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(Chapter 27)

The Wellington District and Defences (1863)

Just before the British troops crossed the Waikato border river, the Manga-tawhiri (July, 1863), a letter was sent by Taati te Waru and Porokoru Titipa, two of the leading chiefs of Upper Waikato (at Rangiaowhia and Te Awamutu), to the tribes in the southern parts of the Island inviting them to join in the general war against the Europeans. The tribes addressed were Ngati-Kahungunu, Te Atiawa, and Ngati-Raukawa, inhabiting the districts from the Wairarapa and Manawatu to Otaki and Waikanae; the chiefs named included Ngairo, of the Wairarapa, and Wi Tako Ngatata, an erstwhile supporter of the Government, at Waikanae. The letter, which had been discussed at a meeting of the runanga in the Ngati-Maniapoto meeting-house “Hui-te-Rangiora,” at Kihikihi, invited the southern Maoris to consider whether they should not follow Waikato's example and “sweep clean the fronts of your houses”—in other words, rise against the pakeha. The writers quoted Rewi's favourite war-song, which he either chanted or sent in writing on his Kingite recruiting missions, the ancient ngeri beginning “Puhi kura, puhi kura, puhi kaka” (“Red plumes, red plumes, plumes of the kaka”), and ending with an injunction to “grasp firm your weapons—strike.” The “red plumes” were now interpreted as referring to the uniforms of the soldiers.

The call to arms excited sympathy among some of the Ngati-Kahungunu, and a critical situation existed in the Wairarapa until Dr. Featherston, Superintendent of the Province of Wellington, assisted by Major Gorton, commanding the Militia, took measures to arm the white residents. Volunteer Rifle Corps were quickly sworn in at Greytown, Careterton, and Masterton, and stockades were begun at Masterton and Carterton.

It had been reported that the Ngati-Kahungunu intended to march over the Rimutaka Range and attack the Hutt settlements. The prompt defence arrangements overawed the Kingite section of the Wairarapa natives. The Kingites had urged Wi Tako Ngatata, of Waikanae, to attack the settlement at Paua-taha-nui, but he gave information to the Government side, and declined to fall in with the war-party's scheme, although he was a sympathiser with the King movement. A detachment of mounted troops (Colonial Defence Force) was stationed at Paua-taha-nui.

The Upper Hutt had been provided with a fortified post in the beginning of 1861. This was a stockade and ditch, with a two-storeyed timber blockhouse forming one of the angle bastions. The stockade was constructed on McHardy's Clearing, between the present sites of Wallaceville and Trentham. The old blockhouse is still standing; it is loopholed for rifle-fire, and made bullet-proof in the usual way with a filling of gravel between the outside wall and the lining. The blockhouse was garrisoned on occasions in the “sixties” by the Upper Hutt Militia, who were chiefly bushmen and sawmill workers. A similar defensive work was built, at the end of 1860, at the Lower Hutt, near the bridge, but was never required.