Ka nui te tūmanako o te whakaaro mō te Kīngi hōu, mō Te Rata, engari i te kaha rawa te pā mai o te māuiui– te rūmātiki ātaraiti me te mate manawa. Ko tā Te Rata mahi nui he tirotiro i ngā tikanga o te iwi me te whakapapa. I roto i tōna wā hei Kīngi, nā tana karanga tuahine, nā Te Puea Hērangi te whakaawe kaha me te nui o ngā ārahitanga o Te Kīngitanga.
Te Taone o Rānana
I tā rātou whīkoi ki Rānana i te tau 1914, ka kitea e Kīngi Te Rata me tōna tira ngā wāhi nui o reira, arā, ko te rerewē o raro o te whenua, ko Piccadilly Circus, ko te Whakataetae Tēnehi o te Ao (Wimbledon), tae atu ana ki te mauheretanga i waho o Buckingham Palace i a Emily Pankhurst, te rangatira o te rōpū toko i te pōtitanga mō te hunga wāhine o Piritānia. Ko Te Rata me tana tira i Westminster, he kaiwhakaatu ki te pānuitanga tuatoru o te Home Rule Bill mō te Raki o Airangi – ā, tērā pea he huarahi o reira mō Te Kīngitanga me te mana Māori motuhake.
Te Whīkoi ki Ingarangi
Nō roto i ngā tau nā te hoa tata o Te Rata nā Tupu Taingākawa Te Waharoa te akiaki kia haere te Kīngi Māori ki Ingarangi ki te tuku petihana ki te Karauna o Piritānia. Hei ahakoa te whakahē a te nui o te iwi Māori, tae atu ana ki te kiatōrangapū a Apirana Ngata, i te tau 1914 ko Te Rata rāua ko Taingākawa, me Mita Karaka rāua ko Hōri Tiro Pāora i haere ki Rānana, he pērā anō i tā Kīngi Tāwhiao e 30 tau pea i mua. Nō tana taenga ki reira i pēnei te tuhi a Te Rata ki ngā pepamana mo te hunga manuwhiri e toro ana ki reira ko tāna mahi ‘te Kīngi Māori’. Ko tā Taingākawa tuhinga whakanehe: he ‘settler’.
I Rānana ka whakanuia a Te Rata e ngā arikitanga o Ingarangi, me ngā rangatira, ahakoa ōna pānga e te māuiui, tae atu ana ki ngā iwi i noho ki Aotearoa i mua. Nāwai rā ka whakaaetia te tūtakitanga ki a Kīngi Hōri V me tana Kuīni Mere, ēngari ko te tohutohu i a Te Rata, e kīia ana e tana hekeretari ko H. H. Te Rata, kia kaua ia e korero mō te raupatu. Pērā me Tāwhiao i mua i a ia, ko te kupu ki a Te Rata mā te kāwanatanga o Aotearoa aua take nei hei whai.
Te Pakanganui Tuatahi
I Rānana ka kitea e Te Rata te pahūtanga o te Pakanganui Tuatahi o Te Ao. Ki ngā tuhinga a tana hēkeretari; ‘Kei te kino rawa atu inaianei te porangirangi o nga pakeha’.1 Te taenga ki te kāinga kāore i kaha te tautoko a Te Rata mā i ngā mahi mō te pakanganui nei. Ka whakahē a Waikato ki te māperetanga o te tau 1917, ka mutu ka mauheretia ētehi o ngā huānga o Te Rata. E ai ki ngā māngai o Waikato, i te tau 1881 i puta te kī a Tāwhiao, me mutu mō ake tonu atu te mau a Waikato ki te pū, arā: ‘Ko te pakanga i runga i tēnei motu, kua rite ki te koka harakeke. Ko te tangata whakaara pakanga ā muri ake nei, koia tonu hei utu’.2 Kāore te nuinga o Waikato i hiahia ki te pakanga mō te whenua a te Pākehā, kīhai rawa ō rātou whenua ake i whakahokia mai.
Ko Aituā
Ka mate a Te Rata, me ngā pānga nui tonu o te rūmātiki i roto i ngā tau e ono o mua atu, i Wāhi Pā, Rāhuipōkeka i te 1 o Oketopa i te tau 1933. Ka kotahi wiki te roa o tana uhunga, nā Te Puea ngā whakaritenga mōna. Ka kōrerotia anō e ngā rangatira o Te Motu ko wai hei kīngi, ko tā rātou kōwhiringa anō, he uri nō te kāhui ariki, nō te whare o Pōtatau.
Te Puea
He kaha a Te Puea ki te whakahē i te whai wāhi o Waikato ki ngā tautokotanga i ngā mahi mō te pakanganui. Ko Te Puea Hērangi te karanga tuahine o Te Rata. Ko ia hoki te tino kaiārahi o Te Kīngitanga o taua wā. Ka kore haere te nui o Taingākawa, ka tupu haere tō Te Puea hei māngai mō Te Rata. Ka whakapau ia i tōna kaha ki te whakaora i te mana o te Kīngitanga ki Ngāruawāhia hei pokapū mōna, nā te tongi a Tāwhiao:
Ko Arekahānara tōku haona kaha
Ko Kemureti tōku oko horoi
Ko Ngāruawāhia tōku tūrangawaewae.
Alexandra [present-day Pirongia] will ever be a symbol of my strength of character
Cambridge a symbol of my wash bowl of sorrow
And Ngāruawāhia my footstool.3
Kaua te Pakanganui e Kōrerotia
Ka korero kinotia a Te Puea mō tāna whakahē i te Pakanganui Tuatahi. Ka whiua te whakapapa Tiamana o tana tupuna o William Searancke (ka whā whakatipuranga te noho a tana whanau ki Ingarangi i mua i te haerenga mai ki Aotearoa), ka kīia ai a ia ko ‘the German woman’. Ko te koi o tāna whakautu, ‘Kāore he whakapapa Tiamana o te Kīngi o Ingarangi?’4
Te Mahi Moni
He pukenga ōna ki te mahi haka, nā Te Puea te kapa o Te Pou o Mangatāwhiri i whakatū. Ka toro haeretia Te Motu e te kapa nei ki te whakatū kōnohete hei mahi moni mō Tūrangawaewae Marae, ā, nō te tau 1929 ka whakatuwheratia tōna whare nui, a Māhinaarangi. Tae noa mai ki te rautau 21 ko Tūrangawaewae Marae tonu te pokapū o Te Kīngitanga.
Ngā Take Ahuwhenua me ngā Nōhanga ā-iwi
Ao noa, pō noa, ko Te Puea tērā mō Te Kīngitanga. Hihiko ai te ngākau ki te whakatika tūāpapa ōhanga mōna, he tino kaingākaunui ia ki ngā kaupapahere a Āpiranga Ngata ki te whakawhanake i te whenua Māori, mā te pūtea taurewa a te kāwanatanga. I mua he iwi whakaioio, he iwi pukutohe ngā kaiwhai o Te Kīngitanga; ināianei he whakatauira mō tēnei kaupapa kāwanatanga. Ko Te Puea anō tētehi o ngā tino kaiārahi o te wāhi whakataunga i ngā whakapae raupatu o Waikato i te tau 1946. I tīmata i reira te whakatūnga o Te Poari Māori o Tainui.
