga: The Untold Story that screened on Māori TV. Documenting the more than 150-year history of New Zealand’s Māori King movement, the series provides rich insights into the past, present and future of Aotearoa’s indigenous monarchy. Although Potatau Te Wherowhero was not installed as the first Māori King until 1858, the idea had much older roots, including the journeys to England by Pirikawau of Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Toa and later by Tamihana Te Rauparaha, son of famed Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha. Potatau Te Wherowhero, by George French Angas Pirikawau, who visited England in 1843, and Tamihana Te Rauparaha who made the same journey nine years later, would have witnessed an empire at the height of its powers. Both men returned to New Zealand with an enormous respect for the British monarchy that ruled over the empire and both thought that Māori could do no better than to appoint a monarch of their own. For P...

There are multiple accounts as to the origins of the Kingitanga, or Maori King Movement, which came to prominence with the instalment of Potatau Te Wherowhero as the first Maori King in 1858. Much less common is a detailed insider’s description of the emergence of the movement and its aims and objectives. Honana Te Maioha belonged to Ngati Mahuta and was a cousin of Matutaera, better known as King Tawhiao, the second Maori King. He was intimately involved in the Kingitanga and had been active in its formation. In 1882 he gave a detailed description of how the movement had come about. It emerged at a time when the Kingitanga was at the forefront of public attention. The year before King Tawhiao had laid down his arms at Alexandra (Pirongia) and declared an end to the war fought in the 1860s. Subsequent to this he travelled to a number of European settlements, includiing, in January 1881, to Auckland. There, Tawhiao and his entourage, including Honana Te Maioha, were feted by a grat...