THE TUTURAU CENTENARY

Evening Star, Issue 22572, 13 February 1937, Page 25

THE TUTURAU CENTENARY

TE PUOHO'S RAID —FROM TARANAKI TO TUTURAU [Written by Angus Ross, for the ‘ Evening Star.’] Immediately south of Mataura, a prosperous Southland town, lies the farming district of Tuturau. Exactly one hundred years ago Tuturau (then a small kaika of some importance as a food supply station to the Kai-Tahu people, who had their chief pa on the island of Ruapuke) was the scene of a email battle which terminated one of the most daring raids in Maori history. This event is to be commemorated in a fitting manner, as the Tuturau Maori Raid Centenary Committee has been busy for some 18 months preparing for the function, which was to have taken place in January, 1937. To the people of Eastern Southland Te Puoho’s_ raid is of special interest as a local incident of some historical importance, but it is of interest to all New Zealanders—a fact which has been recognised in the writing of the Cambridge History of the British Empire, where brief mention is made of the subject of this article. New Zealand history does not go so far back that the Maori part of it may be omitted, and, in_ any case, Maori history should be of interest to New Zealanders, partly because it is the history of the land of their adoption or birth, _ and partly because of its inherent epic qualities. No episode in Maori history reveals these epic qualities to a higher degree than does Te Puoho’s raid. This daring march, led by a North Taranaki chief, began in the Nelson district and proceeded down the rugged West Coast of the South Island, over the Haast Pass into Otago. It was _by far the most arduous war expedition ever undertaken by land in Maori history, and the hardihood of the fearless warriors who met their “Waterloo” at Tuturau in January, 1837, assumes heroic proportions. EARLY HISTORY OF TE PUOHO. The fame of Te Puoho has suffered because of the greater importance of his contemporary. Te Rauparaha, but of the latter’s lieutenants none was more important than Te Puoho. Born towards the end of the eighteenh century at Puke-aruhe, a Norh Taranaki stronghold, Te Puoho inherited the best blood of the fighting Ngati-Tama, a small but courageous tribe which for years had held the key to Taranaki against numerous attempts at. invasion from the north. His whaka-papa (genealogical table) is important as being the only one published which shows direct descent from the Tokomaru canoe, which landed in New Zealand some time before 1350. The story which follows will show that Te Puho did not fall short of the standards of his ancestors, while more recent history has shown that his descendants have not lacked the bravery of our hero, for Julia Martin (Huria Matenga), “the Grace Darling of New Zealand,” was Te Puoho’s granddaughter. Te Puoho’s youth was occupied with its fair share of fighting, as numerous attempted incursions on, the part of Ngati-Maniapoto and Waikato tribes had to be repelled. _ The migration of Te Rauparaha and his Ngati-Toa people to the Cook Strait region, where guns, powder, and other items of value to the Maori warrior could be easily obtained from white traders and whalers, coming at a time when the pressure from the north was becoming-, unbearable, encoyjaged Te Puoho to -throw, in his lot with his Ngati-Toa friends. In 1822, _ therefore, Te Puoho led an expedition on the 250-mile journey to the Otaki district. Never completely subservient to the haughty and domineering Te Rauparaha, Te Puoho refused to settle on any of the areas allotted to his tribesmen. His was a restless nature. Having left their Pou-Tama homeland, the Ngati-Tama people seem to have been affected by an unqunechabla wanderlust. On four occasions at least Te Puoho returned to Pukearuhe. _ His leadership of successive migrations to the south provided him with military experience which was to be invaluable when his own South Island raid began. Otaki, Ohariu (on Cook Strait, directly west of modern Wellington), Rau-Rimu (where Fitzherbert Terrace is now), and later the shores of Lake Wairarapa were all used as sites for the temporary residences of Te Puoho and his people. FIRST SOUTH ISLAND INVASIONS. It is not surprising that these roaming people should pin with Te Rauparaha in his invasions of the South Island. They were not motivated, as was the Ngati-Toa leader, by any desire for revenge, but Te Puoho and his men were stirred by the prospect of securing quantities of greenstone, which was fast becoming the medium of exchange among the Maoris, and additional territory for settlement. In 1828, when the first raids by the northern Maoris were made on the east coast of the South Island, Te Puoho was in charge of Ngati-Tama arid Ati-Awa, who conducted extensive massacres in the Nelson and Waimea districts, practically wiping out the original inhabitants. Te Puoho remained there for some time as the head chief of the conquered territory, while Niho-Niho. another chief, led a conquering band of North Island Maoris down the West Coast as far as Hokitika. Restless as ever, T e Puoho returned to the North 7, no. paid another visit to tlio North Taranaki homeland, and lu December, 1831 accompanied Te Rauparaha on his greatest raid on the k. nutl> Island. Kaikoura and Omihi (iirose Bay) were treacherously atla' vrd The well-defended pa at Kaiapolua fell after a long siege, not before, hmyever, Taiaroa, the leader of Otakou Kai-lahu, was allowed to escape, guided by Te Hike, one of the attacking force. The pa on Onawo peninsula, at the head of Akaroa Harbour, Jutlierto considered impregnable was captured through the trickery of Memo a chief captured at Kaiapohia, who assured the inmates that peace had been made, and secured the easy admission of the North Islanders. After a final visit to North Taranaki in 1833-34, Te Puoho returned to thU Nelson district.

REASONS FOR TE PUOHO’S raid. Different motives have been suggested by various writers for Te Puoho’s setting out on his great West CoastOtago raid. That headstrong chief was influenced fay many ideas, some urging him to push on from the quiet fife in Tasman and Massacre Bays, others suggesting the wonderful regards to be gained at the end of the journey. He had been foiled in his attempt to establish his complete supremacy over all the tribes of the Nelson area. He desired to secure more lands and greater prestige than ever before. The conquest of Murihiku (Southland) and Rakiura (Stewart Island) would establish his ascendancy and win him greater fame than Te Rauparaha had ever secured. A story which _ has obtained wide credence in that it has been accepted bv such authorities as S. Percy Smith, 'Herries Beattie, T. Lindsay Buick, and Judge Chapman, is to the effect that before

the march began an immensely strong stockade, like a great cattle yard, was built, in which Te Puoho claimed he was going to yard the southern people and use them as cattle. Beattie’s suggestion that Te Puoho meant to keep the southerners in the stockade as a store of supplies for a succession of cannibal feasts may be discarded, as throughout the trek to the south, despite the lack of food, of the pxrisoners taken only two children were eaten. A much more feasible theory is that he meant to use the prisoners as beasts of burden for the carrying of greenstone from the Arahura and Tara•maku Rivers to the north, where it could be sold at a profit' to the North Island Maoris, who, although rich in paheka goods, still coveted the West Coast greenstone. Te Puoho announced that, in the words of a famous proverbial expression of the Tainui people, he would leave the abundant food baskets of the stay-at-homes; for him and his followers there would be the meagre fare of the farTtravelling war party. By eloquent promises of plunder and slaves Te Puoho was able to gather a company of 70 men and five, women under his leadership. He told them that ho was not going to go over the ground already covered by Te Rauparaha on the East Coast. In the metaphorical terms of the Maori he said: “The proper Maori way to scale a fish is to begin at the tail and work towards the head. I am going to start at the tail (the - extreme south) of the South Island and scale it from tail to head.” Interesting enough, Robert M‘Nab translates Murihiku as “ the last joint of the tail.” CHOICE OF ROUTE. The northerners hoped to secure their ends by surprising the southerners by an attack from a new and unexpected quarter. Te Puoho must have been aware that the island of Ruapuke, in Foveaux Strait, was now the centre of Maori population in Murihiku. He aimed at avoiding the various outposts on the East Coast from the Otago Harbour northwards, and at suddenly striking the heart of Otago. Kai-Tahu, at Ruapuke, by marching down the West Coast, crossing the Southern Alps by the Haast Pass, and then traversing Central Otago. As the Tasman Sea was rough and landing places were unknown, the journey was made by land. The most difficult route imaginable was thus chosen for strategic purposes. The hardships endured by the raiding party have to be experienced in order to be understood and appreciated. Scaling and descending from precipitous cliffs by flax ladders, forcing a way through thick fern and dense undergrowth, climbing orer fallen forest giants or round great tangled masss of native brambles and creepers, scrambling over rocks and boulders in the gorges, wading or fording by means of flax “ mogis ” the icy cold streams, getting drenched by the numerous rains—all these were included in the never-to-be-forgotten experiences of the raiding party. The present writer’s admiration for their courage was more than doubled bv a journey which he made over To Puoho’s route in February, 1933. Te Puoho had Imped to draw large reinforcements from the Ngati-Tama and other North Island tribesmen who had been living pear the Grey (Mauhera) River since the 1828 conauest. Bitter disanpointment was to be his lot, as Niho-Niho not onlv refused to coooerate. but were distinctly hostile. Although he lost some of the faint-hearts of his band at this stage, Te_ Puoho made sufficient recruits to bring the number of his tana (war party) up ta 100. Thus reinforced, the warriors marched on. always trusting that they would secure a great victory over the Kai-Tahu when they had crossed the alps, which made an apparently endless wall on their left.

Space does not permit of any detailed account of the geographical difficulties of the journev. It must suffice here to state that the raiders crossed the Haast Pass and proceeded down the Makarore River to Lake Wanaka. The reader’s knowledge or imagination must he used in order to picture the variety of magnificent scenery which Te Puoho must have seen on his journey through Westland and the Otago Lake region. Close to the Miit-arore and about five miles from Lake Wanaka a small kaika was captured. The chief, Te Raki, and his son escaped, warned the people living at the foot of Lake Hawea, and together they fled down the _ well-known Maori track over the Lindis Pass and down the Waitaki River towards the sea. Takikarara, the small settlement at the foot of Lake Wanaka. was not warned, however, and also fell to the raiders, who secured guides for their journey to the south. In the ’nineties a fierce controversy raged in the Dunedin Press and in the meetings of the Otago Institute concerning the route followed by the raiding party after leaving Wanaka. The present writer has no hesitation in stating that the Ngati-Tama raiders marched directly south, up the Cardrona (Oran) Valley, whence the track led over the Tititea. or Crown Range, down the Roaring Meg into the Kawarau Gorge. The fierce Central Otago sun and the lack of food supplies must have added to their troubles, but they pushed on. crossing the Kawarau by the natural bridge, which was later to be used bv the miners, who bridged the gap with planks. Thence the track led through the land-locked Nevis Valley. over the saddle, and down the Nokomai into the Mataura Valley. After emerging on to the Waimea Plains, the raiders captured an eeling party near the function of the Waikaia and Mataura Rivers. No “ trail of blood,” such as some of the imaginative writers of the past would have us believe was left by the raiders, resulted. Not one of the Kai-Tahn then captured was killed: they were all taken along as captives or porters. THE CAPTURE OF TUTURAU. Tuturau. itself was captured without any great struggle. The village was practically empty The fact that Tuttirau was only a small food station and that parties were out eeling and fowling is sufficient proof that the old people made no desperate resistance to the entry of Te Puoho and his men. Hoping that prolonged rest, i with plenty of food, would recruit their exhausted powers, the raiding party settled down to enjoy the good things obtainable in or around Tuturau. A warning to Tuhawaiki (“Bloody Jack”), the ruling chief at Ruapuke, was soon on its way. Rakiraki, a youth, escaped when the Waikaia eeling party was captured; Kukeko arid Maruaroa, who were below Tuturau, also managed to get away and to reach To Wai Point, on the opposite side of the harbour from Bluff. Soon the whole south country was roused by the momentous tidings that the dreaded enemy had arrived by the most unlikely route, and was actually in possession of Tuturau.

The arrival of the news at Ruapuke naturally created much excitement. Immediately preparations were made for the retaking of Tuturau. The impression made noon a sea captain, Captain Bruce, of the brig Mic- Mac, who was trading with the extreme south, and referred to the stirring events in his journal, enables us to date the capture and recapture of Tuturau with a fair degree of ac-

curacy. Tuturau was captured on or about January 18, 1837, and recaptured four or five days later. Over 100 warriors, well-armed and in much better physical condition than Te Puoho’s men, gathered under Tuhawaiki. RECAPTURE OF TUTURAU. Encouraged by the tohunga, who saw favourable omens all the way from Ruapuke to Tuturau, Kai-Tahu surrounded the kaika at Tuturau just at dawn. A man seen coming out of one of the huts was greeted by a volley from Kai-Tahu. muskets. Then Te Puoho appeared outside the principal whare, calling on Ngati-Tama to rally. Topi-Patuki, a Kai-Tahu warrior, could see the chief directly below him, and he made no mistake when he took aim. Thus when the Ngati-Tama men, awakened by the firing and the shouting, began to stumble out of the whares, their leader was already dead. They perceived that their chances of escape or victory ware very slender, but no doubt would have put- up a hard fight had not Taiaroa saved their lives. He rushed forward and threw down his mat at the doorway of the principal whare, thus rendering the house, and all who were within, tapu to himself. At the same time _he called on both sides to stop fighting. By this action Taiaroa repaid the generosity shown to him and his men bv Hiko and Ngati-Toa, who, as mentioned above, had allowed them to escape from the besieged pa at Kaiapohia. The northerners, all except one, Nga-Whakawa, who escaped and made a wonderful solo journey back to Nelson, were taken as prisoners to Ruapuke. Two made an attempt to escape, but were captured and killed immediately. The minor “ battle ” at Tuturau reads as an anti-climax to the epic march made by Te Puoho and his men, but it could scarcely have ended otherwise, as the native population of Otago and Southland numbered over 2,000 at this time. Certain writers have claimed that most of Te Puoho’s men were killed at Tuturau, but the best authorities give the story as given above. This account is supported by the facts that in 1840 a man named “Scotch Jock ” M‘Gregor shipped the majority of the Ngati-Tama and other northerners back to the North Island, that some of those who remained were killed on this occasion, and that after the German missionary, Johann Wohlers, had begun his work at Ruapuke in 1844, all the northerners who remained in the south were allowed to return to their homes in Nelson or the North Island. IMPORTANCE OF TUTURAU EPISODE. It is not because of tho size of the battle, or rather, the skirmish, which took place that the story of Te Puoho and trie recapture of Tuturau has continued to live for the last hundred years. It was the last act of Maori warfare in the South Island, and has become famous for various reasons. Ro. Garrick, a writer of 40 years ago, gave the Tuturau incident prominence from a wholly unexpected viewpoint; “ It was an event of paramount importance to none more than the European. Had Te Rauparaha and his turbulent northern, tribes gained a footing in the south, instead of the peaceful occupation obtained a few years later we should have had a repetition of the turmoil, trouble, and expenditure in treasure and blood encountered by European settlement in the north. We praise and magnify the names of such men as Cargill, Bums, and Macandrew, oblivious of the fact that we are resting under a debt of gratitude to Tuhawaiki, the island chief.” Garrick evidently allowed his imagination full play, as at no time was there any likelihood of a mass settlement of Otago and Southland by the North Island tribes.

The chief claim to fame of Te Puoho’s raid is the distance travelled by the invaders prior to the engagement at Tuturau. From Nelson to Tuturau was a long journey in the face of great difficulties. As already related, Te Puoho originally came from Pukearuhe, in North Taranaki, and consequently ‘ From Taranaki to Tuturau ’ summarises the story of the great march which will always remain an epic of Maori daring and endurance. The fact that Ngati-'Jjinia reached almost to the extreme _ south of the South Island, to _ a point far to the south of that gained by Te Rauparaha himself, greatly adds to their fame. The presence of white men along Foveaux _ Strait at the time increased modern interest in the event, and led to the story as being more generally known to Europeans than would have been the case with warfare in the prepakeha days. For the Maoris themselves the raid was most notable. Te Puoho’s failure was the last of the attempts made by the North Islanders to conquer the South Island, and as such it ended a long chapter of invasion and bloodshed.