GRAVES OF ORAKAU.

Grey River Argus, 8 April 1927, Page 2

GRAVES OF ORAKAU.

ANNIVERSARY OF BATTLE. LAST TRAGIC SCENE. IN MEAIORABLE FIGHT. The Government war graves authorities, who have done such excellent work in tending sacred spots throughout New Zealand, may find an object worthy of their care in the unmarked resting place of the defenders of Orakau. Today is the anniversary of the last tragic scene in that most memorable of New Zealand battles. Just sixty-three years ago more than half the three hundred nii-n and women who held the fort for those three days lay dead or dying on the battlefield, and forty of them were buried/ in their own trenches, in the outwork on the north side of the redoubt. Motorists driving through To Awamutu to Arapuni and Taupo and other southern pass right through’ the site of the pa and within a few feet of the grassy graves of those who were killed in the defences. Tho> spot is just within the fence of the farm oa the north side (left-hand side going south). Fifty years ago the holy ground was surrounded by a fence and some binegums marked the place, but when last I passed that way both fence and trees had disappeared and cows were grazing there. A plain monument with a brief inscription has been erected on the roadside on the south; this marks the site of the pa, but the forty defenders who were laid in their self-dug trenches deserve at least the tribute of a fence and a stone. Probably the present owner of the farm is unaware of the facts about the tapu spot, but the place “where heaves the turf” is still quite easy to locate.

Most of the Maoris who were killed at Orakau fell in the retreat on April 2. 1864, and were buried at various places on the line of flight to the Puniu River. Here and there sonic trees indicate the places where they v orc laid l>y the British burying parties Those who were buried in the pa trenchincluded members of half-a-aozen tribes from the Waikato, Taupo, the Urc-| wera country, even from as far away as AVairoa, Hawke's Bay. One of them was Piripi to Ileuheu, the young chief of the Urewcra. The British soldiers who fell at Ora kal were buried in the English churchyard at To Awamutu. There must be quite a lot of lead in Orakau soil over which the motorist speeds to-day. The British official expended forty thousand rounds or rifle ammunition in the three days. That was very heavy firing for those times of muzzle-loading single shot long Enfields. The only breach-loaders used were the carbines of the Forest Rangers (a hundred) and. the few cavalrymen on gaged. Colonel J. Af. Roberts, of Rotorua, and Mr Wiliiam Johns, of Parnell, are two survivors of the old Forest Rangers who held the lines on the eastern side <>f the besieged redoubt. There are a few members, too, of the Imperial or Militia regiments among our veterans who can tell of Orakau. As for the Maoris, not more than four of those who defended the fort are alive to-day.