Did This Change the Course of History?

A centenary of more than passing interest,… by Ernest E. Bush 8 August 1868 was the date on which an engagement between Maori and Colonial Troops, supported by loyalist Maoris, possibly affected the course of history. On that date, troops sent to intercept Te Kooti caught up with his band in the valley of the Ruakituri River, in the hinterland of Poverty Bay. He was heading for the security of the fastnesses of the Urewera country; Col. Whitmore was concerned lest Te Kooti and his band reach that safety. There had already been two engagements. Why, then, should we regard the engagement at Ruakituri Ridge as of greater importance? To answer this, let us rehearse the passing of the events that led to this moment, and gave rise to the massacre of Europeans at Matawhero, to the killing of Jean Guerin and his party at their mill in the Whakatane Valley, to a long and protracted campaign that led into and out of the Urewera country, through the Taupo district, and into the Waikato and King Country. Why was it the particular battle in the Ruakituri Valley that can be said marked the beginning of the long trail that really never ended, but a trail that was costly in men, munitions, and in fortitude? Te Kooti Rikirangi Te Turuki had landed at Whareongaonga on 10 July 1868, from the schooner Rifleman. With him were some two hundred men, women, and children, Hau-Hau prisoners who had been exiled to the Chathams. During their two-and-a-half years' stay, they had been supported and inspired in their faith by Te Kooti, who had become their prophet and leader. But it was not as Hau-Haus they landed at Poverty Bay. Te Kooti had refashioned their rather pagan Pai Marire religion into something much more Christian, although it was based rather on Old Testament Scripture. Te Kooti saw a parallel between the exiled Hebrews and those deported to Wharekauri by the authorities. He promised deliverance, and set about quietly to achieve this. When the opportunity presented itself, these prisoners, who had through the period of their exile been subject to brutality and to hard and difficult conditions took possession of the store ship under guidance from their leader. The whole operation was undertaken with the loss of only one life—and that appears to have been to avenge a private grudge. Only those stores, munitions, and money deemed necessary were taken. The investigating officer, sent later to assess the situation, recorded his amazement that these prisoners who had been deported for the savage acts they had committed against authority had carried out the escape without attempting to revenge themselves, without the looting and arson which would have been expected, and without either killing the crews of the ships, or destroying the Rifleman when it reached New Zealand. After the prisoners had landed at Whareongaonga, the crew were allowed to regain possession of their ship. It has struck many historians that the ship then sailed for Wellington, and not for Gisborne or Napier, the obvious places to report as quickly as possible the escape. It would appear that the First Mate, who was in command, was not concerned, and was quite reassured that Te Kooti had no hostile intentions. He fully believed that Te Kooti had done what he set out to do—he had brought his people home. But the authorities took a different view. When the Commandant of Turanganui (the settlement that grew into the present city of Gisborne) heard that Te Kooti had arrived, he immediately sent word to the band to lay down their arms, and to surrender to authority. The Commandant, Captain (later Major) Biggs had been the