Puna MataurangaThe Kotahitanga movement was an autonomous Māori Parliament convened annually from 1892 until 1902. Though not recognised by the New Zealand government the Māori Parliament was an influential body while it lasted.
The 'Whare o Raro' or lower house of the Kotahitanga Parliament formed from the 1893 sitting at Waipatu, Hawke's Bay. The parliament had met from 1892 to 1902 in locations around the North Island. It had an informal meeting at Waitangi in 1892, and then met with elected members at Waipatu in 1892 and 1893.
From 1894 the Māori parliament sat at Pākirikiri near Gisborne and Rotorua, with further sittings in 1900 and 1901. The 1896 meeting was at Tokaanu, Taupō, then sat at Pāpāwai, Greytown for two years. The final sitting was at Waiōmatatini on the East Coast of the North Island.
Te Kotahitanga was distinct from Te Kauhanganui, the Māori parliament established by the Kingitanga movement in the late 1880s, because it called for the union of all Māori tribes, whereas Te Kauhanganui was convened by and for the hapū of the Waikato-Tainui region. In 1895 the two movements considered merging, but this ultimately failed.
By 1902 its role was largely superseded by the Māori Councils established by James Carroll and Hone Heke Ngapua through the Māori Councils Act 1900. As a result, Kotahitanga members unanimously voted for its dissolution at the 10th Parliament at Waiōmatatini in 1902.
