Thousands travelled to Tūrangawaewae Marae to mourn the loss of Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII. Photo / Mike Scott
There is a moment of silence before the karanga starts.
The hustling and bustling of hundreds of people waiting at the gates of Tūrangawaewae Marae suddenly stops and the sound of kaikaranga cuts through the crisp morning air.
Magnolia petals fall gently from nearby trees among the feet of the mourners, otherwise everything is still.
After a few moments of karanga coming from somewhere deep within the marae grounds, the group begins to move through the gates.
This contingent is one of the many that have come to the Ngāruawāhia marae to pay their respects to Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, who died late last week aged 69 after a period in hospital recovering from heart surgery.
This group includes Māori and Pacific leaders, political leaders, people who knew Tūheitia well, and people who admired him from afar.
This group, visiting on Wednesday morning, is one of the last before the Kīngi is moved to his final to his final resting place, Taupiri maunga, on Thursday afternoon.
The many politicians and leaders who attended the tangi recalled King Tūheitia’s power in recent times to counter separatism by holding forums to create unity.
This year he had brought people together in large hui to discuss how to respond to current issues and to hold the Government to account for policies that many consider to be anti-Māori – a charge the Government rejects.
“The best protest we can do right now is be Māori,” Tūheitia said at his recent hui-ā-motu event that attracted thousands of people from across the country.
“Be who we are, live our values, speak our reo and care for our mokopuna, our awa, our maunga, just be Māori. Māori all day, every day, we are here, we are strong.”
The Kīngitanga shared their appreciation for those who came to the tangi, including Act leader David Seymour, despite his absence from the King’s recent coronation event, Koroneihana.
Speaking during the pōwhiri, Kīngitanga spokesman Rahui Papa spoke directly to Seymour, saying they honoured him for coming and hoped he had learned “we are not that scary”.
“There was some consternation about Koroneihana, but your arrival here today has allayed all of that.
“We honour you for fronting up at a very, very important time in the life span of the Kīngitanga and we hope that you have taken something away from today: that we are not that scary, and we can have the discussions face-to-face because we will look after you.”
Actor, broadcaster and revered kaumātua Waihoroi Shortland joined a contingent of “old boys” from St Stephen’s School, which Tūheitia attended.
Shortland was a senior when Tūheitia arrived at the school in 1969.
“I was his head boy in 1970 – I remember him as a quiet student, a studious student, but you wouldn’t have said ‘here comes a future King’. He was amongst his year no different to the way they jostled him, to the way they acted around, there were no concessions.”
Former All Black Dallas Seymour attended St Stephen’s after Tūheitia had left but holds a dear memory of seeing how joyful the King was at the recent Paris Olympics.
Seymour said Tūheitia would leave an enduring legacy that was also a reflection on the value of the school which had produced many leaders and men who also contributed to their communities.
The St Stephen’s old boys were led onto the marae by former Māori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell, who was in the King’s year at the school, before performing a powerful haka to Tūheitia and his whānau.
Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime said this year the King had united people during a time when many of the Government’s actions were “trampling” on te ao Māori.
“This year will be my lasting memory of him.”
Mourner Cedric Nepia, who was in the same Army unit as Tūheitia, the 16th Field Regiment, said he would remember his “incredible” ability to bring people together. Nepia’s iwi, Tūwharetoa, also has strong connections to the Kīngitanga.
Politicians Carmel Sepuloni, Chris Hipkins, Gerry Brownlee and former Prime Minister Helen Clark, and former Minister Andrew Little were among the many people who also spoke about Tūheitia’s power of kotahitanga (unity).
Clark said Tūheitia had “found his voice” and was playing a big role in convening Māoridom.
Hipkins said the King had the power to not only unite people but to come up with constructive alternatives to problems.
Sepuloni, who had “goosebumps” as she walked through the marae gates to the sound of the karanga, described him as a “unifying force” for Māori and non-Māori.
Brownlee described Tūheitia’s passing to the falling of a “great tōtara” and he hoped a waka would be built from the totara with enough room for all of us.
“No waka moves forward without all the paddles moving in the same direction.”
Little, who served as Treaty Negotiations Minister for six years during Tūheitia’s reign, said the King has unified te ao Māori at a “crucial time.”
“For Māoridom, he has clearly been this very strong unifying force at a time when that is needed – bringing a strong voice to some pretty obvious attacks on the progress that has been made.
“I think we all have high expectations for the Kīngitanga and what happens next.”
Today, the next Māori monarch will be announced in the hours before Tūheitia is carried to Taupiri maunga for burial.
That new Māori monarch will be ushered to the throne and anointed.
Once these formalities have ended, Tūheitia will be taken to Taupiri maunga by waka up the Waikato River, to be laid to rest among his ancestors, including his mother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.
As Kīngitanga chief of staff Ngira Simmonds says, today’s funeral represents the “last moment when Kīngi Tūheitia the person becomes Kīngi Tūheitia the ancestor”.
“It’s a transition from the physical realm to the spiritual realm. It is not too dissimilar from most Māori funerals, but there are a few unique moments reserved [for the king]. The King will... head to Taupiri maunga by waka, no one else here goes to Taupiri on a waka.”
The Kīngitanga was established in 1858 with a key goal of unifying Māori and preventing land confiscations and land sales to Pākehā.
The idea of a Māori monarch came about after Ngāti Toa and Te Ātiawa rangatira Pirikawau and Tamihana Te Rauparaha (Ngāti Toa) travelled to England and grew admiration for the British monarchy.
As esteemed historian Dr Vincent O’Malley explains in his book The New Zealand Wars: Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa, neither rangatira had thought of the Kīngitanga as a direct threat to the Crown.
Governor of the time George Grey did view the movement as a threat and an obstacle in obtaining the fertile land of Waikato which the Crown had wanted for the increasing number of settlers who were arriving in New Zealand.
On July 12, 1863, thousands of imperial troops marched over the Mangatāwhiri Stream, which had been declared by then King Tāwhiao as an aukati, a boundary line not be crossed. By crossing, the Crown had declared war.
Over almost a year, several bloody battles were fought between Māori and the Crown where hundreds of people were killed. The Crown confiscated more than 1.2 million acres of land from the Kīngitanga, driving the Māori King and his people into exile for more than two decades.
In July 1863, the Crown had set out to destroy the Kīngitanga – but as we have seen over the past six days with the thousands of people from far and wide who have come to mourn the seventh Māori monarch, they did not succeed.
The Kīngitanga is thriving and support for the movement is widespread with people from around the world sending their condolences for Tūheitia, including King Charles III.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
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