War in Wellington and Whanganui 1845-47

A DigitalNZ Story by National Library of New Zealand Topics

The New Zealand Wars | Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa campaigns in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) and Whanganui were sparked by a growing demand for access to arable land by settlers who, from 1839, had arrived in these areas in increasing numbers. SCIS no. 1966001

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Painting of Boulcott's stockade in Hutt Valley

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Article

War in Wellington - War in Wellington

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

The fight at Battle Hill

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

From an oil-painting by G. Lindauer, in the Municipal Art Gallery, Auckland] — Topine te Mamaku

Victoria University of Wellington

Topine Te Mamaku

Alexander Turnbull Library

Newspaper

WANGANUI. (Wellington Independent, 31 July 1847)

National Library of New Zealand

Newspaper

WANGANUI. (Wellington Independent, 04 August 1847)

National Library of New Zealand

Te Rauparaha

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Te Rauparaha

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Te Rauparaha

Te Rauparaha‘s arrest was a controversial move by Governor George Grey. After the attack on Boucoult’s farm, Grey saw Te Rauparaha as a cause of rising tensions over occupation and ownership of whenua in the Hutt Valley. Even though it was Te Mamaku and his Upper Whanganui river taua that led the Hutt attack Grey decided he couldn’t be trusted and had Te Rauparaha arrested by troops at dawn on May 16th 1846. Te Rauparaha’s son wrote that on seeing his captured father, he told him, ‘Son, go to your tribes and tell them to remain in peace. Do not pay for my arrest with evil, only with that which is good. You must love the Europeans. There was no just cause for my having been arrested..."

Te Rauparaha sketch

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Battle Hill NZ Wars memorial

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Wanganui. New Zealand. October 1847

University of Otago

"Miss Gilfillan, Severely wounded by rebel Natives Apl. 1847"

Puke Ariki

Wanganui N. Zealand.

University of Otago

Article

War in Whanganui - War in Whanganui

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Whanganui in 1841

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Photographer unknown: Memorial to New Zealand Wars in the Hutt Valley

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: McCormick, Arthur David, 1860-1943 :A boy's heroism. 'Awake! Awake!' [1908]

Bugler’s gallantry

This headline refers to the story of a young soldier, William Allen, who blew his bugle to warn his comrades but was cut down during an attack on Boulcott’s farm in 1846. Over the years the story has attracted popular attention, with paintings of Allen romanticised as a colonial hero. Other works like articles and poems stressed a ‘Boy's Own Adventure’ tale of British Empire service and sacrifice. The story also appeared in the 1886 Christmas edition of the Auckland Weekly News and a chapter of James Cowan’s book Hero stories of New Zealand. Recently the story has resurfaced in novels, and an opera. Contemporary academic papers have also analysed the story from a post-colonial perspective.

McCormick, Arthur David, 1860-1943 :A boy's heroism. 'Awake! Awake!' [1908]

Alexander Turnbull Library

The Taita Stockade, 1846.

Hutt City Libraries

[Swainson, William] 1789-1855 :[Stockade in clearing, Taita] 17 Oct. 184[6 or 1847?]

Alexander Turnbull Library

The Taita Post, Volume 53, 1921, Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1921

Alexander Turnbull Library

Portrait of Hōniana Te Puni-kōkopu, by Charles Heaphy

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Barraud, Charles Decimus, 1822-1897 :[Te Puni seated in a whare in Pito-one Pa] N. Z. 1860

Alexander Turnbull Library

Te Wharepōuri

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Te Wharepōuri

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Te Wharepōuri, Te Kakapi-o-te-rangi

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Image: [Page, George Hyde] 1832-1908 :Fight at Battle Hill. Last stand of Rangihaeata. Horokiwi 1846. Lieut. Page, 58th Regt. [1846]

58th and 99th Regiments advancing up Battle Hill

It was short-lived but also a cold and wet winter campaign that saw British forces track Te Rangihaeata and his taua up the Horokiwi valley north of Wellington in August 1846. Eventually they came to Te Rangihaeata’s hastily prepared position on a ridgeline (now part of Battle Hill Farm Forest Park.) A frontal attack was considered too dangerous after 3 soldiers died when they came too close to Māori defences. The thousands of musket rounds fired by the troops had little effect as did the shells from mortars the British army dragged up the hill. On 13 August friendly Ngāti Awa fighters discovered Te Rangihaeata and his supporters had escaped during the night.

[Page, George Hyde] 1832-1908 :Fight at Battle Hill. Last stand of Rangihaeata. Horokiwi 1846. Lieut. Page, 58th Regt. [1846]

Alexander Turnbull Library

Rutland Stockade, Whanganui

Alexander Turnbull Library

Rutland stockade and jail, Wanganui

Alexander Turnbull Library

Grave of Hohepa Te Umuroa

Alexander Turnbull Library

Honiana Te Puni

Honiana Te Puni’s (Te Ati Awa) gravestone pictured here in 1940 records the enormous gratitude and reverence Pakeha had for his support during the early settlement of Wellington and the subsequent conflict in the mid-1840s. He even received a sword of honour from Queen Victoria. That support was also recognised by Pakeha at Te Puni’s funeral in 1870 which, “amounted to a state funeral.” The monument reads in-part (in Māori and English) “…erected by the New Zealand Government in consideration of the unbroken friendship between him (Honiana Te Puni ) and the pakeha."

Group of mourners at the grave of Honiana Te Puni, Petone, Wellington

Alexander Turnbull Library

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