Pressure on Maori land - War in Taranaki 1860-63

As the non-Maori population of New Zealand grew during the 1850s, Maori faced more pressure to sell their land to these new settlers. By the late 1850s the South Island was firmly in settler hands. In the North Island, where the majority of Maori lived, meeting settler demand for land was proving much harder. In his first term as Governor, George Grey had overseen sizeable purchases in Porirua, Rangitikei, Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay. His successor from 1855, Thomas Gore Browne, achieved few significant land purchases in the North Island.

Maori became more reluctant to sell land in the North Island in the early 1850s. The idea of a Maori king was suggested. It was hoped that a king would hold sufficient mana to enable Maori land to be placed under his protection and thus defeat the ‘divide and conquer’ approach to buying it.

Potatau Te Wherowhero

In 1858 the Waikato leader Potatau Te Wherowhero was installed as the first Maori king. He set a boundary separating his authority from that of the British Crown. Several major iwi did not join the Kingitanga. Nevertheless, there were fears that the Maori King posed a direct challenge to the authority of the British Crown. The settler community viewed the Kingitanga as an elaborate anti-land-selling league that needed to be ‘nipped in the bud’.

Having achieved political and numerical supremacy (the non-Maori population exceeded that of Maori for the first time in 1858) the settlers expected more to be done to free up Maori land for settlement. Particular pressure points were Auckland and New Plymouth, which were surrounded by large Maori populations reluctant to sell land.

Tensions in New Plymouth

Fitzroy's pole in New Plymouth

The European settlement of New Plymouth had been plagued from the outset by the unavailability of sufficient land. In 1848 it remained confined to an area of only 3500 acres. George Grey was able to extend this by securing an additional 32,000 acres between 1848 and 1853. But this did little to satisfy settler demand. A minority of local Te Atiawa leaders, including Rawiri Waiaua, Ihaia Kirikumara and Te Teira Manuka, were willing to sell land, but they faced strong opposition from men such as Te Waitere Katatore and Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake.

Te Atiawa politics had been complicated by the return to northern Taranaki of many of those who had migrated south a generation before, following the Waikato invasion of Taranaki. In 1848 Wiremu Kingi and nearly 600 of his people returned from Waikanae and established a new base on the south bank of the Waitara River. As he consolidated his position and authority in the area, tensions with Te Teira began to emerge.

The Puketapu feud

Cross marking scene of the Puketapu feud

In August 1854 the disagreement within Te Atiawa came to a head. Rawiri Waiaua, his brother Paora and three other members of his Puketapu hapu were killed in a dispute over a block of land Rawiri wished to sell. The killings were carried out by a group of fellow Puketapu men acting on behalf of Katatore. New Plymouth braced itself for a backlash. There were fears for the longer term prospects of the town if other ‘friendlies’ should fall victim to the actions of the ‘anti-land-selling league’.

New Plymouth in 1857

The first New Zealand parliament was only a few months old and the country was ‘between Governors’ (George Grey’s replacement, Thomas Gore Browne, did not arrive until September 1855). Donald McLean, the government’s chief land purchase commissioner, was sent to New Plymouth to deal with the matter. Rawiri’s people were told that as this was a ‘quarrel between natives’ the government would not get involved.

These events were quickly overtaken in early 1855 by the fallout from another killing. Rimene of Ngati Ruanui (south Taranaki) was murdered for allegedly having had an affair with the wife of Ihaia Kirikumara, an ally of the recently slain Rawiri. In the conflict that followed around a dozen Maori were killed.

Wiremu Kingi had initially refused to take sides in the Puketapu feud. When it appeared that land at Waitara might get caught up in this dispute he threw his support behind Katatore. He and his wife, Heni, tried to bring the feud to an end during 1856 by visiting a number of local pa. These efforts appeared to be working. But in January 1858 Katatore was ambushed and killed near Bell Block on the instruction of Ihaia. Fresh panic gripped Maori and settlers alike.