A 15-part radio adaptation of the 1959 book "King Potatau" by Pei Te Hurunui Jones. It broadcast on Wednesday evening's from 3 July 2013 to 9 October 2013. Note the first twelve episodes are read by Selwyn Muru and the last three are read by Henare te Ua.
The following publicity material was supplied by the broadcaster:
Tonight [just after the 9pm news] we are starting readings from “An Account of the Life of Potatau Te Wherowhero the First Māori King” adapted in 15 parts from the 1959 book King Potatau by Pei Te Hurinui Jones.
Told by Selwyn Muru, “An Account of the Life of Potatau Te Wherowhero the First Māori King” was adapted and Produced by Rangi Chadwick.
Pei Te Hurinui Jones (9-Sep 1898-7 May 1976) was renowned as a Māori scholar and writer. He was also a Ngati Maniapoto leader, interpreter, land officer, translator, genealogist and a JP.
His work includes the editing and translating of three volumes of Māori chants and song-poetry into English; translating three Shakespeare plays into Māori; and, writing several books on Tainui and its people. He was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961 and received a Waikato University honorary doctorate in 1968.
Selwyn Muru is an artist in many fields –an accomplished broadcaster, film maker, writer and poet, singer, actor and writer, composer, painter and sculptor.
The following summaries were sourced from the broadcasters website:
Part 1: Hingakaka (18'47")
An epic battle, the greatest in pre-European Aotearoa - aggrieved over what he saw as the unfair division of a fish harvest, Pikau-te-rangi of Ngati Toa-rangatira raised an army of 10,000 men. He led them against Te Rauangaanga, Te Wherowhero's father who rallied 3,000 men from Waikato and Ngati Maniapoto to defend their home territories against invasion.
Broadcast on 03 Jul 2013.
Part 2. Hingakaka and the Whare Wananga (18'43")
Te Rauangaanga used strategy and takes advantage of the terrain to defeat an army more than three times the size of his own. Fought circa 1790, the battle of Hingakaka was the greatest battles fought in pre-European Aotearoa. Te Wherowhero was a child at the time. Soon he began his tuition at the Papa o Rotu whare wananga, one of the sacred schools of learning founded by the high priests of the Tainui and Arawa canoes.
Broadcast on 10 Jul 2013.
Part 3. The Lost Stones of Ahurei (16'14")
The papa tatau, sacred stone talismans brought to Aotearoa from Hawaiki in the Tainui canoe, disappeared after the battle of Hingakaka. In the early 1800's several Tainui war expeditions were sent out in search of them. A murder associated with the search for the stones led, in time, to a generalised conflict between the Waikato tribes and Ngati Toa.
Broadcast on 17 Jul 2013.
Part 4. Enter Te Rauparaha (16'36")
Skirmishes between Ngati Toa and the Waikato tribes increase and several truces are called. Te Wherowhero and the great Ngati Toa chief, Te Rauparaha are blooded as leaders in the series of reprisals and counter-reprisals. Te Rauparaha's trespass on Ngati Maniapoto fishing grounds at Kawhia leads to their alliance with the Waikato tribes against Ngati Toa. Te Rauparaha sets off visiting his relations in search of allies. His famous haka, 'Ka Mate, Ka Mate' is composed on the shores of Lake Rotoaira.
Broadcast on 24 Jul 2013.
Part 5: Prelude to War (18'26")
Te Rauparaha was by now well known as one of the most audacious fighting chiefs among the Tainui peoples. Twice, Ngati Toa had been forced to settle for peace with Te Rauparaha at their stronghold of Totara Pa. However the peace ended when Te Rauparaha attacked Ngati Pou of Waikato and the Raukawa-Maniapoto chief Tukorehu in his pa at Mangatoatoa. In response to these provocations, Te Wherowhero made plans to clear Ngati Toa out of Kawhia Harbour.
Broadcast on 31 Jul 2013.
Part 6: Ngati Toa's Defence (18'09")
Catching wind of Te Wherowhero's invasion plans, Te Rauparaha strengthens the earthworks of all his major pa. In summer of the year 1820 the Waikato-Maniapoto tribes invaded Kawhia Harbour in a concerted effort to drive the Ngati Toa out. Armies a thousand strong drive in from the north and south, while the main body of 2,000 men led by Te Wherowhero himself approached the harbour from inland, to strike in the heart of the lands of the Ngati Toa.
Broadcast on 07 Aug 2013.
Part 7: Attack on Kawhia (20'52")
Cut off from his allies and encircled by his enemies, Te Rauparaha was forced to evacuate his outer defences around Kawhia harbour and fall back into his inner defensive citadel, at Taharoa lake. At this critical stage in his entire body broke out in boils: he had to hand command of Ngati Toa and their allies to his nephew, Te Rangihaeata. After lively discussion within his council of war, it's decided to fight it out on the field of Te Kakara, the flat land at the western end of Taharoa Lake.
Broadcast on 14 Aug 2013.
Part 8: Te Karaka (22'09")
As battle commenced on the field of Te Kakara, Te Puoho's gun thinned the Waikato ranks. Raparapa, of Ngati Tama, pushed Te Puoho aside and, in hand-to-hand combat, claimed for himself the matangohi, the first person killed in battle. This conveyed his contempt for the gun, a plebian weapon which did not require hand-to-hand skills and courage. Soon after, the fall of Raparapa signalled the grand assault by Te Wherowhero's army.
Broadcast on 21 Aug 2013.
Part 9: The Migration South (18'43")
Te Rauparaha's people, the Ngati Toa and their allies begin their migration south, abandoning their ancestral lands of Kawhia. Te Rangituatea, a kinsman of Te Rauparaha's, aids the flight by revealing to him, the plans of his enemies. Te Rauparaha and his party escape. They light campfires which disguise the strength of his meagre forces and discourage pursuit.
Broadcast on 28 Aug 2013.
Part 10: An Epic Duel (20'55")
Tukorehu's expedition south is trapped in Pukerangiora pa. As word spreads that Waikato will invade to lift the siege of Tukorehu's forces, all the famous warriors of Taranaki are drawn to prepare for battle. An ambush is laid and Waikato flees in disarray. Te Wherowhero follows at the rear. When his people realise he is in the rearguard, they return to find him fighting the cream of Taranaki's warriors one by one in single combat until fully fifty men lay prone and no more venture forth.
Broadcast on 04 Sep 2013.
Part 11: Hongi Hika and Matakitaki (19'27")
Men, women and children from the Waikato tribes flee up the river as Hongi Hika leads Ngapuhi on the warpath against them. Armed with te pu, the gun, the new weapon of the European, the Ngapuhi advance forces a retreat into the Waikato stronghold of Matakitaki pa. Despite the capture of 90 guns, panic amongst the people leads to a stampede and the deaths of hundreds. Ngapuhi become masters of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers.
Broadcast on 11 Sep 2013.
Part 12: The Ngapuhi Account (21'25")
Ngapuhi, under Hongi Hika and Te Huiputea, occupy Waikato and Ngati Maniapoto territories. A stealthy morning-star attack ends the occupation. For the next few years, Te Wherowhero resides with his Maniapoto kin, and he gives their chiefs the privilege of naming his first-born son. They name him 'Tukaroto'. He later became better known as Tawhiao, the second Maori King. More warfare with Ngapuhi followed during the 1920s until peace is restored after Waikato exact their revenge with the heaviest defeat Ngapuhi ever suffered.
Broadcast on 18 Sep 2013.
Part 13: Peace (16'41")
In the 1820s Te Wherowhero was almost continuously on the warpath, settling old tribal scores north and south. In the 1830's these campaigns wound down and Te Wherowhero turned his skills to peace, particularly as civil war amongst the Tainui tribes threatened sporadically. His military character ensured respect for him for he was honoured throughout the land. He also released all his captives. In 1840 he refused to sign the Treaty of Waitangi. When the missionaries came, he exhorted his people to embrace Christianity, but he never converted himself.
Broadcast on 25 Sep 2013.
Part 14: The Governors (15'40")
The early Governors - Hobson, Fitzroy and Grey - all honoured and respected Te Wherowhero. He was especially close to Sir George Grey and, with his son Tukaroto, was a frequent guest on Kawau Island. When Hone Heke threatened the young city of Auckland, Te Wherowhero warned him off. When chiefs to the east and the south wanted to drive Pakeha from the land, he maintained that the Governor would not allow wrong to be done to the Maori people. A prediction of 'dire calamities' eventually came true but Te Wherowhero did not live to see the land wars of the 1860s.
Broadcast on 02 Oct 2013.
Part 15: The Treasury and the King (17'34")
When Te Wherowhero's son Matutaera, robbed his father's treasury, he was taught the need to obey his parents and observe his duty to the people, in all circumstances. Te Wherowhero invites the aged war chief Te Rauparaha to be his guest, and the two leaders take stock of each other. In his mid-80s, Te Wherowhero is proclaimed King Potatau, the first in the line of the Maori Kings. He was raised up as king on 2nd May 1859 at Ngaruawahia. Fourteen months later, on 25th June 1860, he passed away.
Broadcast on 09 Oct 2013.