The Northern War, fought in the Bay of Islands in 1845-46, was the first serious challenge to the Crown in the years after the Treaty of Waitangi. Its opening shots marked the beginning of the wider North Island conflicts often referred to as the New Zealand Wars.
Actions by the Colonial government cost Maori in the Bay of Islands in terms of lost trade and opportunities. Heke feared that chiefly authority was now subservient to that of the British Crown
The sacking of Kororareka shook the settler population. Over £50,000
worth of property was lost. In Auckland panic set in. Some settlers
sold their land for whatever price they could obtain, and left the
country as quickly as possible.
Maori learnt an important lesson at Puketutu – the British were a
formidable foe in open battle. This would influence the tactics used in
future battles
The vastly experienced Henry Despard had now arrived as the new
commander of all British troops in New Zealand. He was keen to cash in
on Heke’s set back at Te Ahuahu. He assembled the largest British force
yet seen in New Zealand and moved on Kawiti’s new pa at Ohaeawai
Grey assumed control on 18 November 1845. He believed FitzRoy’s
negotiations were ‘inconsistent with the interests of the British
Government’. Negotiations broke down in early December. Grey ordered Despard to move against Kawiti's new pa, Ruapekapeka.
Ruapekapeka may have been a tactical victory for the British. But many
consider the battle to be a draw. Heke and Kawiti had escaped with
their forces largely intact. The terms of the peace settlement that
followed suggests that the Maori had enjoyed a strategic victory.
Historian James Belich contends that Grey won the propaganda war and
Kawiti and Heke the real war on the battlefield. Others argue Belich’s
revisionism goes too far and maintain that Grey’s decisive action sent
a powerful message to Kawiti and Heke about the nature of their new
opponent.
Bay of Islands Nga Puhi chief Hone Heke was an influential Maori voice in favour of the Treaty of Waitangi. However he later became a leading opponent of British rule in New Zealand.
The missionaries divided the wave of Europeans who came to New Zealand in the first half of the 19th century into two groups: missionaries were the agents of virtue, and almost everyone else qualified as the agents of vice. The impact of both groups was perhaps strongest in Kororareka in the Bay of Islands.
