RAPATA AND HIS ARMY

Te Ao Hou, December 1961, Page 10

RAPATA AND HIS ARMY Rapata Wahawaha was born about the year 1807. That is to say he was born into a world, and a society, where cannibalism and slavery were part of the accepted social usage. He was himself made captive as a young boy. He learned at first hand the ruthless savagery as well as the bravery and fortitude of his people. He saw the beginnings of pakeha settlement, the sowing of the seed of European customs and European religious beliefs, and he saw the ancient customs and practices of his people become modified or pass completely away in the face of newer and stronger though not always better concepts. He was a small man, this Rapata, but like his tupuna Hikitai he might have claimed “He iti ra; he iti mapihi pounamu” and have further remarked with that progenitor that a small axe could cut down the biggest tree, if the axe were but of greenstone. In fact Rapata possessed something of the characteristics of the prized pounamu. He was hard, he kept his edge in spite of rough usage, he was polished and he was of great intrinsic value to his people. He came first into prominence when the Hauhau forces under Kereopa and Patara came seeking converts in the Waiapu valley. Rapata, Mokena Kohere, Henare Potae and Henare Nihoniho frowned on the new religion and gave orders that their followers were to remain loyal to their own beliefs and to the British Crown. With the aid of a small force of European Volunteers and Militia they attacked the invading Hauhau, subdued their strongholds one by one and put them to flight. Rapata shot some of his own followers out of hand for disobedience to his orders. Some three hundred other Ngati Porou, taken in arms against their own people were given the choice of marching under the Union Jack and taking the oath of allegiance to the Crown or of being shot out of hand. Many of those who took this enforced oath became Rapata's most gallant followers in the campaigns that followed.