| Invasion of Waikato | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of New Zealand Wars | |||||||
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| New Zealand Government British Army Māori allies |
Māori King Movement Various allied North Island tribes |
||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sir Duncan Cameron | Waikato chiefs including Rewi Maniapoto, Wiremu Tamihana, and Tawhaio | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 12,000 British troops unknown British-allied Māori troops |
~3000 troops, including 170 from Ngāi Tūhoe allies. | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| unknown | unknown, but significant and 80 were taken prisoner; albeit significant numbers escaped. | ||||||
|
|||||
The Invasion of Waikato or Kingitanga Suppression Movement was a campaign during the middle stages of the New Zealand Wars, fought in the North Island of New Zealand from July 1863 to April 1864 between the military forces of the Colonial Government and a federation of rebel Māori tribes known as the King Movement (Kingitanga).
Initiated by the Government in response to the decision of the Waikato iwi (tribes) to cease land sales to the Government, it ended with the retreat of the rebel Kingites into the rugged interior of the island and the confiscation of about 12,000 km² of Māori land. Although one of the government's main aims was achieved – the Waikato was brought back under government control – the King Movement itself although defeated on the battle field, was not vanquished, but its influence was severely reduced.[1]
Following the confiscation of some of their homelands the King Movement tribes were left with a legacy of sadness and bitterness at the loss of their mana, which was partly assuaged 132 years later when in 1995 the Waikato Tainui people received compensation amounting to $171M (NZD) from the New Zealand government, the return of some further valuable land such as the land on which The Base and the University of Waikato now stand, and a formal apology from HM Queen Elizabeth II. The agreement was not part of the official Treaty of Waitangi settlements but was a result of direct negotiations with the National Party government at the time after the iwi were advised that they did not have a good case to take to court. The government agreed to pay compensation to end the years of poor relationships with the tribe,such as the refusal of Tainui to send soldiers to take part in WW1, so that Tainui could have their mana restored.
Contents |
The First Taranaki War ended in an uneasy truce when the two sides recognized that they had reached a stalemate. The British Imperial Troops and the Colonial Government had been denied a decisive victory over the Māori but the last Taranaki conflict had resulted in a defeat for the Ngati Maniapoto toa. The Taranaki tribes had not fought alone but had been substantially aided, in both men and materials, from the Waikato region. This was the center for the King Movement, a loose federation of iwi and hapu which had been formed to set up an alternative Maori government whose main aim was to prevent the sale of any Māori land by Maori. In 1860 the Māori of New Zealand were nearly matched in population size by the Pakeha settlers and this presented a challenge to the Māori way of life. The government was warned by missionaries that young toa from Ngati Maniapoto might attack Auckland to extract utu, despite the Maori King advocating peace. Gorst, a missionary teacher and printer, was attacked by Rewi Maniapoto at Te Awamutu on 25 March 1863, but Gorst was absent at the time. He was ordered by Rewi to leave but refused. The king maker, Tamehana, knew Rewi planned to kill him if he did not leave so he prevailed upon the governor to recall Gorst to Auckland. This he did. The Te Awamutu station was looted and burnt. All missionaries and farmers who had lived peacefully on their land in the Waikato for 20 years and given Maori enormous help setting up wheat farms and eight flour mills where threatened with death if they did not leave.
The settlers, on the other hand, could settle anywhere in the South Island, which had been purchased from Maori. Maori in the Auckland area had freely sold land to settlers. Here they were under the protection of Te Wherowhero, the first Maori king. There was one legal system over the whole of New Zealand, but in practice it was hard to enforce New Zealand law in predominantly Maori areas. Two systems in operation: British law prevailed in the settlements and Māori custom everywhere else, because the British did not have the means to enforce the law. Bohan records several incidents where Maori who had committed serious crime – drunken violence and attempted rape of a Pakeha girl – could not be apprehended or were released from prison by their tribe. The politicians were equally unhappy with this arrangement, and they saw that the Māori King Movement was the main obstacle to peace and progress as a united colony.
The territory the rebel Kingitanga movement influenced began immediately to the south of Auckland, one of the main settlements. Governor Thomas Gore-Browne began making arrangements for the Waikato campaign to destroy the Kingitanga stronghold as soon as the First Taranaki War ended. Preparations were suspended for a while when he was replaced by Sir George Grey, returning for a second term as governor, but were resumed a few months later.
The Waikato campaign differed from the previous Māori Campaign in Taranaki in that it was planned by the governor to end the threat posed by the rebel King Movement. It was estimated that to be successful at least ten thousand troops were needed. Outside of Britain and India the British Imperial Army amounted to only about forty thousand men and by pointing out the history of the warlike Maori ,such as the stealing of gunpowder from his home on Kawau Island, Governor Grey persuaded the Colonial Office in London to send a quarter of them to New Zealand. General Sir Duncan Cameron was appointed to lead the campaign. Previously he had fought in the Crimean War, which had been a logistical disaster for the British Army, and had developed very strong ideas on what was needed to support an army in the field. This was to influence his prudent conduct in the campaign.
Access to the Waikato region was the first problem. The road south of Auckland extended only about sixty kilometers, well short of the frontier enforced by the rebels and had to be extended at least as far as the Waikato River. Additional food and ammunition reserves were needed for the extra troops arriving from Australia, and Cameron and Grey were determined not to move until they were ready.
After receiving a series of 18 threatening letters from Tamihana, a Waikato leader who was until then was considered one of the more peaceful rangatira, on 9 July 1863 Governor Grey expelled virtually all the Māori living in the territory controlled by the British south of Auckland after Kingitanga Maori refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen. Grey, who spoke Maori and was very familiar with the culture, knew that Tamihana was following normal Maori war ritual in giving him advance warning that an attack was about to be made on Auckland. Grey responded in kind by giving rebels a chance to reconsider their war-like stance. Rebels were asked to hand in all firearms, but only a few rusty muskets were surrendered. Three days later the vanguard of the army crossed the frontier into Kingite territory and established a forward camp. On 17 July they advanced to the banks of the Waikato River and 500 soldiers advanced up a ridge and defeated a force of 400 Māori led by Te Huirama of Ngati Mahutawho at Koheroa. The Kingitanga forces then fled back to the Whangamarino swamp and returned to their advanced camp and stayed there until 31 October. Thirty Maori were killed including Te Huirama. One soldier died and 11 were wounded. General Cameron was very conscious of the fact that he was operating at the end of a long and vulnerable supply line, which Māori forces demonstrated by attacking numerous points along the route. Cameron established an alternative supply route using the lower Waikato River. A supply depot was built at Camerontown near an old pa. It was defended by 4 Europeans and 20 Ngati Whauroa. A hundred Ngati Maniapoto launched a surprise attack on 7 Sept and killed 5 including all the British while they were in a canoe. The Ngati Whauroa defenders left immediately. Three weeks later this small group went over to the Kingities with their chief Hona. It has been suggested that the Ngati Whauroa were playing a double game and had given information to Ngati Maniapoto prior to the attack. Forty tonnes of horse fodder, bran and corn, were burnt, but this had little effect on the campaign. A rescue party of 50 soldiers were ambushed as they approached the scene. Both officers were shot, one fatally, and the NCOs retrieved the wounded and put up a valiant defence in the bush against an enemy that outnumbered them 2 to 1. Two VCs were later awarded and 5 DCMs; see Camerontown.
On Sept 12 a taua (war party) of 200 toa (warriors) left Meremere led by a tohunga Hopa te Rangianini and high chief Wahaanui, in several waka (canoes). The taua consistered of mainly Ngati Maniapoto with some Ngati Pou and a few North Waikato men. They travelled down the Waikato River, crossed over the Mangatawhiri stream boundary and attacked the Alexandra redoubt at Tuakau, 3 km north of the Waikato Kingitanga boundary. After the attack failed, they hid in the dense bush in the hills north of Pokeno, only venturing out to murder unarmed settlers at Ramarama. Maori forces killed 15 settlers at Ramarama, Pukekohe, TeIaroa, Papakura, Te Wairoa and Mangemangeroa, although other sources say 22 people were killed.
Settlers at Pukekohe east had learned of the Maori attacks and started to fortify their church with a 1.3m high stockade made from thick horizontal logs surrounded by a 900mm, 1.8m wide trench. The defences were only partly completed when the taua was spotted 90m away. Sergeant Perry and twenty settlers retreated to the church to prepare for battle. It ended in a severe defeat for the Maori invaders, of whom 40 were killed and two were taken prisoner, with no settler casualties. A grim reality of the war was that the two Maori captured were known to the settlers as sellers of peaches and pigs.
Meanwhile, the army was building a string of at least twenty redoubts and strong points along the supply route, and manning these mini-fortresses and protecting the supply lines absorbed all but 2,000 of Cameron's troops. The other result from this delay was a very serious breakdown in the relationship between the Colonial Government that demanded a quick victory, and the British Imperial Troops fighting on their behalf. Relations between Governor Grey and General Cameron soured because Grey felt that any delay was unnecessary, while Cameron resented any political interference in military matters, as well as the use of British troops to acquire Māori land for the Colonial Government to sell. Cameron particularly felt that Grey's expulsion of the Māori from the occupied territory south of Auckland was both unnecessarily vindictive and had contributed numerous angry recruits to the enemy.
The next attack in the Waikato began on 31 October by water. Cameron had two armoured steamers, the Avon and the Pioneer, as well as four armoured barges on the Waikato River, which between them could carry 600 men. The Māori had established a very strong defensive line at Meremere which effectively blocked any advance south of the British position. The British occupied a position on a spur just below an old pa called Te Teoteo. Here they built Pickard's Redoubt. On 29 October two 40-pounder Armstrong guns were unloaded from the Pioneer and placed just below the redoubt. From a distance of 2 km they then bombarded the Meremere fortifications which were located on a small knoll on the south side of the Whangamarino swamp. By now the British were in a position to encircle Meremere using water transport. Two trips were made and 1,200 men were successfully landed at Takapau where they could attack from the rear.[2]
The Māori had cannon and used them to try to stop the steamers but without cannon balls, they were forced to use rocks, grocers' weights, and old iron which were ineffective against the British steamers.
Recognizing that they were now in danger of being surrounded, the Māori abandoned the Meremere fortification on 1 November and withdrew south. The British occupied the position and built a redoubt, which is still visible, on the knoll.
Work had already begun on another defensive line a short distance further south at Rangiriri. However the Māori led by Te Wharepu had expended a huge effort on the Meremere Line and their resources were becoming stretched. Moreover, it was close to planting season and the warriors needed to return home to plant the crops. They were still able to muster about 500 men against an attacking force of about 860 men, but morale was low because previous engagements had been unsuccessful. Their morale was further undermined by a visit from King Tawhaio and Wirimu Tamihana at the start of the battle who tried to persuade them to leave. According to the king, he spoke to the toa a dozen times but without success. Tawhaio was a pacifist and tried to convince the taua to leave. He had a good understanding of British power since he had lived with Governor Grey at Kawau Island, where as a teenager he had fled for refuge after stealing money from his father, Te Wherowhero. He left during the fighting, only narrowly escaping injury.
General Cameron launched his attack on 20 November. His strategy was the same as at Meremere — some of his troops were transported by river in six armoured vessels, to the south of the Māori defensive position while the remainder attacked from the north. This time the Māori stood and fought. Parts of the line were quickly overrun but the central redoubt proved to be deceptively strong and easily repelled several attempts to capture it, inflicting heavy casualties on the attackers. According to The NZ Herald of the time, the British lost 39 men killed and 93 wounded during the fighting that day. The following morning the Kawhia chief Wirumu Te Kumete hoisted a white flag and shortly afterwards Lt. Penefather entered the redoubt and demanded their arms and they surrendered. There was some confusion at this point as the two cultures assigned a different meaning to the white flag; the British interpreted it as a sign of surrender. However, the Maori believed it meant a sign for the negotiation of a truce.
The nature of this "surrender" is open to debate as the Maori were not short of ammunition. They were, however, almost completely surrounded - the only escape route to the east was under observation by artillery batteries, making it usable only at night. Also the defenders had experienced a large artillery bombardment with modern high-explosive shells from the Armstrong Gun. About 65% of the defenders slipped away during the night via the lake and swamps where waka were hidden. It became clear later that they had not intended unconditional surrender but wished to discover what terms the British might offer them if they did surrender. However when they saw the white flag numerous British soldiers entered the redoubt, shook hands with the Māori and mingled amicably. It was only when Cameron arrived twenty minutes later that he demanded that the Māori yield up their weapons and surrender.
Forty-one rebel Māori corpses were found though others may have died in the swamp, about the same as British losses. However 183 Maori rebels were taken prisoner and this made a serious dent in the already stretched Māori forces. Most of the captured Māori subsequently escaped from Kawau Island and returned to the Waikato but by then the war was long over.
The rebel Waikato Māori,who had been left to fight on their own by Maniapoto, withdrew to the south abandoning their ancestral lands to the British forces. On 8 December the British forces occupied Ngaruawahia, which had been the main centre for the King movement. Heralds under a flag of truce were sent to the rebels to ask them to lay down their arms. The rebels were irritated by this and later demands as it reflected badly on their mana. Rebels later fired on the flag of truce, shooting and tomahawking the messengers, according to TW Gudgeon in Defenders of New Zealand 1887.
The Māori may have accepted peace at this stage but the Colonial Government was still demanding the surrender of the rebels with their weapons and their acceptance of The Queen as the head of State.
Construction of a new and even more formidable defence line was begun at Paterangi, some thirty kilometers south of Ngaruawahia. By the end of January 1864 it was at least as strong as the Meremere line. However Cameron and his army merely bypassed the fortification and advanced on Rangiawahia, a major Māori population centre but, more importantly, the supply centre for the Paterangi Line. The troops were led by two local christian Maoriknown to missionary Gorst, who guided them at night through a trail only known to locals. Cameron was probably hoping that the Māori would commit themselves to the defence of Rangiawahia thereby giving him the decisive pitched battle he was looking for, one he knew the British would win decisively. The British troops surprised the defenders, some of whom hid under a whare which is said to have been used as a church. Firing positions had previously been prepared. The defenders opened fire from loopholes in the whare. As women had been seen to enter the building they were called upon to surrender but refused. British troops then opened fire and the raupo building caught fire with most of the defenders dying in the fire.
The occupation of Rangiaowahia put the British in control of the most important kingitanga stronghold and food production territory and rendered the Paterangi Line redundant. The British began advancing on the fortifications and once again the Māori began evacuating. To delay the British advance 600 Māori threw up a defence line, north–south on the Hairini ridge using an old trench – they deepened it and put up a parapet and defended it against a British attack. This attack was carried out mainly by New Zealand rather than British forces and is the first recorded instance of infantry advancing to attack while their own artillery was firing over their heads. The NZ militia and von Tempsky's Forest Rangers led the attack and put to flight some skirmishers about 300m in front of the main trench line. The modern Armstrong guns were very accurate and poured airbursts over the Maori trenches allowing the NZ soldiers, armed with revolvers, to get into the trenches with only two killed. Once the Maori fled and they were chased by the NZ cavalry and fired on from an orchard by the Forest Rangers. Maori losses were 20 killed. The bulk of the Māori forces fled through the swamp where the cavalry could not venture.<Battle of Hairini .NZETC>
But the British and NZ forces were still denied a decisive battle and rebel Kingitanga Maori continued to resist. They were soon to get it at Orakau which was the worst defeat of Kingitanga forces to date.
The Waikato Māori did not fight alone. Of the 27 North Island tribes, 15 had sent war parties to assist in the fighting. As they were withdrawing from Paterangi one of the Waikato chiefs, Rewi Maniapoto, encountered a party of Ngāti Kahungunu and Tuhoe, about 170 men, who had come a long way to join in the war, all the way from the East Cape and Te Urewera. They told Rewi quite forcefully that they had not carried their guns all that distance simply to go home without a fight. Having already experienced repeated defeats at the hands of the British and being very short on ammunition, Rewi was very reluctant to fight from such a poorly sited and tiny position with no water supply. Rewi decided that to keep his mana intact they should have their battle.
Orakau was chosen as the site of the battle, a low hill surrounded by rolling country. It was a very bad choice as it broke every rule the Māori always observed when building a fortification or pā (see Māori Wars). First, it had no internal water supply and second, it would be relatively easy to surround, with the only means of escaping a swampy valley to the southand it was overlooked from a nearby hill. 50 women and a few children were in the redoubt.
Beginning on 28 March 1864, two days of hard digging had produced a defensible redoubt. A three-day siege began early on 31 March with the first British attack. After a reconnaissance Cameron decided to take the pa by sapping. A zig zig sap was built towards the pa. A large party of about 300 toa arrived but stayed in the bush doing haka to encourage the defenders but did not attempt to attack the NZ soldiers. They were shelled with the very accurate Armstrong artillery. The bunkers in the pa were initially deep enough and strong enough to neutralize the artillery.
The Māori ran out of water and were short of ammunition. The British pulled back and at 1pm Gilbert Mair who spoke fluent Maori invited the Māori to surrender. Chief Hauraki Tanganui replied, saying they were determined to fight to the last man, woman and child, although by 3:30pm the same day they ran. The forest rangers crept up close to the pa while the British soldiers dug a sap towards the pa. A large supply of hand grenades were bought up and these were thrown into the Maori trenches. Suddenly, late in the afternoon of the third day, the effect of the Armstrong artillery firing from only 20m - point blank range - destroyed one corner of the pa and the iwi in that area panicked and fled. At 3:30pm about 200 of the rebel Māori emerged in one tight group and, taking the troops by surprise, broke through the cordon surrounding them and escaped in small groups into the bush via the swampy valley. There was a final assault on the pā, and the remaining 50 defenders were killed, including one woman. During the battle the Government forces fired 40,000 rounds of ammunition. One hundred and sixty rebel Maori were killed or died of wounds, while the NZ forces lost 17 killed and had 51 wounded. Many of the Forest Rangers were armed with revolvers and Bowie knives. Most of those who died were killed as they fled south. It is estimated that about half were wounded. They were chased by the cavalry as far as the Punui River.<Battle of Orakau. NZETC. P70> In the 1980s the swamp valley 600m west of Tiki Road was drained by a dairy farmer, Mr Shakespeare, and an array of tomahawks were found that had been discarded by the retreating Maori. They are on display at the Te Awamutu museum. This ended Cameron's victory over the Kingitanga rebels in the Waikato. He was put forward for a Victoria Cross because of his successful campiagn. Two years later he resigned his commission in NZ, after the successful conclusion of the Second Taranaki War). Cameron was sick of the continual disputes with Grey over the conduct of the campaigns. For his part Grey was extremely sick, short-tempered and suffering from severe depression.
The Māori established yet another defensive line some 20 kilometres south of the furthest British advance at Maungatautari and announced that it would be defended vigorously. However when the NZ forces investigated from their post at Pukemiro they found the position deserted.<T Ryan and B Parham ,The Colonial NZ wars,P84> In addition they were suddenly faced with the prospects of serious conflict in other areas of the North Island (see Tauranga Campaign and Second Taranaki War). The War in the Waikato was over by 5 April, just as the ramifications of it were spreading to the rest of the island.
The fourth Waikato defensive line, the Punui river, became the new frontier of the King Movement territory. Despite the peace, three settlers were murdered after the end of hostilities. The first was the surveyor Todd, murdered on Mt Pirongia in 1870. The second was the tomahawking of Mr Lyon, a farm hand at Orakau on the Government side of the Puniu River. The third was the decapitation of farm labourer Timothy O'Sullivan near Roto-o-Rangi on 25 April 1873 by Hau Hau. The killer was Purukutu, who cut out O'Sullivan's heart and cut off his head with the intension of giving it to one of the Maori King's wives, but she was not impressed. This area did not become fully integrated with the rest of New Zealand until 1885 when there was a split between the King and his Maniapoto hosts over the issue of land sales. The area is still known as the King Country.