Waikato was rich in resources, strategically located and surrounded by powerful tribes. Te Moananui of Hawke's Bay, however, argued that as there were many chiefs, the title of king should be used – the position had to be unique and the title needed to set the leader apart from others. Critics complained that there was nothing original about the Kīngitanga and that it was simply copying the British monarchy. Its symbols, such as the king’s flags, the pātaka (carved storehouses) and rūnanga (tribal council) houses, the mountains and boundaries, were imbued with tapu (sacredness) and the mana (authority) of the king.Ī number of titles were considered for this new position, including ‘Father of the Tribes’, Ariki Taungaroa (chief of chiefs), Toihau (supreme head) and Rangatira (chief). Māori also saw the Kīngitanga as a spiritual force carried from marae to marae. He called on his people to ‘hold fast to love, to the law, and to faith in God’. In his speech of acceptance Pōtatau stressed the spirit of unity symbolised by the kingship, likening his position to the ‘eye of the needle through which the white, black and red threads must pass’. The Māori kingdom was to have its own ‘Crown lands’.
Many mountains, the pou (boundaries) of the Rohe Pōtae (Kīngitanga territory), were named as the guardians of the territory under his dominion. Pōtatau's subjects hoped to keep their communities together by removing the temptation to make ready money through selling land.
He was crowned and anointed at Ngāruawāhia in June 1858.Īt his installation, many North Island chiefs laid their lands at Pōtatau’s feet. In April 1857, at Rangiriri, Pōtatau agreed to become king.
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