Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Te Kooti

Te Kooti.

But for the calamitous episodes unhappily associated with the name of Te Kooti, trouble between the Maoris and colonists would have ended much sooner than it did. Te Kooti was one of 328 Maori prisoners who were sent in batches to the Chatham Islands between the beginning of March and the end of November, 1866.

Exterior of Te Kooti's Whare.

Exterior of Te Kooti's Whare.

Te Kooti was one of a batch that went in June. From the first the guard over the prisoners was only twenty-six strong, and half of its members were Maoris. Captain Thomas, the officer in charge, asked on the arrival of the second batch of prisoners in April, that the guard should be increased, but instead of complying with this request the Government—the Stafford Ministry of 1865–69—instructed him to send the whole of the military guard back to New Zealand, except a corporal and three privates. The settlers at the Chathams petitioned against this, and Major Edwards, who was sent to the Islands in March, 1867, to report to the Government, recommended that the guard should consist entirely of Europeans, with two officers and thirty privates. The changes made by the Government were not considered satisfactory, for on the 20th of March, 1868, Captain Thomas again wrote to the Defence Minister to be placed in a better position to deal with an unexpected outbreak amongst the prisoners. On the 4th of the following July the prisoners, instigated and led by Te Kooti, revolted, and overpowered the guard, one of whom they tomahawked; and when Captain Thomas himself went on the scene, unarmed, he was seized, bound hand and foot, and placed in the guard whare. The European settlers of the neighbourhood were placed in the local gaol, and by the time they managed to free themselves, Te Kooti and his countrymen were in possession of the schooner “Rifleman,” which had arrived on the previous day with stores from New Zealand. On the following morning a start was made for New Zealand, the master of the “Rifleman” having been left at the Chathams. Te Kooti himself supervised the crew, and especially the man at the wheel; and, meeting with head winds, he first threw overboard all the greenstone ornaments in the ship, and then an old man, a relation of his own, to appease Tongaroa, the Maori seagod. Next day New Zealand was reached at Whareongaonga, about fifteen miles south of Poverty Bay; and after he had taken all the provisions, rifles, and ammunition from the schooner, Te Kooti left her in possession of the crew.

It is unnecessary to recount here in detail all that followed on Te Kooti's return to New Zealand. He was treated as a prisoner illegally at large, but refused to surrender to the civil magistrate and was pursued by the military. In the ensuing encounters which took place between his men and the colonial forces, he was sometimes the victor, and was always able, however closely pressed, to effect his personal escape. Many of his countrymen flocked to his ranks, and by many he came to be looked upon as a man destined to rid New Zealand of the white man's rule. The most appalling incident of his savage career was what is known as the Poverty Bay massacre in which, on the night of the 10th of November, 1868, he and his bloodthirsty band barbarously murdered thirty-two Europeans, men, women, and children. Thenceforward till 1871, when Te Kooti escaped into the King Country, the rebel and murderer was pursued by the colonial forces, who, though occasionally defeated with serious loss, repeatedly killed and captured large numbers of his followers. Finally, as a matter of policy, Te Kooti was included in the amnesty granted to Maori offenders in February, 1883.