Orlando Norie, 1832-1901 :Fourteenth Foot attacking Waikato Pa, 1863

Orlando Norie, 1832-1901 :Fourteenth Foot attacking Waikato Pa, 1863Alexander Turnbull Library A-113-025

Presentation #2

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The Taranaki Wars are regarded as one of the main chapters of the New Zealand Wars (sometimes called the Land Wars), which lasted over 40 years.

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The first fighting occurred in Waitara, over the Pekapeka block of land on 17 March 1860.

Governor Gore Browne ordered his troops to fire on Te Kohia Pā which Wiremu Kīngi te Rangitaake

had built on the southern entrance to Waitara.

Hapurona led Kīngi’s warriors. They were defending their land.

The fighting lasted only a day and there were few casualties. But a lot of anger resulted.

The First Taranaki War: 1860-61

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Te Teira Manuka, Chief of Puke-Kowhatu of Te Ātiawa

(date unknown)Unknown photographer

Reproduction of carte-de-visiteCollection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth

(PHO2008-1759)

Governor Gore Browne

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitaake

(circa 1846-1847), unknown photographer, copy

photograph. Collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth

(PHO2002-442)


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Plan of the Pekapeka Block, Waitara — (Inset, Te Kohia pā, called the “L” pā from its shape.)

From The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume I (1845–64), James Cowan, 1955. The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre.


6The native pah at Waitera [sic] from the bar. March 9th 1861, by Henry James Warre (1819-98). Image: Alexander Turnbull Library A-236-020


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At Te Kohia, Gore Browne’s troops stormed the pā on the morning of the 18 March, only to discover the pā had been abandoned.

This was a strategy the Māori would repeat again and again.

Sarten et al, 1860 by Murray Moorhead, c.1980s. This is a modern interpretation of the attack of Te Kohia Pā, Waitara in 1860 by the Taranaki Mounted Volunteers. Ink & watercolour on paper.

Collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth (A97.014)

There was retaliation and fighting from this time on. Both Māori and Pākehā farms were ransacked and burned.


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After Waitara there were several more battles, and the Government troops lost many of them. Fighting continued through until 19 March 1861 when a truce was made at a place known as Te Arei (The Barrier).

Battle of Waireka

Gold’s expedition to Warea

Puketakauere

Huirangi

Ōrongomaihāngi

Waikato defeated at Māhoetahi

Matarikoriko (the first pā in the line of defense for Te Arei. It

was abandoned by Māori on December 31)

Māori attack No. 3 redoubt

Ceasefire at Te Arei

March 28

April 24-30

June 29

September 9-12

October 12

November 6

December 30

January 23

March 19


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Taihoa! Stop! It’s time to digest some of this

information.

Turn to your worksheet and work through the

tasks next to Taiaha #1.

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From The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Māori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume I (1845–64), p 176, by James Cowan, 1955

Images from the Wars

Image: The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre

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Whilst all this was going on, Māori built pā to protect their land and people; and the Government troops built stockades, like this one at Bell Block.

From : The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Māori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume I (1845–64), by James Cowan, 1955.



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In August 1860, many settlers fled New Plymouth as refugees, to Nelson

A view from the sea, showing some detail of buildings near the water's edge, with Mt Taranaki in the background. 'Friendly natives' stockade’ and ‘Carrington Road Blockhouse’ are inscribed below the drawing on the left. From, New Plymouth during the war. By Georgina Burne Hetley (1832?-1898). Image: Alexander

Turnbull Library A-090-006


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From Taranaki Punch, a local satirical magazine, came cartoons from the settler’s perspective.

The inscription reads: Maori (loq) – Please when will it be convenient to begin burning the houses in the town, for we have nearly done the job outside.

Taranaki Punch, Vol 1, No. 10, 27 February 1861, p5 Editor Garland William WoonCollection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth (ARC2002-538)


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‘The War-Dance’ — This depicts the tutu-waewae, or leaping-parade of a Māori war-party, preliminary to marching against the enemy. In the Taranaki Wars of the 1860s, the battle songs shouted by the leader and responded to in chorus by his men frequently invoked the sacred guardian mountain Taranaki (Mt. Egmont), seen in the background of this picture. From a painting by A. H. Messenger – from Hero Stories of New Zealand, By James Cowan, 1935.



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All the while, the troops kept coming…

[Edwin Harris] ca 1810-1895: New Plymouth, 3 August 1860. Troops of the 40th Regiment being ferried ashore by lighters from H. M. S. Victoria, early evening, with H. M. S. Airedale, Paddle steamer Tasmanian Maid, brigantine George Henderson and a schooner. Image courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library. C-030-013

16 Poverty Square, New Plymouth. By Charles Emilius Gold. Image courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library A-090-009

…and building stockadesThis painting shows conical military tents in the foreground and Marsland Hill Stockade on the

central hill in the middle distance, with a flag flying. To the right are St Mary's Church and several houses.

17 A Beaumont-Adams patent 5-shot revolver

A 12 pound Howitzer canon.A musket, above, and an Enfield below.

Methods and equipment for fighting

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In the various battles, it was not just musket fire, but also hand-to-hand combat.

Traditional Māori weapons including mere pounamu, patu ōnewa and toki poutangata.Image: Auckland War Memorial Museum Library GN672.w36p

Methods and equipment for fighting

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In early June, 1860, Te Ātiawa and their allies Ngāti Maniapoto began building a pā at Puketakauere (℗), and another adjacent pā, Ōnukukaitara.

Image: Google maps.

Case study: What happened at Puketakauere

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On 23 June when a Government party of soldiers approached the Māori pā they were fired on. Colonel Gold immediately authorised an attack. He had Major Thomas Nelson under him, who commanded 350 troops. There were 200 Māori in Puketakauere pā, under Hapurona, Kīngi’s commander.


Copy of map showing British and Māori troop movements in the Battle of Puketakauere, 27 June 1860. From Historic Places Trust, March 1984, Nigel Prickett.

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At 7am on 27 June, 1860, the two 24-pound howitzers of At 7am on 27 June, 1860, the two 24-pound howitzers of Major Nelson’s troops opened fire. The ensuing attack Major Nelson’s troops opened fire. The ensuing attack

was described by his survivors as “hotter than anything in was described by his survivors as “hotter than anything in the great Indian Battles or in the attack on the Redan in the great Indian Battles or in the attack on the Redan in

the Crimea.”the Crimea.”

The Māori had been waiting and ambushed the The Māori had been waiting and ambushed the troops. Many troops got stuck in the swamp, or troops. Many troops got stuck in the swamp, or struggled up the hills. They were split, trying to struggled up the hills. They were split, trying to

fight two pā, whilst the Māori were only fighting fight two pā, whilst the Māori were only fighting one.one.

Hapurona had cleverly drawn the troops into Hapurona had cleverly drawn the troops into fighting a battle on his terms, and he used fighting a battle on his terms, and he used

both concealment and deception to his both concealment and deception to his advantage.advantage.

In the end it was the most disastrous loss for the government troops in the First Taranaki War.


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Aerial view of the pā sites Ōnukukaitara (right) and Puketakauere (left).Photographer Nigel Prickett, Collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, PHO2004-306.

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There were several more battles after June, and Governor Gore Browne asked for more troops to be sent to Taranaki. By July there

were over 2000 troops at his command.

In December 1860, Major-General Pratt decided to launch a major offensive against

the defensive line of Māori pā called Te Arei, on the west side of the Waitara River.

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Pratt advanced with heavy artillery and about 900 men from Waitara towards Te Arei building the first of eight redoubts on the site of Kairau pā on 30 December 1860.

By 18 January 1861, Pratt had advanced closer, and was building No. 3 Redoubt. This redoubt was attacked by a force of about 140 warriors of Ngāti Haua, Ngāti

Manipoto, Waikato and Te Ātiawa, led by Rewi Manipoto, Epiha Tokohihi and Hapurona.

Image: From The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume I (1845–64), By James Cowan, 1955.


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The Seat of War, North Taranaki — Showing redoubts and line of sap to Te Arei, on the Waitara, from The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume I (1845–64), by James Cowan, 1955


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1861

January 22:Pratt’s sap begun from No. 3 Redoubt

Some 1487m of sap was constructed during the advance on Te Arei.

March 19:Truce at Te Arei

Eventually a truce was negotiated by Kingite chief Wiremu Tamehana.The terms of the ceasefire, formalised on 3 April 1861, included a promise by the

Governor to investigate the Waitara purchase.

27Image: Hamish Tallon

Image: Puke Ariki

The sap at Te Arei today

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Taihoa! Stop! It’s time to digest some of this

information.


tasks next to Taiaha #2.

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The cease-fire was maintained for over two years, and there is no record that Māori in Taranaki returned to arms once their consent to the peace terms had been given.

Following the peace agreement, Pekapeka remained occupied by the military, (and some other Waitara Māori land) pending the inquiry. Meanwhile, the hapū of coastal Taranaki iwi, assisted by Ngāti Ruanui from the south, held on to Ōmata and Tataraimaka. Although not party to the peace terms, they abided the arrangement and New Plymouth was not attacked.

How do you think the settlers felt at this time?

What about the local Māori?

The Second Taranaki War: 1863-66

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Wiremu Kīngi te Rangitaake was grief-stricken at the loss of Waitara – after all, he had promised his dying father that he would never give it up.

He left Taranaki and some of his followers spent the next 14 years living inland with his Ngāti Raukawa relatives.

In later years he joined the movement at Parihaka with Te Whiti o Rongomai, but he had lost all faith in the Pākehā.

Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitaake (circa 1846-1847), unknown photographer, copy photograph. Collection of Puke Ariki, New

Plymouth (PHO2002-442)


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Despite the truce, some changes took place:

New Zealand’s parliament at the time, the General Assembly, passed the Native Lands Act 1862.

Governor George Grey replaced Gore Browne.


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In 1863 war broke out again in Taranaki: Before the promised inquiry into the Pekapeka Block/Waitara was made. On 12 March 1863, British troops occupied Ōmata. On 4 April they moved on to Tataraimaka, having to cross Māori land to do so.

Māori debated the Government’s breach of the truce and the trespass of troops on the Māori land between. Māori had become very mindful of the need to protect and maintain boundaries.

Tataraimaka


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On 4 May, a month after the military had reoccupied Tataraimaka, Māori ambushed a military patrol group on Māori land at Ōākura, between Ōmata and Tataraimaka, and nine British soldiers were killed.

Tataraimaka

Ōmata


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The Ministers agreed to renounce the Waitara purchase.

BUT…

They attached strings to this – they said that they would only give the land back if the warriors who had been involved in the

ambush at Ōākura, were brought to account.

If those men didn’t come forward, all land in Waitara would be taken from the Māori.


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The British built numerous redoubts and laid waste to many Māori villages and cultivations.

Bushrangers Redoubt and Camp at Wai-iti, Pukearuhe District (1871)Francis Hamar Arden. Watercolour & pencil on paper

Collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth (A58.490)


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General Chute assumed command in 1865.

His ‘mopping up’ round the mountain campaign resulted in the last shots of the Second Taranaki War at Waikoukou in 1866 near where the future village of Parihaka would be sited.

Major-General Sir Trevor Chute. c 1865

Unknown Photographer, Alexander Turnbull Library PA1-q-196-38-200


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Very systematically now, the British government troops pushed into new regions seizing more and more land and killing Māori and destroying kāinga whether they resisted or not.

In September 1866 the field headquarters of the South Taranaki force was established at a redoubt built at Waihi (at Normanby) and further raids were launched from it in September and October against pā and kāinga in the interior.

Waihi Redoubt (circa early 1870s-1885)Unknown photographer. Albumen print (two part panorama)

Collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth (PHO2008-1854 & PHO2008-1855)


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Photograph of some of the Armed Constabulary in bush clothing (wearing "shawl-kilts") with group of Māori men and women. The Māori are seated on the ground along with some of the Armed Constabulary. The Armed Constabulary are holding guns and many of them are wearing hats. Collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth A64.083


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Māori were now weakened and intimidated. This period of fighting, that had been far more demoralising, relentless, and desperate than the First Taranaki War, came to an end in January 1868.

The next decade brought different leaders and different tactics, the battles were not over yet.

Taihoa! Stop! This is the end of the

presentation.


tasks next to Taiaha #3.Taiaha #4 is for extension

work


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References

1. The First Taranaki War Wikipedia entry2. Land Wars Star over Pekapeka Block, by Virginia Winder, Puke Ariki

Treasure Link3. The Taranaki Report: Kaupapa Tuatahi, accessed from

www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz4. An Ancient Stonghold, by Hugh Barr, Historic Places, September 19935. Walking the Taranaki Wars, Pratt’s Sap at Te Arei, by Chris Pugsley, New

Zealand Defence Quarterly, August 19966. Chapter 12: Te Muru me te Raupatu: the Aftermath, in Ancestral

Landscapes of Taranaki in Taranaki Whenua: Life Blood Legacy. by Peter Adds, New Plymouth, Puke Ariki Museum, 2008.

7. Taranaki War 1860-2010: Te Ahi Kā Roa, Te Ahi Kātoro, exhibition notes, Puke Ariki Museum, New Plymouth.

Documents

Orlando Norie, 1832-1901 :Fourteenth Foot attacking Waikato Pa, 1863