Exploring Rangiaowhia to O-R¯akau
Amid the rolling Waipa¯ countryside lies a contentious and bloody history.
Rangiaowhia is a beautiful part of Waipa¯ , but with a contentious and bloody history.
Just ten minutes from Te Awamutu, it was once a thriving Ma¯ ori village of more than 700 people, with lush orchards, fields of grain, flour mills, several churches, a racecourse and schools.
Everything changed on February 21, 1864 when more than 1200 British Crown soldiers led by Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron invaded the peaceful settlement during the New Zealand Land Wars.
Today I’m in Rangiaowhia to take a self-guided tour using Te Ara Wai Journeys, a new digital story-telling project developed by Wa¯ ipa District Council and Te Awamutu Museum.
Rangiaowhia to O-Ra¯ kau is one of six tours that visitors can take of culturally and historically significant sites in the Waipa¯ area. Using their mobile phones, they can access a website (www. tearawai.nz) with 169 stories told by historians, kauma¯ tua and other experts on the history, ecology and geology of the region.
Some 156 years ago, Rangiaowhia was the scene of what can only be described as a massacre, with many defenceless Ma¯ ori women, children and elderly murdered during a dawn raid.
Standing here today, it’s difficult to imagine the blood shed over this soil long ago.
This tour features stories from a huge range of experts and begins at St Paul’s Anglican Church on Rangiaowhia Road, an elegant building overlooking farmland. The church, with its magnificent spire was built in 1856, a collaboration between Ma¯ ori and Pa¯ keha¯ .
Back then, Rangiaowhia was a highly prosperous Ma¯ ori village spanning about two kilometres.
I tag along with another group to see the interior of the old church. It is stunning, made of stained native timber with high arched ceilings and elegant stained glass windows.
It is one of the churches where women, children and elderly huddled, terrified for their lives on February 21, 1864, when British Crown soldiers raided Rangiaowhia.
A few minutes’ walk down the road is stop two, which further details the attack on Rangiaowhia.
General Cameron had decided to bypass the well-fortified pa¯ at Pa¯ terangi and marched through the night towards Rangiaowhia. They arrived at dawn, surprising residents who had been at Sunday prayer. All of their able fighting men were away at
Pa¯ terangi Pa¯ , waiting for a British attack that never came.
. A prayer house (whare karakia) was set alight with people inside, and those who tried to escape were shot by soldiers, despite orders from officers not to fire. It’s heart-breaking to listen to.
There were heroes too, like Wikito¯ ria Te Mamae Whakamau, who rescued a large number of children during the raid, recalled by her descendant Hazel
Coromandel-Wander.
Wikito¯ ria was at a nearby creek with a group of children when the raid began, and bravely hid them in the swamp. They breathed underwater through reeds, and saw the whare burn.
Reasons for the attack are contentious and controversial. As a centre for food production, it was an important resource to the Kı¯ngitanga movement.
After the raid, the village was largely abandoned, and survivors fled south.
The next stop, the Catholic Church Cemetery, is a few minutes’ walk, the site where the Catholic Mission of the Holy Angels once stood. I listen to stories about missionaries and the development of literacy in the area, and about early Ma¯ ori pa¯ sites here including Nga¯ Huruhuru and Raroera. A short drive back up Rangiaowhia Rd is the Monument to the Burnt Whare and the site of the Battle of Hairini.
On February 22, 1864, some 400 Ma¯ ori warriors gathered to avenge Rangiaowhia. The Battle of Hairini was a disaster for the Ma¯ ori defenders, who were overrun.
Next it’s a short drive to the O-Ra¯ kau Battle site near Kihikihi, where battle raged over three days from March 31 to April 2, 1864 between British Crown forces and Ma¯ ori loyal to the
Kı¯ngitanga.
.
It was a fierce battle, and Ma¯ ori repelled several frontal attacks from British Crown forces, refusing to surrender.
On the third day, with water, ammunition and food supplies low, Ma¯ ori warriors left their fortifications. They began running towards the relative safety of the Pu¯ niu River 3km away.
But British cavalry ran them down, killing half. Their leader Rewi Maniapoto survived.
This was the final battle of the NZ Land Wars in the Waikato. General Cameron, who had become disillusioned with war, refused to go any further south.
In total, 1.2 million acres of Ma¯ ori land was confiscated in the region.
The final stop on the tour is Kihikihi, which was occupied by British Crown soldiers on February 23, 1864. I stop at the Kihikihi Police House and Temple Cottage, and chance upon Angela Brown, Jan Burch and Trevor Hall, three committee members from the trust operating the police house and cottage, who tell me about its history and show me around the rooms.