PUKEKOHE STOCKADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 84, 8 April 1922, Page 17

PUKEKOHE STOCKADE.

A MEMORY OF 1863. MAORI STOEY OF THE ATTACK (Written lor i ho "Mai" by JAME* COWAN.) ■■'■>> ■ ;, 'ion our Education Boards aivl school riiramittoos wake, up to th? \aluc of lc-eal patriotism as k stimulant to priio of nationhood, the walls of our M-hools \*i!l carry pictures of .some of the innumerable inspiring doous in thr !-torr ft Now Zealand pioneering and fighting period. When that day comes one of tiio lir.-t incidents to i.immemorate.l by tho painter's brush will bo—or i-hould he—the :tory of the defence of the I'ukekohe Kast' Presbyinrian Church ■•i-tockade."' Some of the cOd-s-oltlcd families of thr Piikekohe rountry are ivfl] acquainted with the i-iniirn.-tam-p- of this gallant, bit of work nn the part of a handful u f men, but year Tiy jear the episodes of those ;oars arr be.ominj: dimmer in the memory, and to the- younger generation -iicii happening* of the years when their V'fau?lfiil i-ountr\siie r.as won and held mr them are ecareelj more than faint lor'-mis. This bullet-ffarred tiny ehurefc—it TncasiiTp? only HOft by loft—stands on high ftr'ound, w.hich makes it a conspicuous feature in the landscape, despite its small dimension?. Looking out duo east from its slopes at Pnkekohe town the eye is taken by its white dot on the skyline, two miles away, and the westering sun strikes Vielio flashes from its windows overlooking the deep crateral valley immediately below the little churchyard. A footdeep depression in the turf around its walls indicates the olden trench, which ■with loopholed wall of small logs laid horizontally made its defences \vhen it was attacked on September 14. 1563. Bullet ho]es drilled in iti heart of rimu timbers, fVont and rear, and in the ceiling, and a ball-battered tombstone — the only one there in 186.!— are tangible reminders of the assault delivered by nearly two hundred Kingite Maoris, and resisted for several hours by seventeen defender;. These men were chiefly f-cottish and Cornish settlers in that new bush country, with some volunteer militia (styled "special constables") epecially enlisted for service along the Ureat South Koad, and in the frontier posts. They had had scarcely any drilling, but they 'held that hot "corner like heroes until reinforcements came up from Drury.

The incidents of that Jay's battle, as gathered from European survivors, make a story over long to describe in this column, but the Maori side of the affair may be given as an entirely new contribution to the story of Pukekohe. This narrative, given mc recently by an old warrior of the iXgati-Maniapoto tribe, is of value for the information as to the composition of the number of the v.ar party, and the identity of the leading men. My informant (one of the very few survivors of Orakau, 1564) gave the strength of the attacking force as between 170 and 200 men.

''Our war party," said the Maori veteran, "consisted of men of the tribes LNgati-ilaniapoto, Xgati-Pou, Ngati-Tb'-wharetoa, Xpati-Te Kohcra, KgatiParckawa and Xgati-Awa. Our prinripal chiefs were Wahanui Huatare, Hopa te Rangianini. Pineaha and Raureti Faiaka. Two sons of Wiremu Kingi, of Taranaki, were also there; their names were Rama and Renata; they came with

some men of their tribe, Ngati-Awa. The taua consisted chiefly of Xgaii-Mania-poto. There were about seventy men of >~gati-Fbu; this tribe originally lived at Tuakan, whence they had been evicted by the Government at the beginning of the war. We came down irom Meremere (the great Kingite camp above Mercer) in two large war canoes and a smaller one and landed near the old village of Tuakau. We fired Jieavily on the British redoubt there (the Alexandra Redoubt, on the high 'bluff above the Tuakau landing place) and the troops replied as heavily. We had good cover in the bush, however, and none of us were hit. After this preliminary skirmish we set out for Pukekohe, along a bush track. We were guided by the Xgati-Pou , people, whose country this had been before the military occupation.

"We slept one night in the bush on the way; it was a .Sunday. At our imoiiac that night the chiefs Kaureti I'aiaka and Hopa te Rangianini epoke in council, saying, "In the battle to conic lot us confine ourselves strictly to fighting. Let no one touch anything in the settlers' houses, or their stock, or otherwise interfere with their property.' To this, all thr warriors agreed. At daylight in the morning the march was resumed. The chief Wahanui with a number of his Ngati-Mauiapoto men went on ahead, keeping under the shelter of the bush. We saw Wahanui and his party enter a settler's house and loot it, removing the goods it contained. This breach of our agreement made us angry: it was a bad omen for us in the fight that presently began. It was

not right that Walianui and his comrades should thus trample on our accepted rules of fighting. We marched on. and the leading sections made a dar-li for the Pukekohe stockade which stood in a bush clearing with a builling inside it. The reot of us. under Haureti and Ilopa, also charged along the level ground. Raureti and Maaka, and a woman (Rangi-rumaki), saw a sentry standing on a stump, and fired on liini, but he and all the other Europeans wfy were outside—some of them were coo!.ing at a shed in the open — rushed into the log stockade. We charged close up, liut the pakchaS were quickly at their loophole.-, and fired smartly on and we had to fall back and take cover. "The garrison had pots on the fire in front of the stockade containing meat and potatoes. When we drove the pakchas inside we determined to capture the contents of thosn pots, and under a hot tirr at very close quarters we succeeded in doing -v. We carried off the pots and the food into the bush, and under :-afe cover we enjoyed the meal. The pakehns, of course, were very angry at losing their good dinner. We were very pleased, ami we continued the fight miii-li refreshed.

"Most of us were firing at the Rtoc-kade at tlie distance of fifty to a hundred yards, under cover of trees and lojrts and stumps, and some of us occupied a pakehn'e house in the clearing. times Fonie of us charged up to within a very few yards of the Stockade. Ten persons were chiefly enpiped in the I'harffoe or Uokiri: iiinu of tliusc were men and the other was a woman. She was a \cry brave woman, by name, Rangi-rumaki tc Taiepa, of Her husband was Werahiko of that tribe; the two fought eide by side. Bangi was very strong and vigorous; she carried a gun and ■used it well. She was an aunt of Pou-

patate, now living at Te Kopua. She was not hit at all, but the pakehae nearly got her towards the end of the fighting, when the soldiers came up from Drury and charged Uβ with the bayonet. One of the men from the etoVkaHc ■-cized her shawl in the charge, but shi , pscappci into th? bush.

"Many of our chiefs were killed in that day's flgi,t 0/ our people t:;c pr.n-ipal men killed were Te Warena. .Mohi Whiowhio and Wetere Waiata. The Xgati-Pou lost many; their chief. Karaipu. was among those killed. XgatiHaua did noi share in thai fi?ht. They fought at the Titi hills, together with Xgali-Koroki.

"On th« retreat from Pukekohs we spent a night in tho bush. Our party kindled a small lire. Early in the morning there was a:i alarm that the soldiers were upon us, and the quick command was givoii—"Haha te pao?.!' (meaning to extinguish the Wuze and cover °the embers lest the smoke should be seen rising through the trees). We captured a settler "s horse that day, a piebald. We took it with us right lip the'Wa:kato, ii fact we brought it to To Kopua, on the Wai-pa, and we named it -Halui-te-Paoa," in memory of this incident. My father Rauveli returned to Te Kopua. He was the dortor on this rstreat, treat, insj the Wolin<l3 of hi* comrades with Maori medicine made from the leaves and roots of plants.' .

The chief Wahaimi Huatare mentioned in this Maori narrative was afterwards famed as the "'power behind the throne -, in the Kingito. councils; a man of great stature and very commanding presence. Hopa te Rangianini I remember well as one of tlie last of the old-time Maori tohungas: a grim-avisej rather small man. his face completely covered with black tatooing. He wag an expert in all the ancient handicrafts of the Maori. The settler's house first, looted at Pukekolie, as narrated, was that of Mr. James McDonald, a fine old Scot, who with his son and grandson helped to defend the stockade. Mr. Easton's house, a short distance from the right front of the log wall (the gateway angb pluckily held by Joseph Scott—afterwards captain —and Jamee Easton), was occupied 'by the Maoris, who sniped at tho garrison from the windows and from the roof under cover of the ehimnny. To the Maori account it may 'be added also that had such a chief as Rewi Maniapoto 'been present the defenders might not have escaped so lightly. Xo doubt it w as the sight of the fixed bayonets projecting from the fire-apertures that deterred the Kingite musketeers from pressing the attack to a finish before reinforcements came