Hinana

These carved panels (amo) were part of a famous pataka called Hinana, which stood at the south end of Lake Taupo. A Pātaka is a traditional Māori storehouse that was used to keep preserved food such as fish, birds, and seed safe from kiore or Pacific rats.

Hinana was a large carved Ngāti Tūwharetoa pātaka (storehouse), built at Waihī on the shores of Lake Taupō in 1855, is called Hīnana ki Uta (search the land and sea). It was one of several decorated pātaka built during the 1850s as a sign of support for the Kīngitanga. This pātaka became known as The Pillars of the Kingdom. Hīnana ki Uta was also the name of a great multi-tribal meeting held nearby, at Pūkawa, in 1856 which proposed that Pōtatau Te Wherowhero become the first Māori king. Te Heuheu himself had earlier declined the title.