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Hine-Ra, or The Māori Scout: A Romance of the New Zealand War.

MĀORILAND: THE MĀORI WARS

MĀORILAND: THE MĀORI WARS

The specific historical moment which places Hine-ra as a New Zealand novel is that of the Māori wars. According to Jones, the New Zealand novel is one “which is related to this country, or to its people, or to the experience of life as human beings meet it”21. Whitford makes particular use of the Māori Wars in his novel, providing historical insight as a background for his fictionalised text. The Māori Wars, which were also known as the Land Wars, were a series of armed conflicts between Māori and European settlers which took place between 1845 and 187222. Whitford’s novel has a focus on the tribes of the Taranaki region; he eludes to “the powerful Taranaki tribe” settled at Opunake Bay. The Bay has an intense Māori and colonial history as the site of tribal killings by Waikato and Maniopoto tribes in the 1820s and 183023, and the first Taranaki War which took place between 17 March 1860 and 18 March 186124 He writes of a “turbulent and warlike Māori….murderous and bloodthirsty”, and although his story is fictional, it details the “terrible slaughter” that occurred by both Pākehā and Māori during the nineteenth century. Although fictionalised, Hine-Ra draws on the reality of life in early New Zealand, with tensions between Māori and Pākehā as well as between native tribes.

Hostilities were imminent, unavoidable perhaps. The first skirmish took place at Ahu Ahu… near New Plymouth. It was brought about by a detachment of…about 100 settlers under the command of Captain Loyal[]…The infuriated Māoris rushed upon them, barking like dogs…and the whites fled.25

It was this very question of disputed territory that led to the disastrous wars between the Māoris and the British that, a few years since, were the curse of New Zealand, and which were the fruitful cause of so much rapine and bloodshed26.

Whitford details not only conflict between Māori and Pākehā, but also inter-tribal conflicts which were commonplace in the nineteenth-century. He writes “the Maoris…had long been disaffected, and altogether impatient of what they considered to be the encroachment by the whites upon their lands”.27. The novel explores tensions between Pākehā and Māori, detailing intense battles, prisoner scenes and rebellions on both sides, as well as inter-tribal tensions between Māori:

When the Māori land is threatened with subjugation, and the Māori people with extermination. When the pale-faced Pākehās threaten to drive you into the sea, to destroy your pahs and kaingas with their artillery, and to seize on your fields and woods with the strong arm and the sharp sword.28

Whitford details the Hau Hau movement, or hauhuaism, the name given to the beliefs of the Paimarire Churches. Hauhauism was based on interpretation of the old testament, which identified Māoris as one of the lost tribes of Israel. As a religious fighting organisation, it was seen an episode rather than a vital force in the nineteenth century struggle between Māori and Pākehā. At its widest extent, Taranaki, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay, and Hawke's Bay were disaffected. “The Hau-Haus, aided by the numerous tribes under Te Kooti, were in open revolt, and had commenced active war”29. Whitford details the Hauhau warriors fierce battles with other tribes;

Surely it was prophecy, for even then the invading Hau-Haus had already scuttled the canoes, and were stealthily scaling the mount…None escaped; not one. The Hau-Haus had scored another sanguinary victory, and the Ngamaunganui tribe was extinct.30

This exploration of war in his texts aids in developing a sensationalist plotline in the novel, and also deepens the texts place as a “Māoriland” novel by presenting a situation which was unique to New Zealand. Sensationalism was the nineteenth century literary trend of bringing together the traditions of romanticism and Victorian literature and examining topics which were previously seen as uncomfortable or taboo. “The sensation novel was a mushroom growth, a new kind of fiction which appeared from nowhere to satisfy the cravings of an eager and expanding reading public”31. By exploiting the topic of war, Whitford explores confronting topics to engage the reader. His incorporation of the New Zealand Wars in his fictional tale provides a plotline which seeks to excite and confront the reader and engage them in the reality of nineteenth-century New Zealand. If the aim of sensationalism is to stimulate the reader, the Whitford’s incorporation of historically accurate events which could be considered confronting or upsetting by the reader achieves this goal.