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Kiwi of the Week
Today in History
5 June
1866 Te Kooti deported to Chathams
The East Coast military leader and prophet was deported with Pai Marire prisoners to the Chatham Islands. He had been accused of spying for the enemy while fighting with government troops.
As a young man Te Kooti (of Ngati Maru and Rongowhakaata descent) had gained a reputation as a troublemaker. His own tribal leaders described him as a ‘terror to the district’. He upset local settler-traders when he began to undercut their monopoly of trade with Auckland. He had made powerful enemies in both communities.
In 1865 he was among the few Ngati Maru who did not convert to the Pai Marire religion. He joined government forces fighting against ‘rebel’ Pai Marire Hauhau at Waerenga-a-Hika near Gisborne in November 1865. A Rongowhakaata chief accused Te Kooti of supplying gunpowder to those inside the pa and he was arrested. The charges could not be proved, and he was released before being arrested a second time in March 1866. His trading rival, J.W. Harris, advised Donald McLean, the government's agent on the East Coast, that Te Kooti was a nuisance whom they ‘ought to get rid of.’
In June Te Kooti was sent, without trial, to Wharekauri (Chatham Island) with a party of Pai Marire prisoners. While there, he experienced spiritual visions. This led to the establishment of the Ringatu Church, which combined elements of the Old Testament with Maori custom. In July 1868 Te Kooti and his followers on the Chathams seized the supply ship Rifleman. With 163 men and 135 women and children aboard, the vessel sailed for New Zealand and 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. He wanted safe passage to the King Country, where he hoped to 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, Biggs pursued and attacked them, and war began.
Image ref: A-114-004-2, Alexander Turnbull Library
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