HISTORIC LANDMARK GONE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 27, 25 February 1913, Page 7

HISTORIC LANDMARK GONE

4> RUSSELL FLAGSTAFF BURNED DOWN. (it teligbapb— special to the post.) AUCKLAND, This Day. A famous and historic landmark, the old flagstaff on the hill at Russell, was demolished by fire yesterday afternoon. Flames hotA burning gorsfe in the vicinity caught the bottom of th» pole, and in spit© of the efforts to save the relic it was levelled to the ground. The shed, j containing signalling flags, was also de- j stroyed, but the flags were fortunately j saVed in the nick of time. THE RED SHIRT FLAG. The flagstaff figured as one of the most prominent features in the history of New Zealand. It was erected first in Kororareka, or Russell, as the syra- I bol of British possession, but to Hone Heke, himself a Christian mission-edu-cated chief, and his followers, it was a symbol of British oppression. Although there appears to have been no quarrel with the white settlera as euch, there was undoubted hostility to the Government, and this was expressed in the attacks on tho flag. Three times the flagstaff \vas cut down, notwithstanding that it was protected by iron on the last occasion, when Heke and his followers hacked at it. It was defended by a blockhouse, and soldiers were stationed to look after it. On 11th March, 1845, Russell was sacked by Hone Heke, and tho British killed and wounded numbered over forty. The explosion of the powder magazine not only caused much injnry to tho defenders, but also left them without ammunition. The women . and children were protected as long as ib was possible to hold the town, and then were shipped on board the English man-of-war Hazard, the U.S.' corvette St. Louis, and an English whaler, tho Matilda, and taken to Auckland. The Maoris took the blockhouse and the flagstaff on the third occasion without the defenders firing a single shot. Then they planted there a flag of their own—a red shirt on a long pole. Hek& fought, but he did not murder j moreover, he placed a guard to protect the churches and buildings of the Anglicans and Roman Cotholics. The incident caused much excitement in both Auckland and Wellington, and in this city a meeting was held at Barrett's Hotel to consider the defence of the town, and special constables were sworn in, it beittg feared that a raca war was inoyit* able. Fortifications were thrown up and volunteers drilled every evening at Thorndon ahd Te Aro. Heke was defeated and his forces scattered.