ART ON VIEW
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FIG. 3 (below):
Tūkāroto Matutaera Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Tāwhiao
(ca. 1822–1894), Ngāti Mahuta iwi. Photo by Henry King
(1855–1923).
Sydney. 1884.
Albumen print. 20.3 x 15 cm.
Michael Graham-Stewart Collection, Auckland.
In 1860 Tāwhiao became the second Māori king following
a short two-year reign by his father, the waikato rangatira
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero. The Māori King movement,
kĦngitanga, was a political independence movement of the
nineteenth century to unify Māori iwi, therefore creating a
balance in power equal to the now dominant pākehā New
Zealand government and claim greater control over the
issue of land sales.
As the second king, Tāwhiao reigned for thirty-four years
until his death in 1894. The early years of the kĦngitanga
movement led to the Waikato War in 1863.
Tāwhiao and his supporters were defeated,
and the government confi scated great tracts
of land in the Waikato region. The movement
then lived in exile on Ngāti Maniapoto iwi land,
returning to Waikato in the early 1880s.
Henry King’s photographic portrait of
Tāwhiao was taken upon his arrival in Sydney
during his journey to Great Britain with a
deputation of Māori supporters to present
Queen Victoria a petition on the obligations of
the Crown as laid out in the Treaty of Waitangi
more than forty years earlier. Governor George
Grey gave Tāwhiao numerous letters of
introduction to assist the group on their travels
but warned that it would be folly to expect
a positive political result for their requests in
regard to Māori self-determination. Grey also
asked that all members of the mission “take the blue ribbon
pledge.”1 By wearing the ribbon, each of the men was
demonstrating a visual oath to the temperance movement,
vowing to abstain from alcohol for the duration of the
mission. This was openly challenged in Melbourne, when, at
a dinner hosted by Town Clerk Edmund Gerald FitzGibbon
in South Yarra, Crème de Bouzy champagne was offered to
Tāwhiao and company instead of their usual drink of choice,
ginger ale.
Also while in Melbourne, the Māori deputation visited
the Intercolonial Exhibition, where Tāwhiao made the
circuit of the entire event “in the quickest exhibition time
on record” with only one object captivating his fascination:
a tricycle.2
The activities of Tāwhiao’s group when in London are
far better documented. When sitting for his portrait to
be painted by Henry Charles Seppings Wright, Tāwhiao
actively offered the artist advice about recording his moko
paruhi and recreated the moko designs on paper.3 Sadly,
instead of Queen Victoria, the Earl of Derby received
King Tāwhiao. The deputation’s demand for Māori self
determination was referred back as a matter for the New
Zealand government, and upon their returning to New
Zealand, the mission was seen as a failure. Although this
was unsuccessful, Tāwhiao remained a leader of dignity and
mana until his passing in 1894.
traits but also is a mark of society, a connection
to a person’s clan, or hapu, and a connection to
their greater tribal community, iwi. Reading its
markings allows others to visibly understand the
wearer’s standing in life.
The origins of moko are to be found in the
mythological saga of Mataora and Niwareka.
Mataora was a rangatira (chief) who lived in
the natural world, Te Ao Turoa, and married a
spirit woman from the underworld, Rarohenga,
called Niwareka. Foolishly, Mataora mistreated
Niwareka, who then left the natural world and
returned to her family in Rarohenga to be with
her father, Uetonga. Realizing he loved Niwareka
and regretting his actions, Mataora readied
himself to travel to Rarohenga and ask her to
return. He wore his best fl ax cloak (kakahu) and
painted his face with traditional patterns before
setting off on his journey to the underworld.
When Mataora found Niwareka with her father,
Uetonga, and their family, they were all wearing
moko upon their faces, while Mataora’s painted
face had become smeared, so he was mocked for
not wearing the permanent markings of moko.
Mataora asked Uetonga to teach him about ta
moko and to gift the moko markings to his face.
Niwareka and Mataora, now with his impressively
marked moko kanohi face, returned to the
natural world and brought the knowledge and
the gift of ta moko with them.
Practitioners of ta moko were traditionally
known as tohunga-ta-moko. The word tohunga
refers to priest-like experts in a specifi c fi eld
of Maori knowledge such as medicine, carving,
gardening, fi shing, astronomy, and divination.
Tohunga were highly regarded for their depth
of knowledge, and specialists in ta moko needed
to ensure that these marks of strong cultural and
spiritual integrity were correct for each wearer.
Central to the art of ta moko is the wearer’s detailed
knowledge of their own identity, heritage,
and connection to previous family generations
of ancestry, whakapapa. This knowledge is discussed
with the tohunga so he can concentrate
and form the correct designs for the individual’s
moko. Whakapapa is the foundational heart of
a person’s moko, which is the visual confi rmation
of the wearer’s interconnectedness of identity
over generations. To wear moko is one of
the greatest and deepest spiritual commitments