139.80.239.65: /* British invasion of the Waikato */

2025-10-22T04:24:33Z

British invasion of the Waikato

New page

{{Short description|New Zealand Māori tribal confederation}}
{{About|the tribal confederation in New Zealand}}
[[File:Mahina-a-Rangi meeting house, Turangawaewae Marae, Ngaruawahia ATLIB 290779.png|thumb|350px|The ''korupe'' (carving over the window frame) at Mahina-a-Rangi meeting house at [[Turangawaewae]] Marae, [[Ngāruawāhia]] showing the Tainui canoe with its captain [[Hoturoa]]. Above the canoe is Te Hoe-o-Tainui, a famous paddle, the kete (basket) given to [[Whakaotirangi]] by a [[tohunga]] of [[Hawaiki]], the bird Parakaraka (front) who was able to see in the dark, and another bird who warned of approaching daylight.<ref>"Maori meeting houses of the North Island" by John C M Cresswell, 1977 (p 31)</ref> Photograph by [[Albert Percy Godber]] circa 1930s]]
'''Tainui''' is a tribal [[waka (canoe)|waka]] confederation of [[New Zealand]] [[Māori people|Māori]] [[iwi]]. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central [[North Island]] of New Zealand: [[Hauraki Māori|Hauraki]], [[Ngāti Maniapoto]], [[Ngāti Raukawa]] and [[Waikato (iwi)|Waikato]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Van Meijl |first=Toon |title=Conflicts of redistribution in contemporary Maori society: Leadership and the Tainui settlement |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |date=2003 |volume=112 |issue=3 |page=269 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20707168 |issn=0032-4000}}</ref>
There are other Tainui iwi whose tribal areas lay outside the traditional Tainui boundaries – [[Ngāi Tai]] in the [[Auckland]] area, Ngāti Raukawa ki Te Tonga and [[Ngāti Toa]] in the [[Horowhenua]], [[Kāpiti Coast|Kāpiti]] region, and [[Ngāti Rārua]] and [[Ngāti Koata]] in the northern [[South Island]].

== History==

===Early history===
{{expand section|date=December 2016}}
The Tainui iwi share a common ancestry from [[Polynesians|Polynesian]] migrants who arrived in New Zealand on the [[Tainui (canoe)|''Tainui'' waka]], which voyaged across the [[Pacific Ocean]] from [[Hawaiki]] to [[Aotearoa]] (North Island) approximately 800 years ago. According to [[Pei Te Hurinui Jones]], a Tainui historian, Tainui first entered the Waikato around the year 1400 bringing with them [[Sweet potato|kumara]] plants. By the end of the seventeenth century, Tainui had conquered much of the Waikato region following the conclusion of the [[Ngāti Raukawa–Ngāti Kahu-pungapunga War|Siege of Pōhatu-roa]].<ref>Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Nga Iwi O Tainui</ref>

===Contact with Europeans===
During the late 1840s and early 1850s [[White people|European]] [[missionaries]] introduced Tainui to modern inventions such as the [[water mill]] and gave then instruction in how to raise various European crops: [[potatoes]] were particularly widely planted. They set up a trade school in [[Te Awamutu]] to educate young Tainui so they became [[literacy|literate]] and taught the basics of [[numeracy]] and farming skills. Two mills were built to grind the wheat into flour – one near [[Cambridge, New Zealand|Cambridge]] on a stream leading to the [[Waikato River]], parts of the mill being still visible. Later in the 1850s, six others were built in the general area. Produce was exported as far as [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] and California.<ref name="KINGHISTORY"/><ref name="Essay Vincent"/>

The relationship was far from one-sided. The Tainui tribe provided food to the European settlers, and "the present European population…would have been literally starved out of the country but for the extraordinary exertions made by the aboriginal inhabitants to supply them with cheap provisions", as the ''[[Southern Cross (newspaper)|Southern Cross]]'' newspaper reported in 1844. A year later, when the less than 4,000 settlers of [[Auckland]] were under threat from an attack by [[Ngāpuhi]] from the south, Tainui [[rangatira]] [[Pōtatau Te Wherowhero|Te Wherowhero]] responded to a request to assist with the planned attack, "You must fight me if you come on to Auckland; for these Europeans are under my protection", referring to Auckland as the "hem of his cloak" and placing it under his personal [[Tapu (Polynesian culture)|tapu]].<ref name="Essay Vincent">{{cite web|last1=O'Malley|first1=Vincent|title=‘The great war for NZ broke out less than 50 km from Queen St’: Vincent O’Malley on the Waikato War and the making of Auckland |url=http://thespinoff.co.nz/society/06-12-2016/the-great-war-for-nz-broke-out-less-than-50-km-from-queen-st-vincent-omalley-on-the-waikato-war-and-the-making-of-auckland/|website=Spinoff}}</ref>

During this time large numbers of new migrants came to Auckland and Te Wherowhero established a house in [[Māngere]] so he could oversee trade and get advice from the government.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020|reason=Need to verify, esp that the house was in Māngere and not the one at Pukekawa in Auckland Domain.}} For a brief period until the mid-1850s, Tainui made a good return from selling food to the new settlers but this came to a sudden end when traders realised they could get food – especially flour – much cheaper from [[New South Wales]]. Tainui set up a bank at Cambridge to take the deposits of Māori traders; it was burnt down by the people when it was found that chiefs were using the money as their own.<ref name="KINGHISTORY"/>

Relationships between Europeans and Tainui soured as Europeans began to outnumber Māori (around 1858, across all of New Zealand), stopping them from being dependent on friendly tribes for food and protection. At the same time as respect for even high-ranking Māori waned, desire for land settled by them grew among Europeans.<ref name="Essay Vincent"/> At the outbreak of the [[First Taranaki War]], "friendly Māori" in Auckland had to be issued with arm badges to protect them from assault.<ref name="Essay Vincent"/>

Tainui people were expelled from the Auckland area in 1863 because of their refusal to take the oath of allegiance to the Crown and hand in their weapons, which the [[Governor of New Zealand|governor]] thought posed a threat to Auckland and the new settlers as it had done in Taranaki.<ref name="KINGHISTORY">History Of New Zealand. M. King.</ref>

===Kīngitanga===
{{Main|Māori King movement}}
Tainui were the tribe responsible for setting up the Kīngitanga in 1858 – a pan-Māori movement of mainly central North Island iwi who aimed at establishing a separate Māori nation with a Māori king. The key aim was the refusal of the Kingites to sell land to the government. The first Māori king was the Waikato warrior [[Te Wherowhero]], who came from a line of prominent [[rangatira]]. Tainui, who had conquered much [[Taranaki]] land, sent warriors to help fight the settlers and British soldiers in Taranaki to prevent minor chiefs selling land to the government. Missionaries at [[Te Awamutu]] told the Kīngitanga they would be considered rebels by the government after they refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown. Te Awamutu was a missionary settlement built by the missionaries and Māori Christians in July 1839 after they observed Tainui [[Human cannibalism|cannibal]]s who had been fighting at [[Rotorua]] return with 60 backpacks of human remains and proceed to cook and eat them in the Otawhao pa.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cowan |first=James |author-link=James Cowan (author) |date=1 September 1934 |title=A lone hand in cannibal land |url= http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Gov09_06Rail-t1-body-d7-d2.html |journal=The New Zealand Railways Magazine |volume=9 |issue=6 |via=[[NZETC]]}}</ref>

===British invasion of the Waikato===
{{main|Invasion of the Waikato}}
[[File:The_repulse_of_the_royal_navy_storming_party_rangiriri_pa.jpg|thumb|Tainui forces repulse a British attack at the [[Battle of Rangiriri]], 1863.]]
[[File:Ngati maniapoto survivors of the war.jpg|thumb|[[Ngāti Maniapoto]] survivors of the war, at the jubilee gathering on the battlefield of Ōrākau, 1 April 1914.]]
The growth of the king movement led Governor [[Thomas Gore Browne]] to conclude that they would have to be compelled to submit to British rule.<ref name="Belich" /> After attempting to achieve a peace settlement through "[[kingmaker]]" [[Wiremu Tamihana]],<ref>{{cite book | last =Dalton | first = B. J. | title = War and Politics in New Zealand 1855–1870| publisher =Sydney University Press | year = 1967 | location =Sydney | pages =128–135}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last =Dalton | first =B. J. | title =Tamihana's Visit to Auckland | journal =The Journal of the Polynesian Society | volume =72 | issue =3 | pages =193–205 | publisher =The Polynesian Society | year =1963 | url =http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_72_1963/Volume_72%2C_No._3/Tamihana%26%2339%3Bs_visit_to_Auckland%2C_by_B._J._Dalton%2C_p_193_-_205?action=null | access-date =13 October 2013 | archive-date =12 February 2018 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180212084846/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_72_1963/Volume_72%2C_No._3/Tamihana%27s_visit_to_Auckland%2C_by_B._J._Dalton%2C_p_193_-_205?action=null | url-status =dead }}</ref> in mid-1861 he sent an ultimatum to the movement's leaders. When it was rejected he began drawing up plans to invade the Waikato and depose the king. After a pause, these plans were continued by his successor Governor [[George Grey]], who used troops from the newly formed Commissariat Transport Corps to start construction work on the so-called [[Great South Road, New Zealand|Great South Road]] from [[Drury, New Zealand|Drury]] to the Kingite border at the Mangatāwhiri Stream near [[Pōkeno]].<ref name="Belich">{{cite book | last = Belich | first = James | author-link =James Belich (historian) | title = The New Zealand Wars | publisher = Penguin | year = 1986| location = Auckland | pages = 119–125 | isbn = 0-14-027504-5}}</ref>

Events in early 1863 brought tensions to a head. In March Kingites obstructed the construction of a police station at Te Kohekohe, near [[Meremere]]. [[Rewi Maniapoto]], accompanied by [[Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke]], led a raid on the property at [[Te Awamutu]] occupied by magistrate and Commissioner [[John Eldon Gorst|John Gorst]].<ref>Climates of War.p126. E.Bohan.2005. Hazard Press.</ref><ref name="cowan26" /> The raiders sent a message to Gorst—who was absent at the time—to quit the property or risk death; Grey recalled Gorst to Auckland soon after. On 4 June, British troops attacked Tainui Māori at Tataraimaka.<ref name="cowan26">{{cite book| last = Cowan| first = James| author-link = James Cowan (New Zealand writer)| title = The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Vol. 1, 1845–1864 | volume= | publisher = RNZ Government Printer | year = 1922| location = Wellington| chapter = 26| url = http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cow01NewZ-c36.html}}</ref>

On 9 July 1863 Grey issued a new ultimatum, ordering that all Māori living between [[Auckland]] and the Waikato take an oath of allegiance to [[Queen Victoria]] or be expelled south of the river.<ref name="Belich" /> British forces under [[Duncan Cameron (British Army officer)|Duncan Cameron]] crossed the Mangatāwhiri Stream and [[invasion of the Waikato|invaded the Waikato]] on 12 July 1863. The kingitangi forces were defeated at the [[Battle of Rangiriri]] on 20–21 November 1863 and on 8 December the Kingite capital at [[Ngāruawāhia]] was abandoned to Cameron's troops.<ref name="Belich9">{{cite book | last = Belich | first = James | author-link =James Belich (historian) | title =The New Zealand Wars |publisher= Penguin | year = 1986| location =Auckland | pages =142–158 | isbn =0-14-027504-5}}</ref> A new defensive line was built to the south, centered on [[Paterangi]], the largest system of Māori fortifications built during the New Zealand Wars, which was designed to block the main approaches to the agriculturally rich [[Rangiaowhia]] district, east of Te Awamutu.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/?wid=3122 |title=Journal of the Polynesian Society: Maori Flour Mills Of The Auckland Province, 1846–1860, By R. P. Hargreaves, P 227-232 |website=www.jps.auckland.ac.nz |access-date=24 April 2017 |archive-date=12 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212231440/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/?wid=3122 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Belichpaterangi">{{cite book | last = Belich | first = James | author-link =James Belich (historian) | title =The New Zealand Wars | publisher =Penguin | year = 1986| location =Auckland | pages =160–165 | isbn =0-14-027504-5}}</ref><ref name="cowan36">{{cite book| last = Cowan| first = James| author-link = James Cowan (New Zealand writer)| title = The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Vol. 1, 1845–1864 | volume= | publisher = RNZ Government Printer | year = 1922| location = Wellington| chapter = 36, The advance on the Waipa| url = http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cow01NewZ-c36.html}}</ref> On 20 February 1864, Cameron by-passed the fortress and attacked Te Awamutu directly,<ref name="cowan37">{{cite book| last = Cowan| first = James| author-link = James Cowan (New Zealand writer)| title = The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Vol. 1, 1845–1864 | volume= | publisher = RNZ Government Printer | year = 1922| location = Wellington| chapter = 37, The invasion of Rangiaowhia| url = http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cow01NewZ-c37.html}}</ref> where he massacred civilians.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |url=https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_791880/Wai%20898%2C%20A022.pdf|title=Te Rohe Potae War and Raupatu |last=O'Malley |first=Vincent |date=December 2010|website=Ministry of Justice – Waitangi Tribunal}}</ref> The kingite forces withdrew; Wiremu Tamihana went east to [[Maungatautari]] to block a British advance up the Waikato River into Ngati Raukawa territory.<ref name="Belichpaterangi" /> Rewi Maniapoto moved south into the Hangitiki Valley to defend Ngati Maniapoto bases.<ref name="Belichpaterangi" /> He was encircled at [[Battle of Ōrākau|Ōrākau]] on 30 March 1864 and forced to withdraw to the south on 1 April.<ref name="cowan38">{{cite book| last = Cowan| first = James| author-link = James Cowan (New Zealand writer)| title = The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Vol. 1, 1845–1864 | volume= | publisher = RNZ Government Printer | year = 1922| location = Wellington| chapter = 38, The siege of Orakau| url = http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cow01NewZ-c38.html}}</ref>

After their defeat at the hands of the British and [[kūpapa]] Māori, who fought alongside the troops, King [[Tāwhiao]] and his people were forced to retreat into the heartland of [[Ngāti Maniapoto]], establishing a quasi-autonomous community based around the Kīngitanga, known as the [[King Country]], south of a border known as the ''aukati'' ('boundary'). Under the [[New Zealand Settlements Act 1863|New Zealand Settlements Act]], which had been passed in December 1863, Governor Grey confiscated more than 480,000 hectares of land from the Tainui ''iwi'' (tribe) in the Waikato as punishment for their "rebellion". The war and confiscation of land caused heavy economic, social and cultural damage to Waikato-Tainui. The Maniapoto, by contrast, had been more zealous for war than the Waikato, yet suffered no loss of land because its territory was too remote to be of use to white settlers.<ref name=Oliver>{{Citation | last =Oliver | first =W. H. | title = The Story of New Zealand | place = London | publisher = Faber & Faber | year = 1960 | pages = 94–98 | isbn = ((0571056652))}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Orange | first =Claudia | author-link =Claudia Orange | title =The Treaty of Waitangi | publisher =Allen & Unwin | year =1987 | location =Wellington | pages = 166–170 | isbn = 086861-634-6}}</ref> Some Tainui, such as [[Wiremu Te Wheoro]] of Ngati Naho, who was a magistrate for the Pokeno area and later became a Māori MP, fought with the British during the invasion.<ref>Te Ara. Encycloepedia of NZ.</ref>

===Living in the King Country===
They established their own press, police force, laws and governing body. Europeans who entered the Kīngitanga area were killed. However, because the country was unproductive and the people cut themselves off from European civilization they struggled to develop the Kīngitanga ideal. A number of Pākehā had lived with Ngāti Maniapoto since 1842 such as the French trader Louis Hetet. All of them married Māori women. [[Drunkenness]] became a problem among the Kingitanga supporters south of the Puniu, particularly after the arrival of [[Te Kooti]], who had a long established drinking problem from his youth. Friction broke out between the Maniapoto hosts who wanted to engage with the European settlers and the conservative Kīngitanga adherents who wanted to retain power and remain isolated.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

===Peace===
Over time the more forward thinking ideas of Maniapoto prevailed, land was sold to the government and work was given to Tainui men on roads and on the main trunk line railway. Māori men were given the vote and Māori were given four [[Member of parliament|Members]] in [[New Zealand Parliament|Parliament]] who all argued strongly for modernisation and acceptance of the benefits of [[Pākehā]] civilization. Following this schools, stores and churches were built. Some of the Tainui leaders were employed by the government as advisors or given government pensions in recognition of their change of heart and willingness to engage with the government. Tainui continued to work behind the scenes to recover the remainder of the land they believed was wrongly confiscated ({{convert|120,000|acre|km2}} was returned by 1873) from them after their defeat during the [[New Zealand Wars|land wars]]. Some land or reserves were given back to Tainui but this act caused intra-tribal friction for many years because most of the land retained by the government was in the north and central Waikato. None of the Maniapoto land was confiscated, despite the fact they were the most actively hostile iwi in Taranaki and during the [[Invasion of Waikato|Waikato campaign]], and this annoyed the other Tainui iwi.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

===Return of confiscated land and compensation===
{{convert|120,000|acre|km2}} of land was returned to the rebels a few months after the British victory. In 1926 a government commission agreed to pay an annual payment of £3000. Te Puea, the main force in Tainui leadership, indicated to the government that the tribe was prepared to accept money in compensation for the confiscated land. In April 1946 an additional payment of £5000 (later $15,000) per annum was made in perpetuity – this was considered a full and final payment by the Crown, but although accepted by the Kingitanga royalty some members remained discontented as they wanted land. This was a deal worked out directly between Tainui leadership and the Prime Minister Fraser after a hui at Turangawaewae. The deal was accepted by Roore Edwards speaking for Te Puea. Tainui have been actively seeking a resolution to their ongoing grievance over the 1863 confiscation of lands, water rights, and harbour rights. Tribal members were annoyed that the leadership appeared to be frittering away the large annual income on expensive hui. Most of the funds were spent on administration costs, grants to marae for functions such as tangi and entertaining visitors.<ref>Te Puea .M. King.Reed.2003. P 249-252.</ref> In 1995 as part of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement the tribe received a second lot of compensation<ref>{{cite web |title=The Waikato-Tainui claim |url= https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/the-treaty-in-practice/waikato-tainui |work=New Zealand History Online |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=16 February 2025}}</ref> amounting to $195 million, made up of cash and parcels of land in and around Hamilton such as the former air force base at [[Te Rapa#The Base|Te Rapa]], now called [[The Base (shopping centre)|The Base]]. The compensation is a little over 1 percent of the value of the lands taken as a result of the 1863 invasion.

==Tainui business==
At first many of the investments made were poor such as a fisheries deal, the purchase of the [[Auckland Warriors]] rugby league team and a hotel in [[Singapore]], which all failed.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} A financial overhaul and the separation of the Kīngitanga from Tainui business enterprise has paid dividends. The construction of [[The Base (shopping centre)|The Base]] shopping complex has been a winner for the iwi, drawing many retail customers from the [[Hamilton, New Zealand|Hamilton]] central business district.<ref>Tainui group Holdings Ltd. Commercial property.</ref><ref>Tainui Grows Asset Base to $738. NZ Herald. July 2013.</ref> Tainui business supports the Kīngitanga financially, as well as fostering [[tertiary education]] for tribal members with grants. Tainui has very close links with [[Waikato University]] and each year the university closes down during major Tainui celebrations.<ref>Kingitanga Day. University of Waikato. Sept 2014.</ref> From 2002 until 2008 [[Tainui (New Zealand electorate)|Tainui]] was also the name of a [[Māori electorates|Māori electorate]] in Parliament. It was replaced by the [[Hauraki-Waikato]] electorate.

In 2009 it was announced that [[Tainui Group Holdings]] was to develop farm land adjacent to the Ruakura Research Station and University of Waikato and plan to establish an inland hub for the redistribution and repackaging of containerized products complementing the ports of Auckland and [[Tauranga]]. Ruakura will be centered around the existing and planned infrastructure being the East Coast Main Trunk railway line and the proposed Waikato Expressway. Ruakura is intended to support more freight by rail versus road, thus reducing {{CO2}} emissions and congestion around the ports of Auckland and Tauranga. Tainui have said that this may provide up to 12,000 jobs and will be a 30–50 year project.<ref>Scoop NZ Board Approves Tainui's Ruakura Inland Port.</ref><ref>Tainui Group Holdings LTD: Ruakura FAQ.</ref> The project will include a 195ha Logistics precinct, 262ha Light Industrial precinct, 108ha Innovation precinct, 3 retail areas, 1,800 mixed density houses and over 60ha of public open space for walk and cycle ways, ecological and storm water functions.

The project has been approved by an independent Board of Inquiry, which will enable development to start in 2015 which will provide much needed employment and amenities to the eastern side of Hamilton.

In 2008 Tainui started work on developing a luxury $10 million resort at Lake Taupō. The business failed with the onset of the recession and the assets were valued by Jones, Lang, Lasalle registered valuers, at about $3 million. The failure of this venture under the direction of Mike Pohio Tainui Holdings CEO has raised questions about the ability of the iwi to develop the $3 billion inland port. Few details of the Taupō disaster have been made public. The Waikato Times in September 2014 reported internal friction in the tribe between those who see the Port development as risky and those favouring a higher risk model. After the failure of the Taupō venture the tribe is uneasy about risking its asset base on such a huge venture. In November 2014 a new marae based management structure was voted in designed to rein in risky development.<ref>Waikato Times.Nov 2014.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Bohan, Edmund (2005). ''Climates of War''. Hazard Press.
* {{cite book |first1=Pei Te Hurinui |last1=Jones |author-link1=Pei Te Hurinui Jones |first2=Bruce |last2=Biggs |author-link2=Bruce Biggs |title=Nga Iwi o Tainui: The Traditional History of the Tainui People/Nga Koorero Tuku Iho o Nga Tuupuna |year=1995 |publisher=Auckland University Press |isbn=1869401190 }}
* [[Leslie George Kelly|Kelly, Leslie G.]] (1949). ''Tainui: the story of Hoturoa and his descendants''. Wellington: [[Polynesian Society]].

==External links==
*{{Wikidata-inline}}
*[http://www.ruakura.co.nz Ruakura Development website]

{{Iwi}}

[[Category:Tainui| ]]
[[Category:New Zealand Warriors chairmen and investors]]

Tainui - Revision history

139.80.239.65: /* British invasion of the Waikato */