1881: King Tawhiao Visits Cambridge
July 21, 2023
By AHNZ
Today in New Zealand history, 21 July., 1881, Maori King Tawhiao came to Cambridge with 600+ of his people for some 4 days in a peaceful reception. The King had kept Cambridge waiting like a groom at the altar waiting for the bride to appear at the church. The guests were organised for attendance a full week before, the venues and the streets prepared to accommodate the large royal delegation. Meanwhile, the lavish spread of food and drink which Cambridge had provided “…a week ago becoming unfit, were consequently disposed of, and replaced with a generous readiness.” when at last the delegation arrived.
Make no mistake, the cost that had to be doubled was no mean figure. soups, fish, oysters, roast suckling pork, roast goose, sirloin beef and mutton and pheasant and hare, many and various desserts and puddings. Some 20 different kinds of wines, beers, and spirits were served as listed in the menu. Ref. King Tawhiao’s Visit to Cambridge, Waikato Times (23 July 1881,) Papers Past
His Majesty probably never had it so good in all his life as this! Certainly a Maori King and his retinue would not eat or be quartered¹ so lavishly at the expense of his own Waikato Maori tribesmen as the wealth that Cambridge’s community provided. Especially not during wartime and exile which was how Tawhiao had been living since the outbreak of the Waikato War in 1863. That Cambridge could accommodate royalty at such a high level shows how well their economy was doing but it also demonstrated a confidence to execute diplomatic functions autonomously which would otherwise be the role of Big Government.
Tawhiao showed his good sense of humor and had everyone laughing when he said at the dinner ” The principal thing with us in expeditions of this kind is the food. When we get to one place we stay there until we have eaten all the food and then proceed to the next (laughter), and if you continue to treat us as well as you have done this evening I do not know when we will get away from Cambridge. (Laughter.)” He explained that his expedition was on what we might call Island Time rather than following any scientific system of time which is why his arrival was late. Tawhiao also thought that he might keep his movable feast going and do the same in Hamilton next but not until “we have eaten up everything in Cambridge. (Laughter.) ”
The King, with Tamati Ngapora and the 600 travelers (500 of them warriors) did make it to Hamilton, and even Auckland, but it’s not clear if they were ever really invited? They certainly did attempt to go up the chain of hierarchy on an overseas trip to visit Queen Victoria herself in England, 1884, but she would not see him. Perhaps the people of Cambridge had unintentionally set that rebuff in motion? That particular seeking of hospitality and accommodations infuriated the King’s subjects and did him in as a leader. After all, he had paid for his trip by appropriating the money from the depositors in his Bank of Aotearoa. Ref. 1886: Bank of Aotearoa, AHNZ
By the end of 1890 this Maori King 2.0 was down to scraps and on the back-foot. When the Government of the day came to the king’s royal presence it was to make an arrest of one of his courtiers. Armed police and Auckland Militia to find Tawhiao and his lieutenants, and a squarking old woman, alone waiting in a ferny clearing. “Despite His Majesty’s protests and distress, his man is arrested. The man who once had thousands fighting for him is stripped of what seems to be one of his last lackies.” Ref. p302 Ward (1973)
“The years from 1864 to 1881 which he and his followers spent in isolation provided them with ample time to meditate and speculate on their fate…Reflecting on the military defeat of his people, the land confiscations, and the defection of many Māori to Christianity and the lifestyle of the Pākehā, Tāwhiao promised that those who had remained faithful to the tenets of the King movement would be redeemed and exonerated by history. Tāwhiao and his followers saw their predicament as a dramatic parallel to the biblical exile of the children of Israel.” – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (1993,) Te Ara
“In 1881 Tawhiao formally submitted to the government at Alexandra (Pirongia). He was accompanied by over 500 warriors, and by Ngapora and other leaders. Ngapora continued to live at Whatiwhatihoe, the royal village in the King Country, where he died on 5 August 1885. He was believed to be about 80 years of age.” – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (1990,) Te Ara
“In early July, Tawhiao announced he would come out of exile to make peace with the Government at Alexandra (now Pirongia) and then go on an extended tour of his former lands…tasked Major Gilbert Mair with meeting Tawhiao and agreeing on terms to the formal peace settlement. Tawhiao duly arrived, but he was not alone. He was accompanied by an estimated 5-600 Waikato Maori. Most were mounted and armed with of [sic] muskets, shotguns and a few of the new breech loading British rifles…The war the Maori King had never wanted and tried so hard to avoid was now officially over.” – Waikato Times (2015,) Press Reader
“The massive menu, donated by settlers and farmers, included a reported three tonnes of potatoes, a tonne of pork and another of beef. There were also about 100 eels and 200 loaves of bread.” – ibid
King Tawhiao had surrendered at lastand Tamati Ngapora beside him. Had Ngapora and the first Maori King, Potatau, taken the Oath of Allegiance 20 years earlier there need not have been a Waikato War at all. Instead, the decision was made to rebel and to abandon the military, religious, and legal obligations and privileges granted them as part of Auckland. Resolving instead to make war this bad decision led to vast loss of life and, for Maoris, vast loss of land. Ref. 1863: Oath of Betrayal, AHNZ
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1 The Royal delegation stayed at the Moanatuatua homestead of E B Walker. Ref. Waikato Times (2015,) Press Reader
Image ref. Cambridge businessman Thomas Wells and King Tawhiao, Cambridge Museum. Ehive.com; Tidied up by AHNZ (2023)
Image ref. “The First NZ Maori Bank! Crypto Intel & Financial Advisory on a World Class Stage.” Bank of Aotearoa, Facebook (2022)
A Show of Justice: Racial Amalgamation in Nineteenth Century New Zealand, Alan Ward (1973)
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