Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Monument and Kīngitanga Reserve

Durham Street, Eyre Street and Waingaro Road, Ngāruawāhia

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The Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Monument and Kīngitanga Reserve has outstanding significance for its associations with the first leader of the Kīngitanga movement, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (?-1860), his son and successor Tāwhiao (?-1894) and other notable rangatira. It is located in Ngāruawāhia, which in 1858 became the capital and centre of governance of Kīngitanga - an important movement created to uphold Māori autonomy. The site is particularly significant for incorporating part of an urupā that may date back to the ‘Musket Wars’ of the 1820s; a mortuary mound and enclosure created for Te Wherowhero’s remains after his death in 1860; and a stone obelisk erected by the colonial government to commemorate Te Wherowhero, Tāwhiao and others in 1895. The place is also directly associated with conflict during the Waikato War (1863-4); the return of Tāwhiao to the Waikato heartland in the 1880s; and subsequent moves by Kīngitanga to create a Kauhanganui system of Māori parliamentary governance. It retains outstanding symbolic and commemorative importance, particularly to Kīngitanga - now one of New Zealand’s longest-standing political institutions - and also forms a key component of a wider traditional, historical and archaeological landscape of very great value. The site lies at the confluence of the Waikato and Waipā Rivers, in the heartland of Waikato-Tainui. It occupies land said to have been used for a hākari or feast associated with the nearby papakāinga at Pukeiāhua, which cemented relations between Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto after circa 1675. The site may have become part of an urupā by the time of Ngāpuhi raids in the 1820s, containing fallen warriors from this period as well as later interments after the arrival of Christian missionaries. In 1858, Ngāruawāhia’s symbolic and strategic importance led to it becoming the capital of Kīngitanga and the residence of its first leader or kingī, the notable Ngāti Mahuta tohunga and warrior, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero. Te Wherowhero had been a signatory of He He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni / The Declaration of Independence (1835), and was later referred to by colonial authorities as the most important Māori leader in New Zealand. After his death in 1860, Te Wherowhero’s remains were placed in a timber mausoleum or papa tūpāpaka of distinctive design, which was erected on an earth mound enclosed by a rectangular ditch within the urupā. In mid-nineteenth century Māori society, the use of papa tūpāpaka emerged as a consequence of increased permanent settlement and reduced warfare, and indicated a person of great mana. Te Wherowhero’s successor, Tāwhiao, was another notable leader whose reign coincided with the most turbulent years of Māori-Pākehā relations - including British invasion of the region during the Waikato War. In 1863, Kīngitanga casualties from the first battle of that conflict, at Koheroa, were buried in the urupā; and Te Wherowhero’s remains later removed for safekeeping. After occupying Ngāruawāhia, the government created a new township but undertook to respect the papa tūpāpaka and carried out repairs. That part of the urupā containing the mausoleum was laid out as an open area known as the Octagon, in which European military personnel were also interred. Throughout the later nineteenth century, Te Wherowhero’s tomb remained a symbolic focus for relationships between Kīngitanga and the Crown. After Tāwhiao returned to the Waikato in 1881, he visited his father’s mausoleum, prophesying a permanent return by Kīngitanga to Ngāruawāhia as its turangawaewae, or place to stand. A year after Tāwhiao’s death, in part to commemorate reconciliation with Tainui, Premier Richard Seddon commissioned a monument to be erected on the mound formerly occupied by Te Wherowhero’s tomb (1895). Sculpted by the noted Auckland mason J. H. Buchanan, the stone obelisk permanently commemorated Te Wherowhero, Tāwhiao and twelve associated rangatira. Indicative of the ongoing importance of the place to Kīngitanga, the broader site - which had been beautified by trees as a recreation reserve - was contemplated as the location for a Kauhanganui or Māori Parliament. In the 1910s Turangawaewae House was created on adjacent land, facing the mortuary enclosure and monument, to accommodate this function. Still symbolic of relations between Kīngitanga and the Crown, the monument continues (2018) to be cared for by the New Zealand government. It forms the centrepiece of the Kīngitanga Reserve, named in 2014 to acknowledge the value of the place to this enduring and important force in Māoridom.

Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Monument and Kīngitanga Reserve, Ngāruawāhia | Martin Jones | 27/10/2017 | Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Monument and Kīngitanga Reserve, Ngāruawāhia. Inscription | Martin Jones | 27/10/2017 | Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Monument and Kīngitanga Reserve, Ngāruawāhia. ‘King’s Mask’ sculpture, with Turangawaewae House behind | Martin Jones | 27/10/2017 | Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Able to Visit

List Number

757

Date Entered

6th June 2019

Date of Effect

7th July 2019

City/District Council

Waikato District

Region

Waikato Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Sec 671 (NZ Gazette 1926, p.3372), Sec 673 Town of Newcastle (NZ Gazette 1917, p.4018), South Auckland Land District, and part of the land described as Legal Road, South Auckland Land District, and the structures known as Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Monument, and mortuary mound and ditch thereon. Extent also includes several mature trees, specifically four Oak (quercus robur), one London Plane (platinus crosshybrida), one Pin Oak (quercus palustrus) and one Common Elm (ulmus procera). It also includes the structure known as the King’s Mask (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry report for further information).

Legal description

Sec 671 (NZ Gazette 1926, p.3372), Sec 673 Town of Newcastle (NZ Gazette 1917, p.4018) and Legal Road, South Auckland Land District

Location Description

Additional Location Information NZTM Easting: 1789392.0 NZTM Northing: 5829181.5

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