NZ Wars: Stories of Tauranga Moana | Documentary | RNZ

He one pū, he oneone, kore rawa au e whakaae, kia riro tōku whaenua e! The Tauranga campaign, which lasted six months in 1864, is the violent conclusion to the brutal and devastating battle for Waikato. And once again, it is an epic fight for the very future of Aotearoa New Zealand. This is a hugely significant series of conflicts that continue to be felt and experienced in many ways. The story calls it the Tauranga campaign, but in reality it is much bigger than that. It will cover the entire Bay of Plenty and beyond. Tribe will face tribe. Christian on Christian, invader against defender.

We have

stories

of elderly women who were not quick enough to leave the areas and were beaten to death. And then some real moms. You will see remarkable moments of courage, compassion, victory and defeat. In the heat of battle kindness and also courage were shown. Many details of what happened are lost. What is not lost is the magnitude of the emotion our people felt. And the shock waves reverberate throughout our history to this day. Kia ora, I am Mihingarangi Forbes. Join me for Tauranga Moana

stories

. Te Tauranga o ngā waka. Tauranga, the safe anchorage of many waka.

Mauao, Mount Maunganui watches over the port and its history. This rohe was home to Ngai Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Pukenga, Waitaha. And it is on its past that the present is built. Tauranga is one of Aotearoa's fastest growing cities, and that growth begins in the mid-19th century with a thriving Māori economy. Until the 1860s, trade was great. We are exporting flax, we are exporting potatoes, pigs and kumara. Many of the hapu in Tauranga have their own boats, so we ship our products to the Auckland market and also to Sydney. Maori know how to read and write.

They are embracing writing, they are embracing commerce. And so, until 1864, there was a feeling of camaraderie not only between Māori and Pākehā, but also between Māori and Māori. It seems like a bright future at the time. But all that is about to change. In 1863, the imperial invasion of neighboring Waikato is in full swing. And the settler government has its eyes firmly set on Tauranga. Tauranga is of interest for several reasons. One, because Tauranga is a route where supplies of men, food and other supplies, and even weapons, are sent to the Kiingitanga forces in Waikato, via the Kaimai Ranges.

There are other reasons why the Crown is also interested in this district. And one is that the lands are very fertile. Tauranga has one of the best harbors on the entire east coast of the North Island, which also makes it an attractive proposition. Tauranga is therefore already essentially destined for future confiscation. Waikato is going through a tough time. What we need to do is take some of that pressure off our king, some of that pressure off our relatives in Waikato. So we started to build our pā so that we can invite Pākehā to come here.

At the beginning of January 1864, both sides were motivated to open a new front, but for very different reasons. The Māori begin construction of their battle pā, while the British send 600 troops here to the Church Missionary Society grounds in Tauranga. The orders are: establish a military position, do not engage the enemy. Not until we've dealt with Waikato. At the same time, at Tawhitinui, just 13 kilometers west of the British camp, Māori are hard at work, building the first of what will be a series of pā battles. The purpose is twofold: to attract colonial troops and to defend the Wairere route, the critical main supply line over the Kaimai fields, delivering fighters and food to the front line in Waikato.

But the British know little or nothing about it. Tawhitinui is the first pā site. Yes. Who was involved? So this was all Ngāti Haua, Te Waharoa. All of those came. They came to build it as part of the alliances of that time. We built it here to defend the Wairere, which had strategic value. Tawhitinui literally means far away. So it was too far away. In reality, it was of no strategic importance to the Pākehā, who did not really know the advantages of the Wairere route. So what would have happened next? We move inland towards the city where you are now.

Finally, we will reach Pōteriwhi along the Wairoa River. We build a pā there and then send another invitation. Come to Tauranga. Come and fight us here. The British did not commit to these various challenges because Lieutenant General Cameron wanted to achieve victory at Waikato in the first place and once he did that, the opportunity opened up to take those troops to Tauranga and do the same. thing there. And that's what he was waiting for. And that is why he had given orders to the troops stationed in Tauranga to remain on the defensive in the meantime.

The hui was held at Pōteriwhi, on the banks of the Wairoa River. All combatants come together to strategize. And then everyone decided it would be in Pukehinahina. And then they began to prepare to do the work. Two rangatira are tasked with building the combat pā in Pukehinahina. Rāwiri Puhirake, the battle tactician. And engineer Pene Taka Tuaia, who is credited with the remarkably innovative design of it. But this time the fighting pā is too close to the British Te Papa camp to ignore. Pene Taka had seen 20 years earlier, in the Northern Expeditions, the damage that British artillery could really cause.

Entire fortifications in half a day and how to create fortifications or strategies to really give us a fighting chance. And then what he would create was actually a labyrinth of underground bunkers and hidden bunkers. Trenches, many corners too. That way, when shooting with a musket, there are a lot of places to hide and hide in corners, etc., not a lot of straight spaces to be able to take down. They were dug deep and the kōrero is that once you dug deep, you dug deeper. There was a large pā that was about 80m long and had about 200 defenders, and they were from the local iwi, Ngai Te Rangi, Ngāti Rangunui and some Ngāti Pūkenga.

Then there was a smaller fortification about 30 meters away, which was connected by a covered tunnel in which there were about 30 people. Many of them were from Ngāti Koheriki. Not only was the design innovative, but the tactics that would be used to defend the pā would also baffle the British. Such was his brilliance. Rawiri Puhirake is the commander, the highest-ranking combat rangatira. In Pukehinahina we have the preeminent rangatira who dominates our narrative now, Rawiri Puhirake. Rawiri Puhirake, as a child, was taken from Tauranga in the Ngāpuhi raids and, as far as we know, Rawiri Puhirake is taking part in the construction or perhaps even the battles at Ruapekapeka in Ōhaeawai.

And he is learning the art of war with musket and cannon. It doesn't look like much today, but this is the site of one of the largest fighting Pā ever built during the New Zealand Wars. Pukehinahina, or Pa Gate, as it is known because it was once the gateway between Church Mission and Māori land. But it is also notable in our history for a very different reason. This man, Henare Taratoa. He knows how to read and write. He is a formidable warrior in his own right. Henare Taratoa helps formulate a revolutionary moral and ethical code of conduct for battle based on the Christian values ​​in which he has been raised.

Henare Taratoa had trained at Saint John's Theological College in Auckland. And really, the next logical step was for him to go ahead and become a priest. But it was said that he had a somewhat fiery temperament and was not considered the right type of character to take that definitive step. He becomes an Anglican priest. And he was at the Otaki Mission station with Octavius ​​Hadfield, the missionary there. He returned to his home in Tauranga in 1864 when he learned that war was imminent in the district. Taratoa, who wrote the commitment code in the most beautiful English you can find.

Who else would start a letter with greetings? To the colonel. Friend. Greetings to you. Do you pay attention to our laws to regulate fighting? Rule one. If wounded or captured and the butt of a musket or the hilt of a sword is turned towards me, he will be saved. Rule two. If there are any Pākehā... Henare Taratoa's code of conduct sets out several rules for fighting. And that includes that those who surrender will be treated well. They will not be harmed, and non-combatants, women and children will not be harmed. And the wounded will be respected and cared for.

It's actually quite a remarkable document because the first Geneva Convention was signed months later, in August 1864, and a number of things in it are actually anticipated in this code of conduct that the Māori in Tauranga themselves devised. They had their rules of engagement. Which was clearly written by the religious sectors, and it was largely Henare Taratoa and Te Kereti and all of them. And they were the Catholics, the Anglicans. It was about helping the wounded. That came from the Bible, from Romans. If your enemy is thirsty, give him a drink. It just showed that our Tupuna believe that, deep down, people are people and they need to be cared for.

Even my enemy. From an indigenous people, write that rule of regulation of the fight and how we would behave in an honorable manner. Written in both the native language and English, I think it is a moment in history that we should be very proud of. Yes. The Maori will scrupulously observe the code of conduct in the bloody battles to come. But as for the British officers... The British officers didn't really know what to do with the code of conduct. They were just baffled by it. So they didn't respond formally. They basically ignored him. At the same time as battle lines are being drawn at Pukehinahina Gate Pā, another dramatic turn of events is unfolding 50 K's down the coast at Maketū.

A flotilla of war canoes has arrived from Te Tairāwhiti. About 700 warriors; Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Whakatōhea. Decided to pass through Te Arawa lands to join the next fight in Tauranga. During the early months of 1864 there were tauā from the east coast who attempted to reach Tauranga and, anyhow, until April 1864, finally to Waikato. Some Te Arawa iwi are equally determined not to let that happen. In the middle is the British stronghold of Maketu. When the wargroup attacks, Te Arawa, join the Imperial troops and rangers and counterattack, while HMS Falcon and Steamer Sandfly pummel the attackers.

Ngāti Porou, Whānau-a-Apanui, Whakatōhea want to get here. But they were blocked by Te Arawa at Maketū, a major battle at Kaokaoroa. And so they were on their way to help Tauranga in particular and then go to Waikato and help as well. For tauā to pass through rohe, someone else's rohe, they're usually under, you know, ngā kawa or Tūmātauenga. If that tauā meets someone on the way in te ara or Tū, then he has to go through te kawa or Tūmātauenga with that meeting. The tauā who are so desperately needed in Tauranga are forced to retreat along the coast in continuous skirmishes.

And of the 700 who left, at least 100 are killed or injured. In Tauranga, the British war machine arrives in force, battle-hardened by the Waikato campaign. The commander of the Imperial forces, Lieutenant General Duncan Cameron, takes charge personally. He assembles a force of 1,700 soldiers. After the Battle of Orākau ended on 2 April 1864, he saw the opportunity for a decisive victory at Tauranga. Then Cameron does a reconnaissance of the pā on April 27 and is quite disappointed by what he sees. There is little wood available in the district, so the palisades and fences around the pā are quite flimsy. It's not something Cameron is intimidated by at all.

Cameron's confidence is not surprising. The Maori are fighting the world's only superpower at the time, and have some of the heaviest artillery ever fired in anger at New Zealand, including 110-pounder Armstrong cannons. Which is an enormously powerful weapon. Maori rely on karakia, courage and cunning. Rawiri Puhirake is the one who stood on the walls of Pukehinahina saying "Kia ū, kia ū te manawa rere!" And it's very visual and really audible in Pukehinahina for the British. Manawa rere! Rawiri Puhirake we can see that purpose in the strategy that; One, they would outnumber us and two, they would outgun us.

Most of the weapons we had were hunting rifles and double-barreled shotguns, or the term we give them, tūpara. So the only effect you'll get from them is really close range. Because the Maori at that time were very, very skilled in hand-to-hand combat, we can deal with close range combat. The favorite weapon for us would be the short handled Tomahawk. And, in a close combat trench, it is effective. So pā was designed, set up to really cause confusion once the enemy was inside, and a strategy that should be employed to withstand that long-range assault. When dawn dawned soggy and humid on April 29, 1864, the fiercest artillery bombardment ever seen on New Zealand soilis about to be unleashed.

He will shake his new faith to its core. The moment so vividly remembered years later by Ngāi Te Rangi rangatira, Hori Ngatai. The British column approached to within 500 meters of our front. Where they mounted their weapons and pitched tents. Soon there was a flash and a roar. The projectiles from the big gun flew whistling like a kehua over our heads. The big guns fired and bombarded our position. From time to time we were suffocated by the earth thrown up by the exploding shells and the rain that had fallen soon turned to mud to add to our suffering.

Ihakara, who is our tipuna, had her head cut off. At most, 250 warriors defend Pukehinahina against a combined force of 1,700. Among the graphic accounts was one of a Maori Christian minister disemboweled in the middle of a prayer. The large cannons felled Christian tōhunga, scattering his body all over the place. One of our tattooed veterans had leaned his gun against the earthworks and went to pick it up and discovered that some of the dead minister's intestines were wrapped around the barrels, a grim joke, even at the muzzle, the old warrior uttered: "He hinu anō kai roto i te pūrepo ā te Pākehā!" The bombardment continues without stopping until four in the afternoon.

Then comes the order to advance for the 300-man British assault group. The assault party gallantly rushed to the attack. We then shot them when they came within range. Still, they charged with bayonets fixed and swords brandished, cheering as they went. They ran through the broken walls. They entered the ruins of the largest pā. Most of it was in his possession. But suddenly the course of the war changed. The assault group of 300 men. They enter the pā and for a moment assume that they have taken it. Just moments later, this incredible fire rains down on them, and many of the men don't know where it comes from.

It's coming from the occupants of the pā, hidden beneath them in these bunkers, who are firing through the ground. A devastating volley and then brutal hand-to-hand combat. The men fell en masse and quickly. Tomahawk met saber and bayonet: tūpara met rifle and pistol. Skulls were cracked, Māori were pierced with bayonets, and Ngāi Te Rangi axes were driven deep into white heads and shoulders. The place was soon filled with the dying and the dead, Pākehā and Māori. It was a terrible job. Of the 300 men, 31 are killed, including ten officers, which is an incredibly high proportion of officers.

Another 80 are wounded, so in total about a third of that force ends up as victims. And, at this time, the British army is not supposed to retreat in a chaotic and confused manner like it did here, even leaving behind seriously wounded and dying men inside the pā. So this was seen as a huge shame and humiliating defeat for them. (haka) In London, the surprising defeat received surprisingly critical coverage, while the very motivation for the war in the distant colony is left in doubt. It is impossible to discount the fact that the true cause of the war lies in the greed of the English settlers for their neighbors' lands.

That territorial greed that we denounce in the French, Germans and Russians. But to which we give free license when we come into contact with the dark man. Oh. Help me. The blood-soaked scene at Pukehinahina leaves the British High Command humiliated and unable to explain why. Once again, they have seriously underestimated their enemy and have paid a very, very high price. Lives lost, but also legends created and the smallest pā, 30 meters away, the wahine toa Hēni Te Kiri Karamu - that's what she is like in old age - forges her place in history. She had previously fought in the Waikato War.

She was at Paparata when it was attacked by gamekeepers in December 1863. It was said that she had followed her brother to Pukehinahina and that they had arrived the day before, on 28 April, with a Ngāti Koheriki force. They had occupied the smaller fortification there, and although the women had helped build the Pā Gate, Hōri Ngātai said that they were moved to safety before the fighting began, so Hēni is the exception to that. She later remembered that she loved her brother so much that she wanted to stay by her side whether they lived or died.

She is one of the most prominent toa wahine of the New Zealand

wars

and was present in a number of conflicts throughout the 1860s. Later in the afternoon. Hēni Te Kiri Karamu, the only woman inside the pā, sees injured men lying around asking for water. In the heat of the battle that was taking place at that time, still, she showed kindness and also showed courage. The chivalry she showed herself after the battle where our enemy would lie, dying on the battlefield. We would stay true to the code of conduct drafted by Henare and go out to deliver water to those dying officers.

One of the high-ranking British officers is Colonel Booth. And he's there dying, and he asks for water, and she brings him water in an iron can. She speaks to him in English. Thank you. Thank you. She thinks it's a reflection of the grace we would show each other. And the courage to do it in the midst of that kind of fear on the battlefield. During the night, the pā's Māori occupants evacuate. They had achieved their purpose. They had inflicted a crushing and humiliating defeat on the British. When the British enter the pā the next day, they are not quite sure what to expect.

Booth is still alive. He talks about how well he was treated and how well some of the other men treated him. They discover that the Māori had respected the code of conduct that Henare Taratoa had devised, and that many ways had gone beyond that in terms of Hēni risking her own life to bring water to seriously wounded British officers and men. That is why the British recognize and acknowledge that incredible chivalry shown during the conflict. Having slipped away in the middle of the night, Pukehinahina's defenders remain a real and present threat. While the volatile situation in neighboring Waikato is far from resolved.

At their military camp at Te Papa (and there are still traces of it in the CBD) the British are in a defensive holding pattern. 900 soldiers remain in place, while the general and almost half of the invasion force leave for Auckland. But the Maori are still armed and at large. Colonel Henry Greer is now in command. Just two months after the Pukehinahina disaster, he learns that another pā battle is underway, this time at Te Ranga, just ten kilometers away. Now Greer has the advantage of surprise and goes on the offensive. Early on June 21, and without hesitation, he marches towards a pā that is not yet ready for battle and that still houses women and children who help in its construction.

What Rāwiri Puhirake was trying to do was to get the British out of his base at Te Papa, because the British were taking over the mission station there. That was his headquarters. He hoped to involve them in a conflict there. The problem was the point at which, at this stage, Colonel Greer attacked the site; the pā was still a long way from being completed. The people have returned, they have done what they needed to do in their kāinga, and now we will all return and congregate at Te Ranga. And Puhirake has said that Te Ranga will be our next booth.

Te Ranga, like Pukehinahina, is also another strategic location on the top of a plateau that crosses the plateau and blocks the path between another ara between Tauranga and Waikato. During the construction of Te Ranga, we have tamariki there, we have wahine there, we have people there who have no intention of participating in the fight. They are only there to help the people who are digging the pā. They need to be fed and they need housing. It's more like a town. Colonel Greer estimates that he is facing a force of 600 people. He knows from bitter experience that he must act immediately.

He knew what Cameron said. Don't let them get in. You can't take them out. Then, he said to his men, attack. Then they started up that six-pounder and fired it at the families and the men that were there. But there are far fewer fighters than Greer expects. In fact, the Maori defenders are outnumbered, outgunned and alone. As far as Te Ranga was concerned, we had 140. All the other iwi, for some reason, thought they had done enough. There is no need to fight anymore. The rest of us who fought there carried the can after that. There are also many stories about how they were attacked and then chased as they sought to escape, and how they would dive into some of the ravines below and still not escape that fate.

And they would shoot them when they crossed streams. When our people talk about Te Ranga on the marae, in our own environment, we never talk about it as if it were an honorable battle. It is a huge and sad period for our people. Two hours after opening fire on Māori lines and eager to avenge their humiliation at Gate Pā, British forces launch a full frontal assault. The Maori defenders, short of ammunition, decide to make a surprisingly brave last stand. When they left, the British troops simply went ahead and walked towards them. And we stood there marching forward and we just took our own lives and we all died at Te Ranga.

Our men are falling. One of the British troops leaned over and said to one of our men: "You could see we were an overwhelming force. Why didn't you stop?" And that’s when he says, “Me mate ahau mō te whenua.” At least 120 dead. Among them Rawiri Puhirake, hero of Pukehinahina and Henare Taratoa, whose Bible and historic code of conduct are still on his body. There was an expectation that the rules for how we would meet on the battlefield would continue after Pukehinahina. We had adhered to that code of conduct. We had not deviated from it. And so we had in no way felt that our enemy should and would do it.

At Te Ranga we lost much of our leadership. The mamae that our people felt and also the anger that our people felt. And I think that has also had a big impact, a big impact on our people. He aha rā te ao e hora nei Ka kore noa ahau i a koe Nā te aha ra koe i moumou atu ai. Ko te kura. Ko te kura koti where. He onekura toto te whakangarotanga Ki te riu o te whenua The desolate landscapes of Te Ranga, photographed shortly after the battle. Ten years later, with the Earth barely settled, both warriors will be unearthed and buried in the old Mission Cemetery in Tauranga, as a sign of respect.

On the 50th anniversary of their deaths at the Battle of Te Ranga, this was erected and a large crowd, over a thousand people, attended the anniversary opening. And it commemorates the chivalrous conduct of the Maori leader and his people which so impressed his contemporaries at the time. They were both initially buried at Te Ranga, about ten years later they were reinterred in the cemetery, and then this impressive monument was unveiled for them. Why are they here? Because often in war stories we hear that Māori are not buried in urupā like that and not among Pākehā soldiers.

Well, I think it speaks to the respect that Europeans had for them. In particular, incidents such as the one here commemorated on the marble frieze of bringing water to the dying Colonel Booth. Rawiri Puhirake asks for help from behind, and obviously that contains some historical inaccuracies, since he is a water fetching man and is using a gourd instead of an iron can. And he is not Heeni Te Kiri Karamu. It's not Heeni Te Kiri Karamu. No. And interestingly enough, Colonel Booth is right over there. Yes. Colonel Booth rests very close to here. But respect for the dead does not extend to the living.

For Māori, the price of defying the British will be devastating. Raupatu: massive land confiscation by the Crown. But iwi who lay down their arms and surrender lose far less land than those who do not. Our people suffered greatly after the raupatu. They really did it because they took away their land, they took away everything that gave them an economic basis. Tēnā rā koutou e nga tūpuna e, ki a koe rā e to tātou taonga te awa tipua o Te Wairoa e… For the people of Te Wairoa Marae, named after the river, the legacy of confiscation literally hits home every year. days.

Ko te ingoa o tēnei whenua ko te Severance Block. What was that for? Because, as you can see, that road is cut right by the land on this side and the land on that side, which is one block. So what we have is all this traffic and huge trucks coming and going. They pass by our marae I ngā wā o mua, when we had tangihanga, we always took the tūpāpaku outside on the last day, the rā nehu, but we don't do that anymore. You know why? Because ko te hoihoi o ngā waka, i runga i te huarahi matua, kāre mātou i whakarongo ki ngā kōrero o ngā kuia o ngā koroua.

So it's been very, very difficult. The war does not end in Te Ranga. Those who refuse to surrender carry the fight until 1867 and beyond, in what history calls "The Bush Campaign" or as the Maori call it "Te Werenga" - "The Burning" - In 1866, the British began to withdraw progressively his troops from NewZeeland. , and after that, colonial troops and their Māori allies were solely responsible for waging

wars

on behalf of the Crown. So British troops no longer had any role in that. And in some ways, one of the consequences of this is that wars also take on a harsher and more racially tinged aspect.

Captain Gilbert Mair (on the left) leads an irregular force made up of mostly young Maori fighters in a three-month guerrilla campaign against the so-called rebels. Te Weranga is largely unreported in colonial records. But in some Maori accounts it is a rampage of scorched earth, murder, rape and looting. I think part of the pain is also that, as you know, many of our extended whānau were employed at that time to hunt down our other tupuna. And so it's a very dark time in our stories here at Tauranga Moana. One of the things about the Tauranga Bush campaign is that it is not very well documented.

So many of the stories about this history probably belong to the tribal custodians of that knowledge. There are not many detailed reports about what is happening on the ground. Te Weranga for us is a time when the established rules, the chivalry, the code of conduct established by Taratoa and his ilk are really just thrown out the window. Te Weranga was a very treacherous time. The force would come in, take those people out, and burn everything left behind. Therefore, all the crop fields would be decimated in the process. And that's probably a really PG way of saying it.

Our accounts are tragic. We have stories of elderly women who were not quick enough to leave the areas and were beaten to death. Just real travesties happening within the kainga with our women. And then some real moms. That mamae is so severe that the kind of intergenerational trauma that still exists means that we don't like to pass on much of that kōrero to the next generation because of how much it hurts. Many of the details of what happens during Te Weranga are lost. What is not lost is the magnitude of the emotion that our people felt, and still feel these days, over what happened in the Tauranga Bush - Te Weranga Campaign.

In today's Tauranga, the symbols of the past are still very present. Embedded in the ancient pā site of Pukehinahina are the stories of Rawiri Puhirake and Henare Taratoa and his revolutionary code of conduct. Maori cavalry. The honor shown on the battlefield, so exemplified by Heni Te Kiri Karamu: “if your enemy is thirsty, give him water.” And in the church mission cemetery. The old adversaries lie side by side in an apparent show of respect and unity. But time has not healed. Not precisely. Between the suffering from loss of land, the suffering from loss of identity, the loss of language, which are huge things, you know, identity is what unites us to people and place.

An individual without knowing who they are... More or less condemned to wander the earth disconnected. And so it's a really sad fate for many of our whānau. Machinations of the Crown that resulted in Maori fighting Maori. The pain still burns. The agreement over the vast tracts of land that were confiscated is not fully resolved and is still mired in acrimony. As far as I'm concerned, kei te haere tonu te pakanga. It has simply transformed into something more, yes. And which is a little scarier because it's like everything looks good on the surface, but that's what's going on underneath.

You ask me the question, who won the war? I would like to say that we won the war and that we will eventually win it. But will it be in my time? New Zealand's wars don't end with the Tauranga campaign and Moana, far from it. More fighting will break out elsewhere in the coming years. What it does signal is the end of a brutal and punishing campaign that began in Waikato in 1863. That, and the inevitable loss of land, mana and hope for Tauranga Moana's tangata whenua. A legacy that endures even now.