The Heart of the King

Greys intention was always to destroy the base of the King.

That meant advancing into the Waikato and attacking him in his Turangawaiwai. His motives were simple. Remove the King and he would remove the one obstacle to establishing (his) hegemony over the country.

Colonial Administrators wanted more. Much, much, more.

Russell and Whitaker dominated the Government but also had a personal reason for wanting to invade and confiscate Maori land.Their small cabal of investors were envious of the Maori farms which supplied Auckland and the Australian colonies with produce. They saw great potential if this land could be acquired cheaply (Confiscation is about as cheap as you can get) and then sold at a profit to the ever growing number of settlers arriving in the colony. Maori farms remained communally owned and the Waikato was the seat of the Kingite ‘Land League’ which stubbornly refused to become alienated from any more of its land.

The Settler Government acquired the £3m loan which paid for the arrival of the ‘Fencibles’, militia who would be paid for their service to the Government with grants of land in the confiscated areas, fulfilling two goals. This force meant the Settler government could show that they were playing their part in the war as well as providing a long term force capable of mobilisation at a moments notice (The NZ version of the Minute men?)

The invasion itself went slowly. General Cameron was a professional soldier who had a distinguished career, he was expected to crush the Kingites in short order. The Great South Road made it easy for him to shift men and supplies to the Waikato but not into it. Progress was slow and made even slower by Maori attacks on the fringes of Auckland. This necessitated leaving soldiers behind to protect both Auckland and the supply lines. It took three months to reach Meremere.In some respects Maori tactics had been to successful. A force of 1500 warriors had erected the Meremere line and waited patiently for the British to arrive. But 3 months was to long and many had been forced to return home, leaving a force to small to defend the fortifications. After a brief fire-fight, which included Maori use of artillery, the defenders melted back into the forest and Cameron marched on.

To Rangiriri, which was again a massive set of fortifications (amongst the worlds largest according to Belich) which ran between the river and a Lake forcing the British to attack head on. Because they controlled the river they were able to land troops behind the line and attack from both sides. Despite this advantage the Maori held out, repulsing several attacks at least one of which reached the central redoubt before being pushed back.The next morning under what the Maori claimed was a flag of truce, the British captured 180 Maori, the rump of the army that had initially been prepared to fight them – the rest had again disappeared. Not surprisingly within 18 months almost all of these prisoners had escaped.

Cameron marched on.He captured the empty Ngaruawahia, capital of the King. He then reached a third line of fortifications. This was the Paterangi line, even bigger than those at Rangiriri. Intelligence said this was defended by a far larger force than at the previous battle. If a few defenders could hold him back there what could a larger force in better prepared positions do? Cameron decided to repeat his tactics, and bypassed the line by landing at Rangiaowhia, a village the Maori believed to be neutral.

Many old people and children were killed when the whare caught alight during the fighting here. It is here that John Bryce won his medal for bravery (we’ll talk about this later) Afterwards when Cameron advanced on Paterangi he again found it abandoned.

The King and most of his followers had again vanished travelling south into the fastness of the Maniapoto

Forcing the Issue - Crossing the Mangatawhiri

Grey returned perhaps expecting that his old policies (Flour & Sugar) would continue to work. Maori and Pakeha relations had changed with the Settlers determined to enforce the dominance of the British empire and their right to wastelands. Maori for their part appear determined to retain control of their lands, and Greys platitudes no longer worked.

Grey wanted to attack the King but lacked necessary resources. In particular he needed more troops. He could get some troops from local militia but not the thousands of professional troops he wanted. (New 2008) Grey had seen the Wars in the North and Taranaki falter and fail because of a lack of logistical suport and a lack of manpower. To create a sound infrastructure for an invasion he constructed the Great South Road. This led directly from Auckland to the banks of the Mangatawhiri Stream. A regiment could diisembark at Queen Street and virtually march directly into battle if necessary.. Grey just nneded the troops.

The Imperial Government would not give him troops without good reason. Grey had no valid reason so he lied. Then he lied some more, and some more. In the ‘wars’ video Belich mentions the drunken rambling of the Maori called Whare who talked about a planned attack on Auckland. It was this ‘threat’ that Grey continued to hammer on about, much as Busby had harped on about the French threat in the 1830’s.

Why the Maori would attack their best market Grey never explained. What they would achieve by driving the Pakeha out of New Zealand was never explained. However I guess within the Colonial Office the idea that natives might resent them and want to kill them wasn’t far from their thoughts (of course they would be confirmed in the Indian Mutiny of 1857). So the Colonial Office sent troops, lots and lots of troops. Thousands of troops.

As 1862 moved into 1863 Greys war machine grew,

The Government for its own part took out a £3m loan secured by the promise of confiscated lands. It recruited troops from Australia on the promise of free land. While Dommett was Premier he was supported by Russell and Whitaker as representative of Auckland pushed hard for the war and would profit spectacularly from the confiscations.

So Grey assured Maori he did not seek war but would ‘dig around the King’. Meanwhile he built his army and then built the Great South Road pointing into the heart of the Waikato.
Once he had an army capable of defeating the King, Grey set about starting the war. The Mangatawhiri Stream lay on the Kings border, north was settler Auckland, south was the Kingitanga. Crossing the stream meant war.

In July he crossed the stream but backdated the declaration that any Maori who did not acknowledge the Queens authority would be in rebellion.

The Waikato War had started.

Moodle

We haven't really mentioned the Moodle site. This is mainly because access to the Com labs has become next to impossible. There are some useful resources stored here for you to access. There are a number of text files here on topics that This includes What is especially useful are the media files I've scavenged including some video and audio files. For the NZ Wars there is audio on George Grey and also an interview with Matthew Wright. You should also use the Forums to ask me and others questions about the topics.

NB You can only access the Moodle site if you have a login & password for the WHS Computer Network. 

Missionaries Essay

As promised here is the brief plan I constructed to help you:

1 - Why were the Missionaries in NZ?

Conversion of Heathens
Assiting in the expansion of the Empire
Humanitarianism - ensuring the Heathens were fairly treated by the Europeans
Duty - covers both of the previous two...

2. - Who were the Missionaries

Samuel Marsden and the CMS
Thomas Kendall Hall and King
William Williams et al.
the WMS
the Catholics

3. - Why was conversion difficult before 1830?

Marsdens policies - Civilise and Convert and the ban on the sale of Muskets
Kendall's personality (or lack of)
Hika's Personality/Influence - Maori Tribal structure /Trip to London
Maori society still appeared to be strong and vibrant

4 - Why did conversions suddenly take off in the 1830's?

Arrival of Williams in 1826
Death of Hika in 1828
War Weariness 20,000 dead
Disease and apparent strength of European Gods
Education - especially of slaves ("Slaves Religion")
Synthesis ie Papahurihia
Release of Slaves in early 1830's

5 - Maori in 1815 (this could in fact come straight after the introduction)

Heirarchical society
Polygamous
Warfare is endemic
Slavery
Cannibalism
tatooing/body painting
Utu and Tapu main methods of social control

Polytheistic Religion (many Gods)

6. Change in Society and Religion

How did Christianity change some or all of the above? (this part should still come just before the conclusion)

Comments are usually valued...

Is nice to hear from people who have found the blog useful especially students from other schools. Almost universally they are supportive and thankful.

Brooke Palmer thought otherwise. I have chosen not to publish your comments Brooke, but if you'd like to expand or explain your views I'll reconsider.... because "sucks" and "gayest" covers such a wide range of things. If I don't hear back I'll delete this post and your comments.

Cheers

The Taranaki

Welcome back I hope you had a good holiday and have come back refreshed and ready.

The end of the Wellington Wars did not settle anything in particular apart from enforcing the NZ Companys claims to land around some of its settlements. Grey stayed until called to South Africa. At that point he allowed a new Constitution to be introduced. This established the Provincial System. At last the settlers had a voice in Government but to their annoyance the Governor retained control over Native affairs, denying them access to Maori land. Land (via pre-emption) remained under the control of the Governor.

Despite this Maori land continued to be alienated. Donald McLean acting on behalf of the Governor was able to buy large areas of land, but not in areas which were most desired by settlers (especially in the Taranaki) remained out of their reach.
In a reaction to the continued loss of land and the consequent loss of rangatiratanga and mana over their land some Maori began to seek an alternative. The Queen represented the Pakeha, Maori should have their own King. Eventually Te Wherwhero accepted the mantle becoming King Potatau.

The Kingitanga represented a challenge to settler aspirations and the Governments purse. For settlers it also represented a defiance of British control of New Zealand. They could not countenance a separatist King in a British New Zealand.
The King and his supporters saw it in a different light. Besides now representing Maori (the red, black and white threads) he was keen to work with the Government. Because of the perceived threat the Governors however lost faith in him.

Governor Gore Brown it seems was determined to force the issue of who controlled the country. When Teira offered him land at Waitara it seemed a golden opportunity to show the power of Britain. Unfortnately Teira had only a minor claim to the area. Wiremu Kingi (te Atiawa) had a stronger claim and so did the Waikato who had driven the Te Atiawa off the land during the Musket Wars.

When the war broke out the British and settlers found themselves surrounded and penned into New Plymouth. The ring of modern Pa which encircled the town became a challenge which first Colonel Gold then General Pratt unsuccessfully attacked with cannon then sap.

Neither seemed to appreciate the tactic that kept them occupied with relatively unimportant military targets. The war meandered along with the Maori out-digging the Imperial Troops.
The involvement of Kingitanga warriors appeared to confirm the Pakeha belief that the King intended to enforce a Land League and to stand in the way of British law by stopping the sale by Teira of the Waitara. The challenge to the rule of law seems to have been a Government preoccupation, as many settlers recognised the weakness of Teiras claim to the land.The end of the war was claimed as victory by the returning Grey although his failure to punish the ‘rebels’ seems to indicate the weak case that they had and their inability to defeat an enemy who would not stay still. As it happens Grey believed he needed to strike at the heart of Maori resistance – the King in the Waikato