Ngātapa - December 1868 to January 1869
A DigitalNZ Story by Janice
A set of images, articles and a video on the battle between Colonel Whitmore and his forces against Te Kooti and his patrol at Ngātapa.
5 December
The initial assault on Ngātapa began on 5 December 1868. The outer defence works were captured but then the force ran short of ammunition. Rāpata and his men fought on through the night.
Source: 'Ngātapa', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/te-kootis-war/ngatapa, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 5-Apr-2019
Sections of Ngatapa Pa, Poverty Bay,
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Plan of Ngatapa Pā, 1868-69
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Plan of Ngatapa Pa, Poverty Bay, taken by Colonel Whitmore from Hau Hau and Te Kooti
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
New Year's Eve - 1868
Whitmore and a combined force of Te Arawa and Armed Constabulary waited for Rāpata’s return. The assault on Ngātapa was resumed on New Year’s Eve.
Source: 'Ngātapa', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/te-kootis-war/ngatapa, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 5-Apr-2019
Colonel Whitmore led the Armed Constabulary at Ngāpata.
Photograph: Colonel Whitmore
Canterbury Museum
Wahawaha led the Ngāti Porou forces in the capture of Te Kooti's defensive fortification of Ngātapa
Rāpata Wahawaha and Thomas Porter
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Armed Constabulary, Gisborne
Alexander Turnbull Library
New Zealand Cross recipients
Nine of the 23 recipients of the New Zealand Cross were decorated for their part in actions against Te Kooti and his allies: Rāpata Wahawaha, Sub-Inspector George Preece and Constables Benjamin Biddle and Solomon Black of the Armed Constabulary at Ngātapa; Sergeant George Hill at Mōhaka in April 1869; Cornet Angus Smith at Ōpepe in June 1869; Private Thomas Adamson at Ahikereru (near Te Whāiti) in June 1869; and Captain Gilbert Mair and Sergeant Arthur Carkeek at Rotorua in February 1870.
Source: 'Ngātapa', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/te-kootis-war/ngatapa, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 5-Apr-2019
Accounts of the battle and siege at Ngātapa
What happened before and after the storming of Ngātapa.
OPERATIONS BEFORE NGATAPA. (Wellington Independent, 16 January 1869)
National Library of New Zealand
An account of the battle at Ngātapa.
Ngātapa - Te Kooti's war
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage