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| The waka carrying ALL Mokopuna / Descendants of Aotearoa |
| email: twonmka@yahoo.com |
Basis of Evidence presentation by WHARETATAO KING under WAI 1040 and WAI 1957. 1. I wish to emphasise here that my korero; recorded, taped or written; is not for re-production or on-sale by anyone, other than those personally approved by me in writing. 2. I am here today, just one of many, an ongoing living image and likeness of our rangatira tupuna; the guardians divinely entrusted with the wellness of all that constitutes our individualised and collective being within the greater environment. 3. Our tupuna, by traditional foresight and oral means deliberately archived in me, korero and information they wanted made known to you, their equally rangatira descendants; and those of you who for whatever reason have left your own indigenous homelands, to reside in ours. 4. Our tupuna wish is the same now, as it was in 1835, when they devised and announced to the world He Wakaputanga O Te Rangatiranga O Nu Tirani; a health-giving way forward as the basis for building a future for mokopuna and those newcomers who the tupuna had pledged to embrace and take care of while they were here for trade or residency under our laws. 5. I wish to make it clear I am merely the servant, the messenger for the tupuna korero, specifically prepared by them as the go-between. I do not claim to be any more than that. 6. I am aware too that there are other points of view. Rangatiratanga takes away no one’s rights, it merely affirms them, above, and independent of subsequent practices. 7. I also need to make it clear that I have not reached this point on my own. Whenever a new phase of work needed to be done, someone was brought to the table. Someone would be plucked out of their ordinary life to do their bit. The tupuna have assured and reassured me throughout my work, “Do not look for who will walk with you moko. They will be brought when the time is ready.” They have. I have only needed to be faithful to our tupuna love for their mokopuna. 8. The following korero on my life is not an attempt to elevate myself. It’s relevance is to illustrate our rangatira people’s knowledge of our place in an infinite universe; an integral part; one with it. Tikanga ensures all subsequent practices align with that awareness. 9. NB: Please be mindful, references to other cultures that have similarities of thinking in our view are evidence of the same truth. Our history and scientific knowledge captured in the digitised structure of our reo was known before and irrespective of contact with European culture. MY NAME 10. My Rangatira name is Wharetatao King. The word Rangatira holds a whole wananga of whakapapa, spiritual and scientific knowledge and forever remains the true description of us all. As such we are masters of our own destiny, regardless of time and space. (The English translation of rangatira as chief, “leader of slaves, ” is totally misleading and inappropriate.) 11. I am “Tino Rangatira” at this time by virtue of the fact that fellow rangatira have accorded me the privilege of re-presenting their korero that is; tupuna past, present-day mokopuna from Te Waka O Nga Mokopuna, and the future-focused Te Wakaminenga O Nga Hapu o Aotearoa for whom I am the Cultural Affairs Minister. 12. The name used by the New Zealand government instrument of Births Registration that constantly seeks to ascend my sovereignty ; is Agnes King. 13. My name, Wharetatao, declares my life’s pre-determined work. I am the house, repository, curator, archivist, treasury of ‘weapons’ to meet all challenges. It is also my beloved grandmother’s name. 14. My surname, King, deliberately archives in traditional style, the offences perpetrated by William King (renowned ship owner and trader) who duped and kidnapped tupuna Huru and Tuki taking them to Norfolk Island to rape them of their knowledge of rope-making. (Waiata: Te Ra te Po Pango records their shamed return one year later.) 15. On my maternal side I bear the name Wharerau, which declares curator responsibility for knowledge of regional hui. Wharerau is the name conferred on our great-grandfather Raniera Wharerau who like myself had an unusual birth then was entrusted with specific mahi. At 3 months, he was charged with the work of going out to every rau in adulthood, to help them establish the rau in businesses that would sustain their future. His prominence in the Te Kotahitanga movement is his expression of fulfilling this work. Pene Taui was also instrumental in this work. Together they circulated the country and came back with close on 22,000 signatures unifying the country in that purpose. Today, our whakapapa is actively ready to continue that work with the Tikanga-based, Wakaminenga registered pilot company, Te Kai a Tiki Limited. 16. I am Ma-Ori, a descendant of the sovereign-conscious, indigenous people of the land; Te Iwi Oriori. The “ori” component of the word Ma-ori was decided on as a record of our origins at a hui in Omanaia, 1794. The ‘ma’ portion records the tupuna awareness that with the many ships then coming to our lands, their mokopuna would eventually be of mixed-blood. "Ori" records our pre-mixed blood, our indigenous heritage. , 17. Among my many tupuna, are Nene, Patuone, Tawai; some of the signatories to He Wakaputanga O Te Rangatiratanga O Nu Tirani. 18. Te Reo is my first language. It is the experience and consciousness of who I am, my rhythmic vibrations of ahi ka, unbroken. Immersed in our own culture the linear and divisive, religious, scientific, materialistic and professed knowledge’s of the Western codes are secondary, even seen as inferior. (Haka: Kahore Te Ki gives evidence of that) WHAKAPAPA 19. My sovereign/rangatira choice is to give only a selected portion of my whakapapa. I choose to give it in traditional oral fashion through the tauparapara Pipiwharauroa. In reality, like all rangatira, I can whakapapa into all hapu around the motu; all being a mere strand in the fabric that is Life Itself. 20. The boundaries noted in this particular tauparapara extend from the Kaipara Harbour through to Cape Reinga; include above and below the ground waterways, continuing on to Easter Island. Ha-wai-i-ki registers the necessity to seek authority before entering waters unknown. 21. Through tupuna Kupe’s wife Kuramarotini I have bloodline links into Te Iwi Oriori of Te Tai Hau-a-Uru, and through Toi I have links into Te Iwi Oriori of Te Tai Rawhiti. I also link into Kai Tahu.. Papa-tu-a-nuku, the original name for the South Island meaning the earth mass that has never moved; later confirmed by NIWA in a documentary; remains my whaea from whom we all take sustenance, and to whom in return, we are bound to be kaitiaki. 22. Movement in my environment is restricted only by mindful return to Ha-wai-i-ki, my spiritual homeland; not unlike entering "the secret place of the most High” , there to pose the question; “just who’s breath/ha has energised this wai” I intend to traverse or use. This protocol shows humility and reverence of one’s place in the greater scheme. Only when my query is answered by whatever means, only then do I have rite of entry, safe passage and speed of travel in the undertaking. PURPOSE-BUILT TO EXPERIENCE AND SHARE THE TUPUNA KORERO 23. My birth was foretold in a shared vision by 6 tohunga from our whakapapa. My parents, Tuauru King and Amiria Aperehama Wharerau, were told they would have a child who would not be for them but would be for the people. They would know the child by the kakahu it wore. Ten years later, with the prophecy almost forgotten, I was born in 1950 with a kahu of an extra protective membrane. 24. I am aware many expected a male would be given the job designated to me. Our people in their highest understandings were not gender- limited as again is clearly shown in our reo structure. 25. Further confirmation that I was the child spoken of came when at 2, I stunned my Mum by asking her why she had hit the doctor in my birthing room at Rawene Hospital. She asked me how I knew because she had not revealed that to anyone and obviously I could not have known since I had been born not long before it happened. I assured her no one had told me. She believed me when I demonstrated the hands of the clock in the room at the time, with my own hands. I also repeated the karanga whakamomori my Mum ashamedly performed at the time as she sought forgiveness for the oversight of not noticing what the doctor had done to my kahu. He had cut a piece off the kahu for scientific analysis without my Mum’s consent. 26. Freaked by this extraordinary talent my parents rushed me off to be ‘de-possessed’. By this time my parents had been in the Jehovah’s Witness faith for 2 years. The two worlds, so different from each other would later see me ostracised as a young Mum by church decree from my own bloodline for most of my adult life. Whanautanga was broken. 27. My ability for vivid recall is the tool our tupuna needed to ensure I could stand here today and deliver their words of love, comfort and truth. 28. My experience with the tupuna has been ongoing and prophetic. Their words “Do not look for those who will walk with you moko. They will be brought.” Those who stand with me today span a skill base I could not have planned. Every step of the way I have been given exactly what was necessary to achieve the next phase. In fact when the time came for whatever was required, we had most times already finished the work long before we knew its purpose. 29. My experience is also the tool that gives me the courage to speak out in absolute faith that the tupuna here with me today will deliver their own korero. Not for me to figure out or worry about. 30. Following my memory recall display (2 years old), my parents immediately took me to my Uncle Penerika’s home. He telephoned ahead and a meeting of the fore-telling tohunga group was called. We all met at Waimamaku. I was prayed over. The tohunga advised my parents that I was indeed the child spoken of and the gifts they were expecting me to have, needed no development. I had been born with them. My parents were told to enjoy me until I was 3, for after that I would belong to the people and they, the tohunga, would come for me. 31. At 3 I was privileged to enter into a school of hidden knowledge. Unlike my siblings I did not have the standard, general education. Over the next 13 years I was taken for varying periods by 14 karani all intent on embedding in me knowledge that they considered imperative our people be given at the appropriate time so they would not be deceived by the pakeha and his unacceptable practices. Retrieval of the information and articulating it was set at a future time and the responsibility of delivery laid on me. The tupuna and I fully understood this to be the purpose of my life. 32. At 7 I was entrusted with the most valuable taonga of today: The Governor’s Letter to the Maori People. I will speak on that further on in my Brief. SOUTH ISLAND EXPERIENCE 33. At 13 my training continued in the South Island with our Kai Tahu whakapapa. There I was privileged to be taken to many ancient tapu sites some with Biblical significance. 34. I was privileged to learn what taonga from other lands were left with our people for safekeeping pre-Gondwanaland break away. 35. Te Ika a Maui arrived much later. 36. While in the South Island I visited the Canterbury Museum as part of a Kohanga Reo day trip and there saw evidence of our view of our whaea, Papatuanuku. The many times the tupuna drew her in the sand they always showed her on her feet. Stewart Island was her heru, the fiords her hair, the Marlborough Peninsulas her feet. Viewed this way as a woman, the waters flowing into the Marlborough Sounds and Cook Strait or Nga Wai o Raukawa relate to amniotic fluids expelling from the placenta/whenua. Papa-tu-a-nuku, understood to be our whaea, remains steadfast and alone, following the breaking away of the Gondwanaland land mass. 37. However, by the time He Wakaputanga was implemented the world was familiar with Cook’s maps and these were accepted by us as the common standard view. For purposes of expediency the korero in Article 1 “i raro mai o Hauraki” in He Wakaputanga, takes this view. 38. At age 16 my training ceased. I was told to go enjoy my life, make the most of it before I reached 50. The information was “put to sleep” to be revived when I reached my 50s’ when I must share it with the mokopuna. It was believed that at that future time the planet would be cloaked in an energy of change and the korero could be heard. 39. Those that schooled me had themselves been schooled in similar fashion by participants in the actual past events e.g. Karani Manga was schooled by Waka Nene among others. My tutors not only gave the korero, but their teaching style revived the entire experience for them and me. 40. In traditional experiential learning style I was schooled repeatedly in the intent, purpose and history of the use of the gifted English Flag, He Wakaputanga O Te Rangatiratang O Nu Tirani, the Reo and supporting waiata, haka, etc of those times, and the 1858 Letter of Request from Queen Victoria. (Korero on Te Tiriti O Waitangi 1840 was of minor importance being referred to by the karani as simply an immigration document.) 41. Much of my training relating to He Wakaputanga O Te Rangatiratanga O Nu Tirani was done in the Waipoua forest at 3.00am when the energy stream of the takiwa was least polluted by human concerns, the sound banks and energy of the ngahere most potent, and access to those behind the veil was easiest. Karani Manga (92), the exponent of He Wakaputanga consistently used this venue. 42. Karani always entered the bush with the A-TU-A acknowledgment first; a sharing of the breath, step in, again a sharing of the breath. She would get the vibes as to whether or not it was appropriate to enter and ONLY enter when given the right. (This was/is the expectation in all aspects of Maori culture.) 43. She was selective of the very spot where she would teach me, aware the ngahere provided a natural sound stage if used appropriately and sound was extremely important if I was to grasp the full impact and intent of the delivery. 44. The size and grouping of the trees, the thickness or laciness of foliage made a difference. 45. The direction of the korero; down at the earth to anchor and resound back, then up into the clear night to travel into the unknown realms and the future, into the forest to announce the responsibilities of guardianship are being handed down and all life-energies are welcome to be involved were all considerations. 46. Body movement as appropriate to the sound required was essential. Speed, tone, level, timbre, volume, silence as appropriate; were all engaged. Like the land, air, energies, environment; every aspect of my own land/body was engaged and vibrating. My cellular memory was heightened, honed and deliberately engaged. Age and time were no barriers for either of us. 47. At 92 Karani Manga spent the time necessary, endured the night air, stood strong, with full voice, triggered her past experiences, re-lived then implanted them in me, just as it had been done with her in her childhood by the collective karani of her time. . rangatira2 See p2 |