PUKEKOHE REDOUBT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1076, 13 September 1930, Page 5

PUKEKOHE REDOUBT

ANNIVERSARY OF MAORI ATTACK TOMORROW SURVIVORS NARRATIVE Vivid memories of the Maoris’ at- j tack on, and the soldier settlers’ des- I perate defence of, the East Pukekohe 1 Church, the anniversary of which falls tomorrow, are held by a survivor of that little garrison, Captain Joseph Scott, of Corbett-Scott Avenue, j Epsom. The veteran is now in his 93rd year. In 1863 the little settlement of East Pukekohe comprised 25 men, 16 I women and nine or ten children, ac- ; cording to Captain Scott, who, with his father, had settled in the district four years earlier. When the settlers were ordered j to leave their farms to come within ! military protection, nine offered and were accepted as rifle volunteers under an Imperial sergeant, Lancelot Perry. The settlers enrolled were Alexander i McDonald. James McDonald, George Easton, James Easton, John Boden j Roose, Elijah Roose, James Comrie, > William Hodge and Joseph Scott. , Comrie and Roose were absent on leave, and the others, with nine j special constables and a boy, formed the garrison of 18 which defended the redoubt. ™ Captain Scott pictures graphically the preparations for the defence of the church by the erection of a low breastwork of horizontal logs, surrounded by a ditch outside. The settlers were heightening the defences with heavy slabs when the assault came. A week before, Co plain Scott’s : father was mortally wounded by a ' snipers’ shot. ATTACK LAUNCHED ' On the morning of September 14 the Maoris launched their attack. The startled watchfulness of the horses in the clearing first directed attention to j the bush, from which a shot was fired at a man in the stockade, who stood ! up to get a better view, i But the real attack came from the brow' of a gully which afforded shelter except for the final 40 yards. The ; Maoris charged in close formation j several times, reaching the ditch, but ! each time w r ere compelled to retreat with considerable losses. Bayonets fixed to the rifles of the garrison protruded through the loop-holes in the stockade, and Captain Scott believes that the steel saved the lives of the garrison. During the next two or three hours the attackers and defenders engaged in intermittent sniping from shelter. Relief in the form of 32 men of the 70th Regiment came about 1 p.m.. and completely surprised and routed the natives, seven of whom were killed by the soldiers’ charge. Captaiii Scott was later informed by a prominent Waikato chief, the late Mr. Georgs Graham, that the attack had cost the Maori 40 killed and 70 wounded, while three defenders were killed and eight wounded.