The Musket Wars of the 1810s-1830s caused thousands of Maori to flee their traditional lands, freeing large areas for Pakeha (European) settlement.
Origins of the Northern War
The Northern War was in part a reaction to the increasing control of the colonial government over Maori affairs. New rules and regulations cost Maori in the Bay of Islands in terms of lost trade and opportunities. The imposition of customs duties and shipping levies increased prices and deprived Maori of revenue. A ban on the felling of kauri and Crown control of land sales contributed to a fear that Maori authority was being increasingly undermined.
The sacking of Kororareka
Ngapuhi had enjoyed many economic benefits from their early contact with Europeans. Key leaders such as Tamati Waka Nene and Hone Heke were keen to preserve this relationship. Both had converted to Christianity and supported the Treaty of Waitangi. Heke was the first to sign and invited Lieutenant Governor Hobson to ‘stay with us and be like a father’.
A Ngapuhi raiding party prepares
War speech, painted by Augustus Earle in 1838.
A Ngāpuhi chief stands in a beached canoe addressing a crowd of warriors, most of whom are seated. Two other long canoes are on the beach, one with a sail is in the water, and others are pulled up close to a pā or kāinga in the left background. A dog sniffs the ground in the foreground. Most of the men are armed with guns; one at far right holds a taiaha. A gourd and flax kit are centrally placed amongst one group.
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Outbreak of the Girls' War at Kororareka
The Girls’ War is the name given to a conflict fought in March 1830 between northern and southern Ngāpuhi. It had its roots in inter-hapu rivalry and competition for European trade at Kororāreka in the Bay of Islands. The conflict was sparked by a fight among some young high-born Māori women, including the wives of a European whaler, W.D. Brind. A minor incident led to an exchange of threats between the girls’ tribes. Things turned violent when someone was accidentally shot.
First official execution in NZ
On 7 March 1842 Maketū Wharetōtara, the 17-year-old son of the Ngāpuhi chief Ruhe of Waimate, became the first person to be officially executed in New Zealand. The previous November, at Motuarohia in the Bay of Islands, he had killed five people: farm worker Thomas Bull, Elizabeth Roberton and her two children, and Isabella Brind, the granddaughter of the Ngāpuhi leader Rewa.
