Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki

Te Kooti (?–1893) was of Ngati Maru, a hapu (sub-tribe) of the Turanganui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne) tribe Rongowhakaata. He converted to Christianity and, like other Turanganui Maori, became involved in the coastal shipping trade. He was also known as a wild and turbulent youth, gaining enemies among Europeans and some of his own people.

In 1865 he was among the few Ngati Maru who did not convert to the Pai Marire religion, which opposed the sale of land to Europeans. Instead he joined the government forces which fought "rebel" Pai Marire Hauhau at Waerenga-a-Hika (Gisborne) in November 1865. After the fighting he was held on suspicion of being a spy, but these charges were probably trumped up. He appealed to Donald McLean for a hearing of the charges against him, but was ignored. He was exiled to the Chatham Islands with a number of Hauhau prisoners.

While on the Chathams Te Kooti experienced spiritual visions. It was at this time that he founded the Ringatu Church, grounded in the Old Testament and in Maori custom. On 4 July 1868 Te Kooti led an escape of the Chatham Island prisoners – 163 men and 135 women and children – on the Rifleman, a vessel they had seized. They landed just south of Poverty Bay on 10 July. Te Kooti told Biggs, the Resident Magistrate at Gisborne, that he and his followers did not want to fight Europeans but to travel to the King Country. There he would strengthen his position as the spiritual leader of the Maori people. Biggs demanded that Te Kooti's party give up their arms. When they did not, he pursued and attacked them, and war began.

During the next few months Te Kooti was successful in a series of battles, and by November 1868 he controlled much of the Poverty Bay district. His fighting force totalled about 200. It consisted of the Rifleman group and a number of other Maori who joined him later – mostly members of Tuhoe from the Urewera, and Ngati Kahungunu from inland Wairoa. The execution of a number of European and Maori prisoners (including women and children) at Matawhero, Poverty Bay, in November 1868 earned him many powerful Maori enemies, as well as the support of some motivated by fear. It also made the government more grimly determined to capture or kill him. A massive £5,000 bounty was placed on his head.

At the battle of Ngatapa, in January 1869, Te Kooti suffered a major defeat by local militia and their Ngati Porou, Te Arawa and Ngati Kahungunu allies. Although Te Kooti and some of his followers escaped, a number of his men – perhaps as many as 120 – were captured and executed. Te Kooti launched a raid on Mōhaka (Hawke's Bay) in April, and then retired to the Urewera.

After this, there was a period of extraordinary savagery and destruction. Government forces applied a scorched earth policy so that the Tuhoe tribe could not shelter Te Kooti and the dwindling remnants of his band. Te Kooti became a master of guerrilla tactics, and always managed to evade capture. Over the next four years armed parties constantly crossed the Kaingaroa plains, the Urewera and surrounding districts, pillaging, burning and killing.

The final phase of the war was a bitter campaign in the Urewera. One by one the Tuhoe leaders were forced to surrender. Stripped of his main support, Te Kooti took shelter in the King Country under the protection of King Tawhiao. From then on he avoided the path of war.

Te Kooti lived at Te Kuiti, in the King Country, until he was pardoned in 1883. However, he was never allowed to return to his home at Turanganui. During this period he developed the rituals of the Ringatu Church. By the late 1870s the faith had spread widely, and his reputation as a prophet and healer grew rapidly. He died in 1893. 

• See also: biography of Te Kooti on the DNZB website