Place to Visit

Visit NZ's Heritage Sites Venues for Hire

Membership of the Historic Places Trust entitles you to a range of unique benefits including a free subscription to Heritage New Zealand magazine.

From Heritage New Zealand, Spring 2003

Peaceful View Defies Turbulent Past

by Kate Edwards

Just a stone's throw from State Highway 1 at the small North Waikato township of Rangiriri is a grassy hilltop from which pausing travellers can look out over the Waikato River and its valley of farms.

Attack on the Maori pah at Rangiriri (Thomas Redgrave) F-81127-1/2 Photo: Alexander Turnball Library* F-81127-1/2

At dusk, it is an island of green calm, a welcome respite from the constant roaring of the rushing traffic. But a glance at the ground offers evidence of a more traumatic time. The hilltop is gouged with broad, deep trenches softened with a carpet of grass.

Here, in this modest place, people fought and died during the Waikato War of 1863-64, which preceded confiscation of Maori land. Maori made the trenches as part of a system of defensive earthworks featuring a central redoubt that commanded the river, a bullock track and a swamp around Lake Kopuera.

The fortifications, though incomplete, held firm on November 20,1863, under hours of bombardment from British Army artillery and two steamers on the river.

A brief account of the battle is given on a plaque in the cemetery in the township opposite the tavern. It says: "Here a small band of determined Maori made an heroic stand against the greatest army in the world.

"The parapet of the central redoubt was five metres high. It was manned by 350 to 400 Maori. They faced about 1500 British troops and seamen, supported by gunboats and artillery. Numerous assaults were repulsed and at nightfall the Maori still held the redoubt. At dawn the next day, the Maori mistook the white ensign on the gunboats for a flag of truce and raised their own white flag in reply.

"The troops entered the redoubt. The Maoris eventually surrendered and 183 prisoners taken."

The plaque goes on to say casualties of the tribes of the Waikato, led by the Ngati Mahuta and the Ngati Haua, were approximately 50 killed. The British Army and Navy lost four officers, and 57 men were killed and 91 wounded.

The action cost the lives of more Government forces than any other during the New Zealand Wars, says Neville Ritchie, a Department of Conservation archaeologist, in his booklet The Waikato War of 1863-64, a guide to the main events and sites.

Historians argue over exactly how much the white flag incident had to do with such a formidable pa as Rangiriri being taken. A description found on www.HistoryOrb.com says there were "simply not enough warriors to pull the triggers when they were attacked."

After the battle, Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron's force advanced unopposed to the Ngaruawahia headquarters of the Maori King on the delta of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers.

Rangiriri became a supply depot and a redoubt was built on part of the Maori's fortifications. It is known as Te Whero's Redoubt after a pro-Government chief who occupied it during 1868-69 when it was feared hostilities might resume. In 1967, the Ministry of Works widened the highway and much of the central redoubt was removed.

Opposite the cemetery, containing the graves of the British soldiers and memorials, is the Rangiriri Battle Site Heritage Centre and tearoom, which has a model of the pa and an audiovisual presentation of the battle.

The Historic Places Trust is developing a management plan in consultation with Maori for the Rangiriri fortifications.

Kate Edwards is an Auckland-based freelance journalist and a regular contributor to Heritage New Zealand.

For further information:

Rangiriri Pa is signposted on State Highway 1.