The Waitara Dispute
Crown and Te Teira vs Wiremu Kingi
Leading Te Ati Awa
• The Paramount Chief
of Te Ati Awa was
Wiremu Kingi
• Kingi had left Waitara
during the Musket
wars and while he
was away, Teira
Manuka had risen to
a position of
leadership in the
hapu.
• Kingi returned to the
area in 1848.
• There was
considerable rivalry
between Teira
Manuka and Wiremu
Kingi
Pakeha Settlers in New Plymouth
• Pakeha settlers in New • Land sales had dried
Plymouth were very
up.
frustrated with the
• The settlers looked
inability of the NZ
enviously to the fertile
Company to live up to
Waitara Block with its
their promises of
natural harbour.
providing a substantial
amount of farm land.
• Their settlement also
lacked a decent
harbour.
Governor Gore Browne
• Governor Gore
Browne attended a
hui of Taranaki tribes
where Teira offers to
sell him land in
Waitara.
• Wiremu Kingi
expresses opposition
but Gore Browne is
keen to assert Crown
sovereignty.
Governor Gore Browne
• The land was
communally owned and
Teira doesn’t actually
have the right to sell it.
• Gore Brown knew this
but he still accepted
Teira’s offer.
• He wanted to gain land
and disempower Kingi so
he exploited tribal
divisions to achieve both
aims.
Civil War within Te Ati Awa
• Kingi’s faction vs Teira’s faction
• Land holders vs land sellers
The Kohimarama Conference
• In 1860 as the
Waitara Dispute
raged, Gore Browne
called a Conference
of Maori leaders at
Kohimarama in
Auckland.
Why did Gore Brown call the
Kohimarama Conference?
• He wanted a chance to discuss the Treaty
and land claims with Maori.
• He hoped to divide Maori loyalties by
gaining the chiefs’ condemnation for
Kingitanga and the actions of Wiremu
Kingi (neither Kingi nor Tawhiao were
invited).
• He wanted to see how much support there
was for Kingi and Tawhiao amongst Maori.
What happened at the Kohimarama
Conference?
• Gore Browne threatened resisters,
explaining that 7000 troops were on their
way to Taranaki to be used against
Wiremu Kingi and his supporters
• The meeting produced the Kohimarama
Covenant in which signatories pledged to
do “nothing inconsistent with their declared
recognition of the Queen’s sovereignty…
i.e reaffirmation of Article One.
Ranginui Walker on the
Kohimarama Conference
• Those present showed
that they shared a
common understanding
that the Treaty
guaranteed their
Rangatiratanga.
• Rather than condemning
Wiremu Kingi, they
maintained that Gore
Browne shouldn’t have
interfered in the Waitara
Dispute
But…
• Maori promised to
abide by the Treaty.
Governor Gore
Browne did not. He
could have reaffirmed
Maori rights under
Articles Two and
Three
• Once again, Maori
had a different
understanding of the
Treaty they had just
reaffirmed.
– “Kawanatanga” was
not “Sovereignty”
– “Rangatiratanga”