MAORIS AT WHAKAMARA

Taranaki Daily News, 19 November 1932, Page 5 (Supplement)

MAORIS AT WHAKAMARA

TITOKOWARU’S POWER BROKEN. FLIGHT OF NATIVES FROM PA. Whakamara was quite an important point in the final campaign of 1869 against the Hauhau chief Titokowaru. After a plucky resistance at Otautu, near Patea, relinquished only when the ammunition was exhausted, the. Maoris beat a retreat to Whakamara, which was then deep in the forest. At Whakamara Titokowaru’s warriors found pigs and other food supplies, but they were not left long in peace. Two forces were despatched,, and the natives were dislodged from the pa, which was not strongly fortified. The pa was built on a narrow neck of land, with flats in front and in the rear and deep gullies on the flanks. There was a grove of peach trees on the flat at the back. It was to Whakamara that many of the natives retired after their defeat at Kakaramea in 1865, and it was a gathering place of the Hauhaus in 1866-68. The forest chase from Whakamara to Taiporohenui was the most arduous , duty of the whole campaign. The pursuing column was commanded by Major Kepa, and it was the first time that European officers and men volunteered to serve under a Maori officer. The ruthless harrying by Kepa finally broke Titokowaru’s power. He was without food and ammunition, and some women taken prisoner described the sore straits to which the fugitives had been reduced. One woman died from exhaustion during the flight, and her body was hidden in the triink of a hollow tree, where the skeleton was discovered