Military Campaigns 1867-70

Although the millennium did not occur in January 1865, the teachings of the prophet Te Ua did provide something to hang on to, a cohesive force in the face of the social and political instability generated by war and European colonisation. Pai Marire ritual continued in the villages of the Kaimai Ranges and Hautere. For Europeans these rugged bush-clad hills remained “ hostile ” territory known as “ Hauhau country ” . During 1865 and 1866 negotiations over the Katikati-Te Puna purchase and the boundaries of the confiscated block dragged on (Stokes, 1978). The surveyor, Theophilus Heale, in a memorandum on affairs at Tauranga, 27 June 1865 (AJHR A20, 1867, pp. 13-15) pointed out the need to settle land claims in the district and proceed with the survey and military settlement. This was urgent because “ Pirirakau and other outlying hapus, have adopted the Pai Marire faith but without any offensive disposition ” . There was no open confrontation but threats to survey parties were taken seriously. Matters reached a head in November 1866 when a survey party went out with a large military escort to complete the survey of the boundary of the confiscated block along a line opposed by Pirirakau. James Mackay, Civil Commissioner Auckland, reported on 22 November (AJHR A20, 1867, pp. 28-29) on a meeting where one Ratima, a supporter of Wiremu Tamihana had

made a speech full of pai marireism, and fierce invectives against the Government. He said the day would yet come when the Maoris would regain possession of the country. The God had protected them so far… If they trusted in their God they would yet regain their former sovereignty of Canaan.

Mackay also reported that “ Pirirakau had a Paimarire flag flying at Waiwhatawhata… it was not a fighting flag, only a Paimarire one. ”

The situation was complicated by the arrival of the “ Twelve Apostles of Ngati Porou ” in the area of the Pirirakau villages of Waiwhatawhata, Whakamarama and Te Irihanga. These men were from the Ngati Porou settlements at Mataora and Kennedy ’ s Bay, in the Coromandel Peninsula. It was this “ Te kaumarua party of Hauhaus ” who took away surveyors ’ equipment in the Oropi area in late December 1866 (AJHR A20, 1867, pp. 37-40). Rumours abounded during January 1867 of an imminent attack by Hauhaus who lived in the inland villages, supported by the Ngati Porou party and Hakaraia ’ s Waitaha people from the Te Puke area who were said to be based at Taumata. Clarke reported on 28 January 1866 (AJHR A20, 1867, p. 44), “ It is estimated that the Natives have supplies enough in the ranges for a force of five hundred men for twelve months. ” During February some 280 Arawa troops under Gilbert Mair were called in. Over the next three months in a series of engagements beginning with the Pirirakau villages in the Whakamarama area and the moving to Kaimai, Te Kaki, Paengaroa, Taumata and Oropi (Figure 4), all these villages and their extensive cultivations were systematically destroyed (AJHR A20, 1867, pp. 44-51). Clarke reported on 10 February 1867 that a “ great number of Hauhau flags had been seen flying at Taumata ”. After the destruction of this village “ Hakaraia ’ s great flag, said to have been a gift from the King, was also discovered, together with a large number of Hauhau flags… concealed in the woods. ”