153-586: Raupatu is a Māori language word meaning "confiscation". It may refer to: Land confiscated by the New Zealand Government during the New Zealand Wars The Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995 "Raupatu" (song) , 2017 single by Alien Weaponry Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
306-418: A 12-pounder Armstrong in the bows—as well as boats, barges and canoes. But Māori defences had also grown: the so-called Meremere Line—a 22 km-long line of fortifications that spread from Pukekawa to Meremere and Paparata—had been built, commanding about 2000 square kilometres of bush and manned by a force of up to 1500. The Meremere Line allowed bands of between 20 and 200 Māori warriors to freely cross
459-628: A Crimean War veteran who had replaced Major-General Thomas Pratt as commander-in-chief of the British troops, began the invasion with fewer than 4000 effective troops in Auckland at his disposal. But the continuous arrival of regiments from overseas rapidly swelled the force. (Total troop numbers reached 10,000 in January 1864 before peaking at about 14,000 in March 1864—9000 imperial troops, more than 4000 colonial and
612-429: A Pukekohe East church on 14 September, losing about 40 men, and the same day a 20-man Ngāti Pou force attacked a homestead at Paerata, midway between Pukekohe and Drury, but were driven off by neighbours. The turning point for Cameron came in late October when hundreds of Waikato militia replaced regulars at the outposts, another 500 imperial troops arrived from Australia—now giving him a striking force of almost 2000 and
765-456: A Māori force of about 500 men, mostly armed with double-barreled shotguns and muskets . About 3pm Cameron launched a two-hour bombardment from artillery and gunboats. Without waiting for Leslie's division, which was delayed by adverse conditions on the river, he began his frontal attack, storming the Māori positions across a 600m gap under heavy fire and immediately suffering casualties. Members of
918-417: A battle during their intensive campaign, they mysteriously abandoned a strong position at Tauranga-ika Pā and Tītokowaru's army immediately began to disperse. Kimble Bent , who lived as a slave with Tītokowaru's hapū after deserting from the 57th Regiment, told Cowan 50 years later the chief had lost his mana tapu , or sacred power, after committing adultery with the wife of another chief. Once Tītokowaru
1071-530: A battle force of more than 1400 men, launched an attack on Rangiriri, further up the Waikato River. The battle cost both sides more than any other engagement of the land wars and also resulted in the capture of 180 Māori combatants, which impacted on their subsequent ability to oppose the far bigger British force. The Rangiriri line, engineered by Te Wharepu, a leading Waikato chief, was a one kilometre-long system of deep trenches and high parapets that ran between
1224-607: A bid to break down supposed Māori support for Volkner's killers and confiscated additional land in Hawke's Bay a year later after a rout of a Māori party it deemed a threat to the settlement of Napier. War flared again in Taranaki in June 1868 as Riwha Tītokowaru , chief of Ngāruahine , responded to the continued surveying and settlement of confiscated land with well-planned and effective attacks on settlers and government troops in an effort to block
1377-478: A coastal road at nearby Ōakura , killing all but one of the 10 soldiers. The ambush, ordered by Rewi, may have been planned as an assassination attempt on Grey, who regularly rode the track between New Plymouth and the Tataraimaka military post. Imperial troops were moved back to Taranaki as hostilities resumed and on 4 June the new British commander, Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron , led 870 troops to attack
1530-441: A dozen houses were burned down. The British claimed they killed 12 Māori, including two chiefs, and took 30 prisoners. Their own losses totaled five, including several officers. Some unofficial estimates suggest there were more than 100 Māori deaths. As the village was largely occupied by women, children and older men, the deaths have been regarded as murder, rather than an act of war. When Cameron's forces returned to Te Awamutu,
1683-424: A few hundred kūpapa , or pro-British Māori. ) Cameron's initial invasion force set up camp on the site of an old pā on a hill above the stream. Reinforcements continued to arrive and within days he had 500 troops. On the morning of 17 July Cameron led 553 men on a raid on a new and unfinished entrenchment at Koheroa, near Mercer. Cameron ran ahead of his force after they took early fire from Māori outposts and
SECTION 10
#17328516038201836-487: A few hundred kūpapa (Māori that fought for the British) for a combined force of about 14,000. In November 1864 Premier Frederick Weld introduced a policy of "self-reliance" for New Zealand, which included the gradual but complete withdrawal of Imperial troops, who would be replaced by a colonial force of 1,500. The move came at a time of rising conflict between Grey, who sought more extensive military operations to "pacify"
1989-617: A few hundred and about 1,500. In response to a call from Governor Browne for reinforcements, the Victorian Government sent its first and only warship, HMVS Victoria , to supply men and perform shore bombardments and coastal patrols, while maintaining supply routes between ports. Sailors from the crew served ashore in combat, and in August 1860, the Victoria rescued 100 civilians from the besieged town of New Plymouth . The ship's service in
2142-431: A forward camp. A long series of bush raids on his supply lines forced Cameron to build an extensive network of forts and redoubts through the area. In a continual buildup of force, Cameron eventually had 14,000 British and colonial soldiers at his disposal, including 2,500 volunteers from Australia who were integrated into the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Waikato militia regiments; as well as steamers and armoured vessels for use on
2295-413: A four-year guerrilla war, involving more than 30 expeditions by colonial and Māori troops against Te Kooti's dwindling number of warriors. Although initially fighting defensively against pursuing government forces, Te Kooti went on the offensive from November 1868, starting with the so-called Poverty Bay massacre, a well-organised lightning strike against selected European settlers and Māori opponents in
2448-403: A head. In March Kingites obstructed the construction of a police station at Te Kohekohe, near Meremere , and 80 armed warriors raided the 80 hectare property at Te Awamutu occupied by magistrate and Commissioner John Gorst , seizing the printing press on which he published a newspaper and taking it to Kihikihi. The raiders, led by Rewi Maniapoto and Wiremu Kīngi , sent a message to Gorst—who
2601-575: A low profile and was deceptively strong. Cameron arrived at Rangiriri with about 850 men, chiefly of the 65th , 14th and 12th regiments, to make the frontal assault. A second division of 320 men of the 40th Regiment under Lieut-Colonel Arthur Leslie with additional naval backup, were transported by barge further south with the aim of gaining possession of a ridge 500 metres behind the main entrenchment and cutting off any escape. The assault force, armed with three Armstrong guns , revolvers, Enfield rifles with fixed bayonets and hand grenades , faced
2754-648: A march on the village of Pokeno, but managed to pursue their attackers and inflict some casualties. In mid-August the British established an alternative supply line to the Great South Road, using a combination of steamers from Onehunga to the Waikato Heads and canoes paddled up the Waikato by friendly Māori to Queen's Redoubt at Pokeno. But on 7 September a Ngāti Maniapoto war party launched an attack on that supply line, killing resident magistrate James Armitage —who
2907-505: A party of about 50 Māori on the Tataraimaka block, killing 24. Concerned by the renewed aggression, some Kingites began resurrecting their plan to raid Auckland and its frontier settlements. The colonial ministry remained unconvinced Auckland or Wellington were in any danger and had refused to call out the Auckland militia following the Ōakura ambush, and missionaries and even Gorst dismissed the likelihood of an attack. But in correspondence to London Grey cited that incident as further proof of
3060-465: A priest and prophet of the extremist Hauhau movement of the Pai Mārire religion, reviving ancient rites of cannibalism and propitiation of Māori gods with the human heart torn from the first slain in a battle. Although Tītokowaru's forces were numerically small and initially outnumbered in battle twelve to one by government troops, the ferocity of their attacks provoked fear among settlers and prompted
3213-462: A proclamation directed to the "Chiefs of Waikato", which read: Europeans living quietly on their own lands in Waikato have been driven away; their property has been plundered; their wives and children have been taken from them. By the instigation of some of you, officers and soldiers were murdered at Taranaki. Others of you have since expressed approval of these murders ... You are now assembling in armed bands; you are constantly threatening to come down
SECTION 20
#17328516038203366-414: A series of about 20 stockades and redoubts all over the district, designed to protect the supply line and impede the ability of Māori to attack further north. Each stockade needed its own garrison—from 25 to 55 men—and supply line, eventually accounting for almost 6000 of his men, further draining him of frontline manpower. But Māori raids continued: almost 200 Ngāti Maniapoto surrounded a militia stockade at
3519-566: A series of damaging raids in which crops and villages were destroyed, after other Māori iwi were lured by the promise of a £5,000 reward for Te Kooti's capture. Te Kooti was finally granted sanctuary by the Māori king in 1872 and moved to the King Country , where he continued to develop rituals, texts and prayers of his Ringatū faith. He was formally pardoned by the government in February 1883 and died in 1893. A 2013 Waitangi Tribunal report said
3672-411: A settler cutting timber at Pukekiwiriki near Papakura and were pursued into the forest by the Auckland militia. Seven Māori were killed. When two more settlers were killed at isolated farms near Drury on 24 July, the government formed a special corps of bush fighters named the "Forest Rangers", who began a series of bush reconnaissance missions and pursuits of armed Māori bands. Cameron wrote: "The bush
3825-415: A shot was fired at Mair as he withdrew, grazing his shoulder, the British forces responded with a heavier hail of grenades, artillery and gunfire. The Ōrākau garrison repulsed two more attempts by the Waikato militia to rush the north-west outworks, but at 4:00 pm the chiefs, realising the end was near, decided to break out. Placing women and children in the middle of the group and their best warriors in front,
3978-409: A total of 8000 effectives—and a second river steamer, HMS Curacoa , was brought to the front. On 31 October a river flotilla including Avon , the gunboats Curacoa and Pioneer and armoured barges steamed past Meremere—drawing fire from rifle pits and batteries of ships guns, some of them firing pieces of iron chain and pound weights—and landed 600 men at Takapau, 15 km upriver, ready to attack
4131-437: Is now so infested with these natives that I have been obliged to establish strong posts along our line of communication, which absorbs so large a portion of the force that until I receive reinforcements it is impossible for me to advance further up the Waikato." By the end of August Cameron's forces had grown to 6000 effectives. He had the armoured 40-ton paddle-steamer Avon —20m long, drawing one metre of water and armed with
4284-573: Is unclear. He came with the invading forces, but also helped with Māori burials. The wife and two daughters of Kereopa Te Rau were killed in the attack, and his sister was killed in defence of the Hairini line a few days later. Colonel Marmaduke Nixon , who had led the Rangiaowhia cavalry charge, was mortally wounded. His remains are buried at the Nixon memorial in Ōtāhuhu , Auckland. There were no memorials to
4437-571: The Battle of Rangiriri (November 1863)—which cost both sides more men than any other engagement of the New Zealand Wars —and the three-day-long Battle of Ōrākau (March–April 1864), which became arguably the best-known engagement of the New Zealand Wars and which inspired two films called Rewi's Last Stand . The campaign ended with the retreat of the Kingitanga Māori into the rugged interior of
4590-550: The Kīngitanga (Māori King) movement and also conquest of farming and residential land for British settlers. Later campaigns were aimed at quashing the Pai Mārire religious and political movement, which was strongly opposed to the conquest of Māori land and eager to strengthen Māori identity. Māori religious movements that promoted pan-Māori identity played a major role in the Wars. At
4743-591: The New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side, and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. Though the wars were initially localised conflicts triggered by tensions over disputed land purchases (by European settlers from Māori), they escalated dramatically from 1860 as the government became convinced it was facing united Māori resistance to further land sales and a refusal to acknowledge Crown sovereignty. The colonial government summoned thousands of British troops to mount major campaigns to overpower
Raupatu - Misplaced Pages Continue
4896-509: The Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995 . (The Governor-General normally gives Royal Assent to legislation by signing on the monarch's behalf.) The First Taranaki War had ended in March 1861 as an uneasy truce between the government and Māori forces, with both sides recognising they had reached a stalemate. The lack of a clear victory by imperial forces led Governor Thomas Gore Browne to turn his attention to
5049-455: The pā , from where they judged the defences were "immensely strong". Cameron, whose men continued to be targeted daily by sniper fire and attacks on short reconnaissance missions, decided that rather than a frontal attack, the more prudent approach would be to outflank the Paterangi line. He gained the help of two Māori guides, Himi Manuao (James Edwards) and John Gage, who had previously lived in
5202-416: The "peril" still facing settlers; the last soldiers finally left in February 1870. About 15 of the 26 major North Island tribal groups sent contingents to join the Waikato campaign, although sometimes they represented a single hapū (clan) within the tribe. Continual presence on battlefields remained difficult for most, however, because of the constant need for tribal labour in their home community, so there
5355-408: The 12th and 14th regiments who tried to climb the earthworks near the centre of the line with the aid of ladders were shot down and within a short time 40 of the British were dead or wounded. Members of the 65th Regiment, however, were more successful in reaching the trenches at the river side of the fortification, bridging them with planks and penetrating the Māori line. They killed about 30 Māori, with
5508-578: The 150th anniversary of the battle in 2014, with a call made for a new memorial. Belich has described the Waikato campaign as one of the best-prepared and best organised ever undertaken by the British Army, proving that many lessons had been learned from the logistical fiasco of the Crimean War. He said the Commissariat Transport Corps (CTC), established in mid-1861, almost two years before
5661-455: The 1840s happened at a time when Māori were still the predominant power, but by the 1860s settler numbers and resources were much greater. From about 1862 British troops began arriving in much greater number, summoned by Governor George Grey for his Waikato invasion, and in March 1864 total troop numbers peaked at about 14,000 (9,000 Imperial troops, more than 4,000 colonial and a few hundred kūpapa ). The first armed conflict between Māori and
5814-449: The 1860–1861 conflict, in which Māori had taken set positions and challenged the army to an open contest. From 1863 the army, working with greater numbers of troops and heavy artillery, systematically took possession of Māori land by driving off the inhabitants, adopting a " scorched earth " strategy of laying waste to Māori villages and cultivations, with attacks on villages, whether warlike or otherwise. Historian Brian Dalton noted: "The aim
5967-596: The Auckland Militia and Volunteers reached a peak of about 1650 on active service in the early stages of the Waikato campaign; and the last force—the Taranaki Militia—was released from service in 1872. A special 65-man bush-scouring corps, the Forest Rangers, composed of local farmers who were familiar with the bush, had proven guerrilla techniques and were capable of "roughing it", was formed in August 1863;
6120-425: The British again at Te Ranga . In a decisive battle , the British forces, led by Brigadier George Carey , overcame Māori entrenchments, resulting in substantial casualties on both sides. The Tauranga campaign concluded with the surrender of Ngāi Te Rangi warriors, marking a turning point in the New Zealand Wars and shaping subsequent negotiations between Māori and the colonial government. Between 1863 and 1866 there
6273-459: The British demands of submitting to the Queen and surrendering all arms and lands and began building further defences south of Ngāruawāhia. Construction of a new and even more formidable defence line began 25 km south of Ngāruawāhia, soon after the fall of Rangiriri. The line included fortifications at Pikopiko and Rangiatea and was centred on Paterangi , its largest pā , and was designed to block
Raupatu - Misplaced Pages Continue
6426-627: The British strength to almost 1500. Shelling continued as the sap approached the pā , its progress slowed by accurate fire from the Kingites. That night, Tupotahi suggested they make a breakout under cover of dark. Rewi supported the plan, but the runanga decided they should stay and fight. With ammunition now running very short, the Kingites—so parched they could not swallow their remaining food—began firing peach stones, 5 cm-long sections of apple tree branches and pieces of metal. Another runanga
6579-413: The British that they had won the war, there were widely held views at the time they had suffered an unfavourable and humiliating result. Historians have also been divided on the result. Historian James Belich has claimed that Māori succeeded in thwarting the British bid to impose sovereignty over them, and had therefore been victorious. Belich also states that the Māori victory was a hollow one, leading to
6732-522: The CMS missionaries trying to persuade Heke to end the fighting. Despite the fact that Tāmati Wāka Nene and most of Ngāpuhi sided with the government, the small and ineptly led British force had been beaten at the Battle of Ōhaeawai . Grey, with the financial support and far more troops armed with 32-pounder cannons that had been denied to FitzRoy, attacked and occupied Kawiti 's fortress at Ruapekapeka , forcing Kawiti to retreat. Heke's confidence waned after he
6885-726: The Commander-in-Chief of the British troops in New Zealand, began the Waikato invasion in July with fewer than 4,000 effective troops in Auckland at his disposal, but the continuous arrival of regiments from overseas rapidly swelled the force. British infantry regiments stationed in New Zealand during the New Zealand Wars were: Invasion of the Waikato Titokowaru's War Wanganui Campaign , East Cape War , Titokowaru's War Wanganui Campaign , First Taranaki War , Invasion of
7038-709: The European settlers took place on 17 June 1843 in the Wairau Valley , in the north of the South Island . The clash was sparked when settlers led by a representative of the New Zealand Company—which held a false title deed to a block of land—attempted to clear Māori off the land ready for surveying. The party also attempted to arrest Ngāti Toa chiefs Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata . Fighting broke out and 22 Europeans were killed, as well as four to six Māori. Nine of
7191-667: The Europeans were slain after being captured. In early 1844, the new governor , Robert FitzRoy , investigated the incident and declared the settlers were at fault. The Wairau Affray—described as the Wairau Massacre in early texts—was the only armed conflict of the New Zealand Wars to take place in the South Island. The Flagstaff War took place in the far north of New Zealand, around the Bay of Islands , between March 1845 and January 1846, and
7344-624: The First Taranaki War marks the first time an Australian military unit committed to active service overseas, and is today recognised by the Royal Australian Navy as its earliest battle honour. After a series of battles and actions the war ended in a ceasefire, with neither side explicitly accepting the peace terms of the other. Total losses among the imperial, volunteer and militia troops are estimated to have been 238, while Māori casualties totalled about 200. Though there were claims by
7497-542: The Forest Rangers split into two separate companies in November, with the second led by Gustavus von Tempsky and both served in Waikato and Taranaki. Other rangers corps during the New Zealand wars included the Taranaki Bush Rangers, Patea Rangers, Opotiki Volunteer Rangers, Wanganui Bush Rangers and Wellington Rangers. From September 1863 the first contingents of what was planned as 5,000 military settlers—recruited on
7650-482: The Great South Road. A third of the British force were cut down—five soldiers killed and 11 wounded—while Māori losses were limited to two. The attack prompted the establishment of five new redoubts on the route, taking 510 of Cameron's men. The bush raid was the beginning of a new Māori strategy that would drain Cameron's resources and halt his advance for another 14 weeks. On 22 July a group of about 40 Māori fatally shot
7803-631: The Kīngitanga movement, and the government interpreted the Kīngitanga response as a challenge to the Crown's authority. Governor Gore Browne succeeded in bringing 3,500 Imperial troops from the Australian colonies to quash this perceived challenge, and within four years a total of 9,000 British troops had arrived in New Zealand, assisted by more than 4,000 colonial and kūpapa (pro-government Māori) fighters as
SECTION 50
#17328516038207956-478: The Matawhero district, in which 51 men, women and children were slaughtered and their homes set alight. The attack prompted another vigorous pursuit by government forces, which included a siege at Ngatapa pā that came to a bloody end: although Te Kooti escaped the siege, Māori forces loyal to the government caught and executed more than 130 of his supporters, as well as prisoners he had earlier seized. Dissatisfied with
8109-511: The Māori King Movement's reluctance to continue its fight against European invasion and confiscation, Te Kooti offered Māori an Old Testament vision of salvation from oppression and a return to a promised land . Wounded three times in battle, he gained a reputation for being immune to death and uttered prophecies that had the appearance of being fulfilled. In early 1870 Te Kooti gained refuge from Tūhoe tribes, which consequently suffered
8262-451: The Māori broke through the earthworks at the south-east corner of the pā and ran downhill without opposition 200 metres towards a ridge to the south, behind which the some men of the 40th were sheltering. They then dropped down a sloping 10-metre bank, surprising members of the 40th Regiment, who formed the south eastern edge of the cordon before running for cover in a nearby swamp. The group, many of them holding empty shotguns or tomahawks ,
8415-407: The Māori dawn raid on an imperial stockade at Boulcott's Farm on 16 May 1846 in which eight British soldiers and an estimated two Māori died, and the Battle of Battle Hill from 6–13 August as British troops, local militia and kūpapa pursued a Ngāti Toa force led by chief Te Rangihaeata through steep and dense bushland. Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha was also taken into custody during the campaign; he
8568-418: The Māori fighters fled. According to Belich, the Māori force numbered between 100 and 150 and about 15 were killed, some of them by bayonet. Among the dead were their leader Te Huirama, a relative of King Tāwhiao . British casualties totalled one dead and 12 wounded. But the same day a Māori war party ambushed a convoy of six carts and its 50-man escort well behind British lines, at Martin's Farm near Ramarama on
8721-411: The New Zealand colonial government, pressured by immigrant European settlers, tried to speed up land sales to provide farmland. This met resistance from the Kīngitanga (Māori King) movement that emerged in the 1850s and opposed further European encroachment. Governor Thomas Gore Browne 's provocative purchase of a disputed block of land at Waitara in 1859 set the government on a collision course with
8874-622: The New Zealand government developed its own military force, including local militia, rifle volunteer groups , the specialist Forest Rangers and kūpapa (pro-government Māori). As part of broader Australian involvement in the wars, the Colony of Victoria deployed its naval forces, and at least 2,500 volunteers formed contingents that crossed the Tasman Sea and integrated with the New Zealand militia. The government also responded with legislation to imprison Māori opponents and confiscate expansive areas of
9027-654: The North Island and the colonial government confiscating about 12,000 km of Māori land. The defeat and confiscations left the King Movement tribes with a legacy of poverty and bitterness that was partly assuaged in 1995 when the government conceded that the 1863 invasion and confiscation was wrongful and apologised for its actions. The Waikato–Tainui tribe accepted compensation in the form of cash and some government-controlled lands totalling about $ 171 million and later that year Queen Elizabeth II personally signed
9180-536: The North Island for sale to settlers, with the funds used to cover war expenses; punitive measures that on the east and west coasts provoked an intensification of Māori resistance and aggression. The New Zealand Wars were previously referred to as the Land Wars or the Māori Wars , and an earlier Māori-language name for the conflict was Te riri Pākehā ("the white man's anger"). Historian James Belich popularised
9333-545: The Paterangi pā without detection and arriving in Te Awamutu at dawn. They advanced to the village of Rangiaowhia, where they attacked about 100 mostly elderly men, and about 100 women and children. Most terrified villagers fled, a few shot at the troops, some sheltered in the churches, at least seven were burnt to death in their houses and at least one attempted to surrender, but was murdered by troops ignoring their orders. Women were raped and killed in front of children. About
SECTION 60
#17328516038209486-500: The Taranaki army and began appealing to the colonial office for more troops to avert "some great disaster", claiming tensions remained high, with a high likelihood of Māori aggression. In November 1862 he ordered a gunboat steamer from Sydney and purchased another in Lyttelton to supplement the supply system. By early 1863 the imperial government had provided Grey with 3000 men for the expected war. Events in early 1863 brought tensions to
9639-455: The Waikato [REDACTED] Royal Navy [REDACTED] British Army [REDACTED] Colonial fleet [REDACTED] Volunteer and [REDACTED] militia [REDACTED] Waikato The invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars . Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between
9792-540: The Waikato , Tauranga Campaign Wanganui Campaign , First Taranaki War , Invasion of the Waikato , Tauranga Campaign The Colonial Defence Force, a cavalry unit of about 100 men, was formed by Colonel Marmaduke Nixon in May 1863 and served in Waikato and militia forces were also used throughout the New Zealand wars. The Militia Ordinance 1845 provided for the compulsory training or service within 40 km of their town by all able-bodied European men aged between 18 and 60;
9945-403: The Waikato River and Lake Waikare . The front line ran east–west, while another line of defences ran south from the main line, facing the river. In the centre of the main line lay a small but well-protected north-facing redoubt with several lines of concealed rifle pits at its southern side. The defences consisted solely of earthworks, with no palisading; a redoubt midway along the main line, had
10098-472: The Waikato River and harass troops and kill settlers towards Auckland. On 25 August a party of Māori snatched up the rifles and ammunition from a group of 25 soldiers who were timber-felling beside the Great South Road—part of an effort to destroy cover for Māori raiders intent on mounting further ambushes—and killed two soldiers. On 2 September a British party of 62 men was fired on from the rear during
10251-568: The Waikato River. They fought a combined Māori contingent of about 4,000. Cameron and his Kīngitanga foe engaged in several major battles including the Battle of Rangiriri and a three-day siege at Orakau, capturing the Kīngitanga capital of Ngāruawāhia in December 1863, before completing their Waikato conquest in April 1864. The Waikato campaign cost the lives of 700 British and colonial soldiers and about 1,000 Māori. The Kīngitanga Māori retreated into
10404-466: The Waikato, the centre of the Kīngitanga movement, where king Tāwhiao was attracting the allegiance of increasing numbers of Māori across the North Island. Browne concluded that members of the Kīngitanga movement would have to be compelled to submit to British rule. After attempting to achieve a peace settlement through " kingmaker " Wiremu Tamihana , in mid-1861 he sent an ultimatum to the movement's leaders, demanding submission to Queen Victoria and
10557-895: The Waipa on 8 February. A significant engagement took place on 11 February when an assault party from Paterangi ambushed a group of soldiers bathing in a loop of the Mangapiki Stream at Waiari, near the British forward position. Two hundred of Cameron's troops, with the Forest Rangers, became involved in a running battle with the attackers and killed an estimated 41 Māori, losing six of their own men. Bishop George Selwyn , as garrison chaplain, had been told on 12 February that women, children and elderly would be taking refuge at unfortified and undefended Rangiaowhai, and had been asked to communicate that with Cameron. Kingitanga leaders understood they would be unharmed. There were about 200 Ngati-Apakura and Ngati-Hinetu people at Rangiaowhia, supplying food to
10710-573: The action of Crown forces on the East Coast from 1865 to 1869—the East Coast Wars and the start of Te Kooti's War—resulted in the deaths of proportionately more Māori than in any other district during the New Zealand wars. It condemned the "illegal imprisonment" on the Chatham Islands of a quarter of the East Coast region's adult male population and said the loss in war of an estimated 43 percent of
10863-518: The area, who revealed a route that bypassed it to the west and south to reach Te Awamutu. A new supply line was established from Auckland, using boats to Raglan and packhorses across the ranges to meet steamers on the Waipā River . But a further advance into the heart of Kingitanga territory was delayed when the Avon —one of the most important components of the transport and supply system—accidentally sank in
11016-614: The arrival of three warships and about 400 soldiers from Australia marked the beginning of the escalation of imperial troop numbers. The buildup increased rapidly under Grey's term as governor: when the second round of hostilities broke out in Taranaki in May 1863 he applied to the Secretary of State in London for the immediate dispatch of three more regiments and also wrote to the Australian governors asking for whatever British troops that could be made available. Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron ,
11169-431: The bugle was sounded to charge and warriors were ordered by Rewi into the outer trenches. The Kingites held their fire until the attackers were within 50 metres, then fired in two volleys, halting the advance. Two more waves of attack were similarly repulsed, with several casualties, including officers. Realising the strength of Ōrākau, Carey decided to encircle the pā and began shelling it from about 350 metres, though
11322-560: The capture of more than 180 warriors, the battle became the most costly Māori defeat in the Waikato wars. The 183 prisoners were held without trial on an old coal hulk in Waitematā Harbour before being moved to Kawau Island , north of Auckland, but in September 1864 they escaped and eventually made their way back to the Waikato. Cameron attracted both praise for his "skilful measures" in the capture of Rangiriri and severe criticism over
11475-476: The casualties coming from the Urewera contingent. Another 26 wounded were taken prisoner. The bodies of the Māori were buried in mass graves in the trenches of Ōrākau (just to the north of the road opposite the existing memorial) and beside the nearby swamp to the south. Rewi escaped through the swamp, unharmed, escorted by a 12-man bodyguard. The Māori saw Ōrākau as a defeat, but both Cameron and Grey were angered by
11628-462: The circumstances and tried to occupy the land, anticipating it would lead to armed conflict, and a demonstration of the substantive sovereignty the British believed they had gained in the Treaty of Waitangi. Hostilities began on 17 March 1860. The war was fought by more than 3,500 imperial troops brought in from Australia, as well as volunteer soldiers and militia, against Māori forces that fluctuated between
11781-474: The combat in the morning. But about 5am the Rangiriri garrison—still with arms and ammunition and with an escape route open to the east—raised a white flag, expecting to talk terms with Cameron. British soldiers advanced on the redoubt and entered, shook hands with their combatants, then surprised the Māori by demanding they surrender all their arms and taking them prisoner. Belich wrote: "The capture of Rangiriri
11934-500: The courage of the garrison, decided to give them the opportunity to surrender. Two interpreters were sent to the head of the sap with a white flag and Major William Mair called out the offer in Māori , which was passed to Rewi, within the pā . Although there are several versions of Rewi's reply, he is reputed to have declared through his messenger, " Ka whawhai tonu ahau ki a koe, ake, ake " ("I shall fight you forever, and ever, and ever") When
12087-485: The course of the Taranaki and Waikato campaigns, the lives of about 1,800 Māori and 800 Europeans were lost, and total Māori losses over the course of all the wars may have exceeded 2,100. Violence over land ownership broke out first in the Wairau Valley in the South Island in June 1843, but rising tensions in Taranaki eventually led to the involvement of British military forces at Waitara in March 1860. The war between
12240-459: The design and construction methods of the bunkers neutralised the force of the bombardment. He then ordered a start on a shallow sap that zig-zagged towards its western face from a distance of about 120 metres. A party of Māori reinforcements appeared about 2 km to the east, but retreated, unable to break through the British lines. Sporadic shooting continued through the night, with the besieged occupants of Ōrākau chanting and singing. By dawn
12393-467: The dispersed Paterangi army, mainly warriors from distant Tūhoe and Ngāti Raukawa iwi . The Tūhoe chiefs urged Rewi to build a pā at the agricultural village of Ōrākau, near Kihikihi , to challenge the troops, explaining that their guns and ammunition had been carried a long distance and were "too heavy to carry all this way for nothing". Although he strongly opposed the plan, convinced it would result in their defeat, Rewi relented—possibly in return for
12546-526: The early period of contact, Māori had generally sought trade with Europeans. The British and the French had established mission stations , and missionaries had received land from iwi for houses, schools, churches, and farms. Traders, Sydney businessmen and the New Zealand Company had bought large tracts of land before 1840. The Treaty of Waitangi included the right of Crown pre-emption on land sales, and
12699-413: The embrace of radical Pai Marire expression. The religion arrived on the east coast from Taranaki in early 1865. The subsequent ritual killing of missionary Carl Volkner by Pai Mārire (or Hauhau) followers at Ōpōtiki on 2 March 1865 sparked settler fears of an outbreak of violence and later that year the New Zealand government launched a lengthy expedition to hunt for Volkner's killers and neutralise
12852-484: The end of the year, Browne succeeded in retaining one of them for use in New Plymouth, where settlers feared the spread of intertribal violence. At the outbreak of Taranaki hostilities in 1860, reinforcements were brought from Auckland to boost the New Plymouth garrison, raising the total force of regulars to 450 and for many months the total number of Māori under arms exceeded the number of troops in Taranaki. In mid-April
13005-463: The failure of the 40th Regiment to halt the Ōrākau breakout and kill Rewi, which deprived them of the crushing victory over the Kingites they desperately sought. The general site of the battle is today marked by a memorial on Arapuni Road, 4 km east of Kihikihi, with the road running through the middle of what were the defences. The site of the pā is on private farmland and no traces of it are now visible. Plans have been proposed to commemorate
13158-465: The frontline on the morning of 22 February. With the Armstrong guns firing over their heads, the infantry, cavalry and Forest Rangers moved towards the defensive line before finally charging with bayonets, revolvers and sabres, driving out the Māori. The British forces pursued the Kingites to Rangiaowhia, where they looted the village and later built a redoubt. Belich claims the so-called "Battle of Hairini"
13311-511: The garrisons at Paterangi pā . Cameron, meanwhile, was attracting sharp criticism from both the colonist press and Grey himself about the lack of progress in the eight weeks since Ngāruawāhia's capture. On the night of 20 February, he set out on the narrow bush track to bypass Paterangi with 1230 men led by one of his guides and the Forest Rangers, leaving a large masking force in front of Paterangi. The force marched through rough bush in silence and complete darkness, passing within 1500 metres of
13464-468: The goldfields of Australia and Otago with promises of free grants of land confiscated from "rebel" Māori—also began service in the Waikato. By the end of October the number of military settlers, known as the Waikato Militia, had reached more than 2,600, the majority having come from Australia. By March 1864 troop numbers peaked at 9,000 Imperial troops, 4,000 Colonial troops (3,600 of them Australians),
13617-404: The government and Kīngitanga Māori spread to other areas of the North Island , with the biggest single campaign being the invasion of the Waikato in 1863–1864, before hostilities concluded with the pursuits of Riwha Tītokowaru in Taranaki (1868–1869) and Rangatira (chief) Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki on the east coast (1868–1872). Although Māori were initially fought by British Army forces,
13770-463: The government in late 1863; and the rise of the so-called Hauhau movement, an extremist part of the Pai Marire syncretic religion, which was strongly opposed to the alienation of Māori land and eager to strengthen Māori identity. The Hauhau movement became a unifying factor for Taranaki Māori in the absence of individual Māori commanders. The style of warfare after 1863 differed markedly from that of
13923-733: The government only (the right of pre-emption ) and surrendering sovereignty to the British Crown. In the Māori language version of the Treaty, however, the word "sovereignty" was translated as kawanatanga which was a new word meaning "governance". This led to considerable disagreement over the meaning of the Treaty. Some Māori wanted to sign to consolidate peace and in hopes of ending the long intertribal Musket Wars (1807–1845) others wanted to keep their tino rangatiratanga , such as Tūhoe in Te Urewera . All pre-treaty colonial land-sale deals had taken place directly between two parties. In
14076-457: The government sought a decisive victory over the "rebel" Māori. The use of a punitive land confiscation policy from 1865, depriving "rebel" Māori of the means of living, fuelled further Māori anger and resentment, fanning the flames of conflict in Taranaki (1863–1866) and on the east coast (1865–1866). The various conflicts of the New Zealand wars span a considerable period, and the causes and outcomes differ widely. The earliest conflicts in
14229-400: The greatest British victory of the Waikato invasion. For Kingitanga supporters, who after the Rangiriri battle had been urged to fight in a "civilised" manner by the British, and had moved their families away from their fortifications to an undefended, open village, the assault on Rangiaowhia was an almost "incomprehensible act of savagery". The role of Bishop Selwyn in the Rangiaowhia attack
14382-534: The grievances of Heke and his ally Te Ruki Kawiti , as to changes that had followed the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. There were many causes of the Flagstaff War and Heke had a number of grievances in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi . While land acquisition by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) had been controversial, the rebellion led by Heke was directed against the colonial forces with
14535-472: The heart of the defensive line from the rear. The flotilla returned downstream, intending to bring up another 600 men the next day for the attack, but the plan was dropped when the Māori force evacuated the Meremere fortifications the following day and escaped eastwards across flooded lagoons by canoe, falling back to their next defensive system at Rangiriri. Three weeks later, on 20 November, Cameron, commanding
14688-474: The high number of British losses. Yet the battle had highlighted the rapidly growing disparity between British and Māori forces and the inability of Waikato Māori to maintain their manpower continuously. Several Waikato chiefs including Te Wharepu expressed a willingness to negotiate and on 8 December the Kingite capital at Ngāruawāhia was abandoned and then taken by Cameron's troops. But Māori were still opposed to
14841-453: The imminent danger to New Zealand settlers. On 9 July 1863 Grey issued a new ultimatum, ordering that all Māori living between Auckland and the Waikato take an oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria or be expelled south of the river. As many young men retreated into the bush with their weapons, officials began seizing others—including the ill and aged—who declined to swear the oath, imprisoning them without charge. Two days later Grey issued
14994-578: The invasion began, was the "vital kernel" because of its efforts in building the southern road and being a separate military supply train. Commissariat sourced much of its food from England and Australia and sent it along with other supplies up to 160 km into the interior via a combination of steamers, barges, bullocks and pack horses. The CTC had found the Otago pack saddle , devised in the Otago goldfields to prevent injury and ruin to horses carrying heavy loads, to be
15147-544: The invasion of the Waikato . Browne began making arrangements for a Waikato campaign to destroy the Kīngitanga stronghold at the close of the First Taranaki War. Preparations were suspended in December 1861 when he was replaced by Sir George Grey , but Grey revived plans for an invasion in June 1863. He persuaded the Colonial Office in London to send more than 10,000 Imperial troops to New Zealand and General Sir Duncan Cameron
15300-661: The invasion plans in June 1863 amid mounting tension between Kingites and the colonial government and fears of a violent raid on Auckland by Kingite Māori. Grey used, as the trigger for the invasion, the Kingite rejection of his ultimatum on 9 July 1863 that all Māori living between Auckland and the Waikato take an oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria or be expelled south of the Waikato River . Government troops crossed into Waikato territory three days later and launched their first attack on 17 July at Koheroa , but were unable to advance for another 14 weeks. The subsequent war included
15453-522: The land of loyal or rebel Māori owners. The outcome of the armed conflict in Taranaki between 1860 and 1869 was a series of enforced confiscations of Taranaki tribal land from Māori blanketed as being in rebellion against the Government. East coast hostilities erupted in April 1865 and, as in the Second Taranaki War, sprang from Māori resentment of punitive government land confiscations coupled with
15606-470: The leadership of Rawiri Puhirake , successfully repelled a British assault, inflicting significant casualties and earning a reputation as a humiliating defeat for the British. Following the setback, efforts to negotiate peace intensified, with Governor Grey seeking to limit land confiscations and reduce Māori resistance, leading to a temporary cessation of hostilities. However, in June, Māori forces, reinforced and commanded by Hoera te Mataatai, chose to engage
15759-448: The lives of Her peaceable subjects, must take the consequences of their acts, and they must understand that they will forfeit the right to the possession of their lands guaranteed to them by the Treaty of Waitangi . Within a day—before the proclamation had even reached the Waikato —Grey ordered the invasion of the Kingite territory, claiming he was making a punitive expedition against Rewi over
15912-421: The loss of one of their chiefs. One Kingite told Cowan: "We were in better spirits after our fight in the open; nevertheless we realized that our position was hopeless, short of food and water, short of lead, and surrounded by soldiers many times outnumbering our garrison, and with big guns throwing shells into our defences." Further British reinforcements arrived, including a second company of Forest Rangers, taking
16065-425: The loyalty they had shown in crossing the North Island to join the fight for his territory —and accompanied them back to Ōrākau, arriving about 28 March. For Rewi, a skilled strategist and warrior, the major concerns about Ōrākau were that it had no immediate water supply and, sited on a low hill, overlooked by the nearby "California" ridge, 850m to the southwest, could also be easily encircled. The land immediately to
16218-504: The main approaches to the agriculturally rich Rangiaowhia district, east of Te Awamutu , a major economic base, trading with Auckland, San Francisco and Melbourne, and a supply centre of the Kingite tribes. By the end of January 1864 the line had become the largest system of Māori fortifications of the land wars, consisting of at least four large pā spaced about 8 km apart, each of which included complex sets of entrenchments and parapets. The defence system, which included two cannons,
16371-512: The male population, many through acts of "lawless brutality", was a stain on New Zealand's history and character. The New Zealand campaigns involved Māori warriors from a range of iwi , most of which were allied with the Kīngitanga movement, fighting a mix of Imperial troops, local militia groups, the specialist Forest Rangers and kūpapa, or "loyalist" Māori. In 1855 just 1,250 Imperial troops, from two under-strength British regiments, were in New Zealand. Although both were scheduled to depart at
16524-439: The men of Rangiaowhia abandoned Paterangi, Pikopiko, and Rangiatea pā to defend their families and began rapidly digging a new trench on the crest of a ridge at Hairini, cutting the route between Te Awamutu and Rangiaowhia. The trench, fortified with a parapet and stakes, ended in swamp at one end and thick bush at the other. A thousand of Cameron's men, supported by three Armstrong guns, advanced on an estimated 100 Māori manning
16677-616: The military forces of the colonial government and a federation of Māori tribes known as the Kingitanga Movement . The Waikato is a territorial region with a northern boundary somewhat south of the present-day city of Auckland . The campaign lasted for nine months, from July 1863 to April 1864. The invasion was aimed at crushing Kingite power (which European settlers saw as a threat to colonial authority) and also at driving Waikato Māori from their territory in readiness for occupation and settlement by European colonists. The campaign
16830-447: The mission was 1120 men. The two cannons were set up on a small plateau 350m to the west and about the same height above the pā . They were shooting across the front of the 40th Regiment who were situated 250 m south of the pā behind a small hill. Early on 31 March the first attack was made on Ōrākau, whose parapets and exterior fence was still incomplete. The Ōrākau garrison spotted the attacking force to their west just minutes before
16983-577: The movement's influence. Rising tensions between Pai Mārire followers and conservative Māori led to a number of wars between and within Māori iwi , with kūpapa armed by the government in a bid to exterminate the movement. Major conflicts within the campaign included the cavalry and artillery attack on Te Tarata pā near Ōpōtiki in October 1865 in which about 35 Māori were killed, and the seven-day siege of Waerenga-a-Hika in November 1865. The government confiscated northern parts of Urewera land in January 1866 in
17136-448: The name "New Zealand Wars" in the 1980s, although according to Vincent O'Malley , the term was first used by historian James Cowan in the 1920s. The 1840 English language version of the Treaty of Waitangi guaranteed that individual Māori iwi (tribes) should have undisturbed possession of their lands, forests, fisheries and other taonga ( Māori for 'treasures') in return for becoming British subjects, selling land to
17289-570: The newly formed Commissariat Transport Corps to start construction work on a road from Drury that would run about 18 km south through forest to the Kingite border at the Mangatāwhiri Stream—a tributary of the Waikato River—near Pokeno. The so-called Great South Road would provide quick access to troops in the event of an invasion. Using what historian James Belich describes as a campaign of misinformation, Grey retained
17442-532: The north ended and there was no punitive confiscation of Ngāpuhi land. The Hutt Valley campaign of 1846 came as a sequel to the Wairau Affray . The causes were similar—dubious land purchases by the New Zealand Company and the desire of the settlers to move on to land before disputes over titles were resolved—and the two conflicts shared many of the same protagonists. The campaign's most notable clashes were
17595-404: The occupation of Māori land. Coinciding with a violent raid on a European settlement on the East Coast by Te Kooti , the attacks shattered what European colonists regarded as a new era of peace and prosperity, creating fears of a "general uprising of hostile Māoris". Tītokowaru, who had fought in the Second Taranaki War, was the most skilful West Coast Māori warrior. He also assumed the roles of
17748-468: The outer trenches of Ōrākau for hand-grenades to be thrown over the ramparts. At noon Cameron arrived with more men, bringing the besieging imperial and colonial force to 1800. One of the Armstrong guns was moved to the head of the sap and fired at the outwork of the pā about 30 metres away, breaching the wall. Under the combination of shells, hand grenades and rifle fire, Māori casualties began to climb rapidly. Soon after arriving, Cameron, impressed by
17901-638: The peak of hostilities in the 1860s, 18,000 British Army troops, supported by artillery, cavalry and local militia, battled about 4,000 Māori warriors in what became a gross imbalance of manpower and weaponry. Although outnumbered, the Māori were able to withstand their enemy with techniques that included anti-artillery bunkers and the use of carefully placed pā (fortified villages) that allowed them to block their enemy's advance and often inflict heavy losses, yet quickly abandon their positions without significant loss. Guerrilla-style tactics were used by both sides in later campaigns, often fought in dense bush. Over
18054-401: The resignation and desertion of many militia volunteers, ultimately leading to the withdrawal of most government military forces from South Taranaki and giving Tītokowaru control of almost all territory between New Plymouth and Wanganui . Although Tītokowaru provided the strategy and leadership that had been missing among tribes that had fought in the Second Taranaki War and his forces never lost
18207-696: The return of plunder taken from Taranaki; when it was rejected he began drawing up plans to invade the Waikato and depose the king—a plan opposed by both the Colonial Office and the New Zealand General Assembly. According to Browne, in response to his belligerence, Kingite leaders formed plans to launch a raid on Auckland on 1 September and burn the town and slaughter most of its residents. This has since been dismissed by such historians as James Belich as being fear-mongering from Browne in order to try and gain military support. Browne's invasion plan
18360-499: The river to ravage the Settlement of Auckland and to murder peaceable settlers. Some of you offered a safe passage through your territories to armed parties contemplating such outrages ... Those who remain peaceably at their own villages in Waikato, or move into such districts as may be pointed out by the Government, will be protected in their persons, property, and land. Those who wage war against Her Majesty, or remain in arms, threatening
18513-406: The rugged interior of the North Island and in 1865 the New Zealand Government confiscated about 12,000 km of Māori land (4% of New Zealand's land area) for white settlement—an action that quickly provoked the Second Taranaki War. The six-month long Tauranga campaign of 1864 was initially launched by Cameron to disrupt Māori supply lines and secure the Bay of Plenty for European settlement. It
18666-440: The second day—with fog so thick the combatants could not see one another—the Ōrākau garrison realised they had exhausted their water supplies and most of their ammunition. Ngāti Maniapoto chief Winitana Tupotahi suggested at a runanga , or council of chiefs, that they abandon the pā , but Rewi rejected the proposal. At midday many attempted to break out of the pā through the cordon at the east, but were driven back twice, suffering
18819-448: The south of the pa was a series of low undulating hillocks leading to swamp. For two days the villagers, as well as Rewi's forces and the new reinforcements, labored in shifts to strengthen the defences of the pā , located on a slight rise of land in the midst of peach groves. Measuring about 30 metres by 12 metres, the pā was enclosed within a rectangular redoubt and contained interior bunkers, trenches, firing apertures. The main parapet
18972-400: The surviving defenders fleeing south or towards the main redoubt. But when Cameron ordered an attack on the redoubt from the river side, his men began to come under heavy fire. Cameron ordered two more unsuccessful assaults on the central redoubt, which lifted British casualties to about 110. As night fell, the British, dispirited by the scale of losses, slept on the wet ground, ready to renew
19125-548: The title Raupatu . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raupatu&oldid=1096372126 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars ( Māori : Ngā pakanga o Aotearoa ) took place from 1845 to 1872 between
19278-406: The total manpower available. Although they were not part of a structured command system, Māori generally followed a consistent strategic plan, uniting to build skilfully engineered defensive lines up to 22 kilometres (14 mi) long. Māori united under proven military commanders, including Rewi Maniapoto and Tikaokao of Ngāti Maniapoto and Wiremu Tamihana of Ngāti Hauā . Invasion of
19431-414: The town before mounting a frontal attack in July 1847. A peace settlement was reached in early 1848. The catalyst for the First Taranaki War was the disputed sale to the Crown of a 240 hectare block of land at Waitara, despite a veto by the paramount chief of Te Āti Awa tribe, Wiremu Kīngi , and a "solemn contract" by local Māori not to sell. Governor Browne accepted the purchase with full knowledge of
19584-473: The two major Kingite divisions, retreated east to Maungatautari to block a British advance up the Waikato River into Ngāti Raukawa territory and Matamata beyond. Cameron remained at Rangiaowhia, preparing to pursue him. Rewi Maniapoto, with the other main division, moved south into the Hangitiki Valley to defend Ngati Maniapoto bases. Ngati Maniapoto fighters and their allies remained determined to continue
19737-417: The victims of Rangiaowhia until the 150th anniversary was commemorated in 2014 with the unveiling of a plaque. Historian Vincent O'Malley has noted that Cameron would later become disillusioned with the war, suggesting that his role in ordering the attack on non-combatants may have been the beginnings of his "first pangs of remorse". Following the fall of the Paterangi line, Wiremu Tamihana, leading one of
19890-419: The war, but were divided over their strategy: whether to guard the hinterland with large defensive systems on the fringes, or to challenge the nearby occupying forces with a new pā . Rewi deferred a decision until he could consult with Tamihana, the kingmaker, and set out with a small group to Tamihana's stronghold near present-day Cambridge on the upper Waikato. On the way he encountered a group of about 140 of
20043-432: The west coast of the North Island between Taranaki and Wanganui, and Cameron, who regarded such a campaign as unnecessary, impractical and contrary to Imperial policy. Grey blocked Cameron's attempts to dispatch the first regiments from New Zealand in May 1865 and the first regiment finally embarked in January 1866. By May 1867 only the 2/18th Regiment remained in the country, their departure delayed by political pressure over
20196-499: The Ōakura ambush and a pre-emptive strike to thwart a "determined and bloodthirsty" plot to attack Auckland. Though Grey claimed it was a defensive action, historian B. J. Dalton claimed his reports to London had been "a deliberate and transparent falsehood" and that the invasion was an act of "calculated aggression". On 12 July Duncan Cameron and the first echelon of the invading army crossed the Mangatāwhiri Stream. Cameron,
20349-490: The Ōrākau pā and immediately passed the information to Brigadier General G. J. Carey , who had been left in charge of the British forces. Carey, keen to surprise the Kingites, immediately began organising an expedition and at midnight the first of three separate columns, comprising members of the 40th, 65th and 18th Royal Irish Regiments, as well as Forest Rangers and Waikato Militia, set out for Ōrākau with two Armstrong six-pounders, arriving before daybreak. The total force for
20502-401: Was a constant turnover of small tribal groups. At Meremere, Paterangi, Hangatiki and Maungatatauri, between August 1863 and June 1864 Māori maintained forces of between 1,000 and 2,000 men, but troops were forced to disperse after each campaign because of labour and domestic needs at home. Belich has estimated that the total Māori mobilisation was at least 4,000 warriors, representing one-third of
20655-421: Was a resumption of hostilities between Māori and the New Zealand Government in Taranaki, which is sometimes referred to as the Second Taranaki War. The conflict, which overlapped the wars in Waikato and Tauranga , was fuelled by a combination of factors: lingering Māori resentment over the sale of land at Waitara in 1860 and government delays in resolving the issue; a large-scale land confiscation policy launched by
20808-411: Was absent at the time—to quit the property or risk death; Grey recalled Gorst to Auckland soon after. On 4 April Grey arranged for a 300-strong Imperial force to evict Māori from the contested Tataramaika block in Taranaki and reoccupy it. Māori viewed the reoccupation as an act of war and on 4 May a party of about 40 Ngati Ruanui warriors carried out a revenge attack, ambushing a small military party on
20961-437: Was appointed to lead the campaign. Cameron used soldiers to build the 18 km-long Great South Road to the border of Kīngitanga territory and on 9 July 1863 Grey ordered all Māori living between Auckland and the Waikato take an oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria or be expelled south of the Waikato River; when his ultimatum was rejected the vanguard of the army crossed the frontier into Kīngitanga territory and established
21114-406: Was defeated and the East Coast threat minimised, the alienation of Māori land, as well as the political subjugation of Māori, continued at an even more rapid pace. Te Kooti's War was fought in the East Coast region and across the heavily forested central North Island and Bay of Plenty between government military forces and followers of spiritual leader Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki. The conflict
21267-474: Was detained without charge in Auckland for two years. The bloodshed heightened settlers' fears in nearby Wanganui, which was given a strong military force to guard against attack. In April 1847 an accidental shooting of a minor Wanganui Māori chief led to a bloody revenge attack on a settler family; when the perpetrators were captured and hanged, a major raid was launched on the town as a reprisal, with homes plundered and burned and livestock stolen. Māori besieged
21420-521: Was fought by a peak of about 14,000 Imperial and colonial troops and about 4,000 Māori warriors drawn from more than half the major North Island tribal groups. Plans for the invasion were drawn up at the close of the First Taranaki War in 1861 but the Colonial Office and New Zealand General Assembly opposed action, and the incoming Governor Sir George Grey (second term 1861–1868) suspended execution in December of that year. Grey reactivated
21573-460: Was held before dawn on 2 April and again Tupotahi urged them to break out. Though many of the chiefs remained steadfast in their refusal to retreat, Rewi insisted the effect of the water shortage was now so severe they had to break out, but urged they go out fighting. The plan was aborted when dawn broke and the fog lifted, removing their cover. Through the morning the British sap advanced close enough to
21726-399: Was just 1.2 metres high, the outer trench a metre deep and the entire system was surrounded by a post and three-rail fence. The pā was defended by between 200 and 250 warriors—mainly Tūhoe and Ngāti Raukawa—drawn from at least nine tribes, as well as about 50 women and children. Early on 30 March two surveyors working at Kihikihi observed through a telescope construction of entrenchments at
21879-405: Was manned by a force of between 1200 and 2000 men from a dozen major Waikato iwi . Two weeks after capturing Ngāruawāhia, Cameron's 3000-strong striking force, protected by another 4000 men, began slowly and cautiously advancing south. In late January Cameron moved his army headquarters to Te Rore , about 5 km from Paterangi, with an advance camp for 600 men positioned just 1.2 km from
22032-431: Was marked by strategic maneuvering and intense battles between British Imperial forces and local Māori tribes, primarily Ngāi Te Rangi . The campaign faced internal political divisions early on with Premier Frederick Whitaker supporting an aggressive approach, while Governor Grey advocated a defensive stance to prevent wider rebellion. The conflict culminated in the Battle of Gate Pā in April, where Māori defenders, under
22185-500: Was no longer to conquer territory, but to inflict the utmost 'punishment' on the enemy; inevitably there was a great deal of brutality, much burning of undefended villages and indiscriminate looting, in which loyal Maoris often suffered." As the troops advanced, the Government built an expanding line of redoubts, behind which settlers built homes and developed farms. The effect was a creeping confiscation of almost 4,000 km (1,500 sq mi) of land, with little distinction between
22338-529: Was not the result of assault or encirclement, but of the British misuse of a flag of truce. The Māoris might conceivably have eventually decided to surrender unconditionally anyway, but they might also have repelled further assaults and escaped across the lake." He said they might have also been gaining time waiting for reinforcements who were almost on the scene. About 35 of the Māori force were killed, along with six women and children. Probably an equal number of injured were evacuated by canoe across Lake Waikare. With
22491-528: Was pursued by sword-bearing cavalry and hundreds of soldiers who fired on and bayoneted the fleeing Māori; Forest Rangers kept up the chase until dusk. Back at Ōrākau, meanwhile, soldiers stormed the pā as the garrison fled, bayoneting and shooting many of the wounded, including women and children. One of the women was Hine-i-turama Ngatiki . Sixteen of the British forces died in the three-day battle and 53 were wounded, some of them mortally; while estimates of Māori fatalities range from 80 to 160, with half of
22644-496: Was simply a delaying tactic by the Māori, allowing them to move as many supplies as they could from Rangiaowhia and the Paterangi line. He says the Kingites, by abandoning the Paterangi line, managed to save their army which otherwise would have been destroyed in an all-out pitched battle; Cameron's decision to outflank the Paterangi line, meanwhile, was described as a "brilliant" strategy that forced his enemy out of one of its richest economic centres with minimal British losses, becoming
22797-498: Was sparked by Te Kooti's return to New Zealand after two years of internment on the Chatham Islands , from where he had escaped with almost 200 Māori prisoners of war and their families. Te Kooti, who had been held without trial on the island for two years, asked that he and his followers be left in peace, but within two weeks they were being pursued by a force of militia, government troops and Māori volunteers. The pursuit turned into
22950-417: Was supervising a shipment of stores—and burning a stores depot with 40 tons of supplies at Camerontown on the north bank of the Waikato River near Tuakau. The Ngāti Maniapoto then attacked a British redoubt overlooking Pokeno, from which they were driven off. The attack on the supply line, said Belich, "was easily the most important single action of the first phase of the war". Cameron responded by creating
23103-450: Was suspended when he was replaced by Sir George Grey in September that year, and the Kingites in turn abandoned their plan for their uprising. Grey instead instituted a peace policy that included a system of Māori local administration in which they could participate, hoping it would encourage Māori to abandon the Kingite movement and "reduce the number of our enemies". At the same time, however, Grey began planning for war, using troops from
23256-484: Was the first major conflict between the British and Māori people. In 1845 George Grey arrived in New Zealand to take up his appointment as governor. At this time Hōne Heke challenged the authority of the British, beginning by cutting down the flagstaff on Flagstaff Hill at Kororāreka . The flagstaff had previously flown the colours of United Tribes of New Zealand but now carried the Union Jack and therefore symbolised
23409-542: Was wounded in battle with Tāmati Wāka Nene and his warriors, and by the realisation that the British had far more resources than he could muster, including some Pākehā Māori , who supported the colonial forces. After the Battle of Ruapekapeka, Heke and Kawiti were ready for peace. They approached Tāmati Wāka Nene to act as the intermediary to negotiate with Governor Grey, who accepted the advice of Nene that Heke and Kawiti should not be punished for their rebellion. The fighting in
#819180