War in the North

on 17^th June 1843 an unfortunate event dealt a grave blow to British prestige, which, far more than military strength, maintained the peace in early New Zealand. An attempt to enforce a doubtful land claim led to the fatal clash between the famous fighting chiefs, Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata, and a small force of Nelson settlers, a conflict usually known as the Wairau Massacre. More than twenty white men were killed in this clumsy affray.

The Wairau encounter had a bad effect on opinion throughout the country. It emboldened the Ngapuhi chief, Hone Heke, the young relative of the great Maori warrior, Hongi, to indulge in what was as much as anything a sporting trial of strength with the new rulers of .New Zealand. The War was slow in beginning. Heke cut down the symbol of British sovereignty, the flagstaff at Kororareka, four times altogether, the first time in July 1844. Troops were summoned from Sydney, but when they arrived Governor FitzRoy accepted the assurances of Waaka Nene, the leader of the loyal section of the Ngapuhi tribe, that he could restrain Heke, and sent the soldiers back to Australia. But on llth March 1845 Heke and the older chief, Kawiti, well armed, took the field in earnest. On that day they sacked the trading settlement of Kororareka after a sharp encounter with about 150 soldiers, sailors from H.M.S. Hazard, and volunteer civilians, whose resistance cracked when the key blockhouse had fallen to the Maori and when their ammunition dump had been accidentally exploded.

A Militia Ordinance of 1845 made able bodied males liable to serve, but few were enlisted under it, for more troops soon arrived from Sydney and under Lieutenant-Colonel Hulme and later Colonel Despard attacked the Maori in their fortified pas. The 400 white troops had great difficulties with communications and supply in the heavy bush of the southern Bay of Islands district. Hulme was assisted by several hundred loyal Ngapuhi under Waaka Nene, but refused his ally’s advice and unsuccessfully ^attacked Okaihau Pa in its strongest part. When Despard attacked Ohaea-wai Pa, he had procured artillery from Australia, but this did not batter down the walls of this typical example of the Maori’s skill in fortification. An attempt at a direct assault failed with great loss. In November Governor Grey had replaced FitzRoy, and he assisted Despard in person in the attack on the last Maori stronghold, Ruapeka-peka. Grey was furnished with money and men that his predecessor had wished for in vain. In January 1846 a force of some 1,200 soldiers and sailors, supported by Waaka Nene’s men, took the pa, but although it had been heavily bombarded, it did not fall till the defenders were engaged at their Sunday devotions.

Grey consolidated a wise peace. In 1846 the settlers in the Wellington district were having trouble with Te Rangihaeata. Troops and friendly natives broke his resistance at the battle of Horo-kiwi. After some fighting at Wanganui in 1847 this first phase of inter-racial conflict came to an end. It proved the military ability of the Maori, their skill in fortification, and their chivalrous quixotry which led them to forbear cutting off their opponent’s food supply and to abandon strong pas after successfully defending them.