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Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu — the wealthiest Maori in New Zealand, with a NZ$10 million (£3.3 million) fortune — died aged 75 at her ancestral home in the North Island town of Ngaruawahia.
Commonly known as Te Ata, the mother of seven who became the Maori Queen at the age of 35 was the seventh Maori sovereign and filled a role that carried only ceremonial powers but commanded great respect among Maoris and white New Zealanders.
...She was the longest-serving head of the Kingitanga (King) movement — a lineage that began in the mid-1850s to stem the loss of native lands to the flood of settlers arriving in New Zealand from imperial Britain.
The movement was also intended to promote Maori authority within New Zealand and a sense of Maori nationality — though halting land sales remained paramount. Initially the loose federation of Maori tribes within the King movement had no real political influence and no effective means for co-operative action.
In later years, however, New Zealand’s settlers came to regard the Maori King movement as a barrier to their land-owning aspirations, an affront to the British Queen and a challenge to the New Zealand Government.
The King movement, in turn, served to harden Maori independence and raise its profile to a point that could no longer be tolerated by the British colonisers. Bloody wars between the two broke out in March 1860 but the King movement, though weakened, survived attempts to crush it.
...Helen Clark, the New Zealand Prime Minister, paid tribute last night to Te Ata, saying that she had been a unifying figure in New Zealand who had used her position to bring the Maori and Pakeha (non-Maori people) together.
Commonly known as Te Ata, the mother of seven who became the Maori Queen at the age of 35 was the seventh Maori sovereign and filled a role that carried only ceremonial powers but commanded great respect among Maoris and white New Zealanders.
...She was the longest-serving head of the Kingitanga (King) movement — a lineage that began in the mid-1850s to stem the loss of native lands to the flood of settlers arriving in New Zealand from imperial Britain.
The movement was also intended to promote Maori authority within New Zealand and a sense of Maori nationality — though halting land sales remained paramount. Initially the loose federation of Maori tribes within the King movement had no real political influence and no effective means for co-operative action.
In later years, however, New Zealand’s settlers came to regard the Maori King movement as a barrier to their land-owning aspirations, an affront to the British Queen and a challenge to the New Zealand Government.
The King movement, in turn, served to harden Maori independence and raise its profile to a point that could no longer be tolerated by the British colonisers. Bloody wars between the two broke out in March 1860 but the King movement, though weakened, survived attempts to crush it.
...Helen Clark, the New Zealand Prime Minister, paid tribute last night to Te Ata, saying that she had been a unifying figure in New Zealand who had used her position to bring the Maori and Pakeha (non-Maori people) together.
Also http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/st...ectID=10396513
No reira, e te whaea maia...
Kua haere ki te tua te manu-arahi, ka tipu ki tona haerenga nga manu-whai
Therefore, oh steadfast lady
The lead bird of the has gone, the birds behind will grow to carry on the journey
A mihi aroha from Ngati Maniapoto
- Robert Bidois
Miulang