Carl Völkner

On 2 March 1865 Carl Sylvius Völkner, a German-born missionary, was hanged from a willow tree near his church at Opotiki. His death was attributed to the followers of a new religion, Pai Marire, who suspected Völkner of spying for the government.

Völkner was sent to New Zealand in 1849 by the North German Missionary Society. He began his missionary work in Taranaki with fellow German Protestant missionary Johann Riemenschneider. In 1852 he began working for the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and became a lay teacher in lower Waikato. After marrying Emma Lanfear he was ordained deacon in 1860 and priest in 1861 before taking charge of the CMS mission station at Opotiki in August 1861. Völkner was welcomed into the Te Whakatohea community who built a church and a school for the mission station.

During the Taranaki and Waikato wars Te Whakatohea remained largely peaceful. By 1864, however, there was increasing debate amongst East Coast tribes as to whether they should support the Waikato and Tauranga people. Early that year East Coast tribes (including Te Whakatohea) were stopped by Te Arawa from travelling to the Waikato through Rotorua. When they attempted to take a coastal route they were repulsed by British forces at Maketu, sustaining a number of casualties. Te Aporotanga, an important Te Whakatohea chief, was captured and later executed by the wife of a slain Te Arawa chief. Te Whakatohea believed that their leader had been murdered by a pro-government iwi and that Governor Grey should have punished Te Arawa for this act.

By late 1864 conditions in Opotiki were grim. The fighting had disrupted their food cultivation and an outbreak of typhoid and measles killed a quarter of the population. The arrival of a Pai Marire mission led by Kereopa Te Rau and Patara Raukatauri in February 1865 aggravated existing divisions among Te Whakatohea.

Völkner had remained in Opotiki during the fighting. He made several trips to Auckland in 1864 and again in January 1865. Several locals warned him not to return to Opotiki because he was considered to be a government spy. Letters he had written to Governor Grey in 1864 appeared to support these accusations.

Völkner had also helped in the removal of a popular Catholic missionary, Joseph Marie Garavel, accusing him of acting as a messenger for 'hostile' Waikato Maori. Garavel for his part supported the claim that Völkner was a spy.

Despite warnings to stay away Völkner returned to Opotiki with fellow missionary Thomas Grace on 1 March 1865. Both were immediately taken prisoner. Grace was spared but he witnessed the killing of Völkner the following morning. Völkner ‘knelt down and prayed, and, having shaken hands with his murderers said "I am ready".’ After an hour his body was taken down and decapitated. Kereopa removed the eyes and swallowed them, describing one eye as Parliament and the other as the Queen and English law.

Te Whakatohea executed Völkner because despite being welcomed into their tribe he betrayed them to Grey. The man who placed the rope around his neck was Pokeno, the son of Te Aporotanga. Völkner's death was also an act of utu for this offence which Te Whakatohea believed should have been dealt with by the government.

The government responded to Völkner's death with military reprisals. His killers were hunted down. A number of local people were arrested, and some executed. In addition a large area of land was confiscated from eastern Bay of Plenty tribes.

Völkner's body was buried at his church, which was later reconsecrated and dedicated to St Stephen the Martyr. Kereopa Te Rau was later found guilty of  murder and executed at Napier in 1871.

• See also: biography of Carl Völkner from the Dictionary of NZ Biography