BATTLE OF GATE PA

Simon Collett's speech notes from the Commemoration Opening 29 April 2013

Why the Battle is important to us The Battle of Gate Pa, while a remarkable Maori victory against tremendous odds is, for me, the story of Tauranga's birth as a town.

Tauranga is both a beautiful place to be and is strategically located. That is why the Battle was here. It is why most of us are here also. Background to the Battle Tauranga was originally Otamaha Pa. In the 1820's the Pa was attacked by Ngati Maru from the Thames Valley and its inhabitants were either killed or enslaved.

This made the Pa wahi tapu – a place that Maori could no longer use. As such, it was available for the missionaries to purchase. Missionaries had been eying Tauranga as the

perfect location to establish a mission station for some 20 odd years before this time.

And so the Church Mission Society purchased the land from the tip of the peninsular to Pukehinahina. Pukehinahina is now called Gate Pa.

By the 1850s, European settlement in NZ had increased dramatically. With this came a huge demand for land. Maori had by then realized that by selling their land they were losing the economic and social fabric that held their society together. The first Maori King was elected in 1858 and tribes with allegiance to him refused to sell any more land. War then broke out. It started in Taranaki and quickly moved north to the Waikato. Many Maori from Tauranga

crossed over the Kaimai ranges to fight against the British in support of their King.

Further, Tauranga was strategically important to the Waikato Maori. This was because:

(a) It was behind Maori lines, (b) The harbour was used by traders to run guns and other war supplies through to

Maori. (c) Food grown in Tauranga was also supplied to the fighting Maori in the Waikato. The government then determined to seal this off.

Battle preparations

In early 1864, some 600 soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Greer (after

which Greerton is named) arrived and established a camp near mission station. They also established 2 redoubts (or forts). The redoubts were named after the Monmouth and

Durham light infantry regiments. No guessing where these were located.

On hearing this Ngai Te Rangi warriors returned to Tauranga and occupied severa l old Pa.

Chief Rawiri Puhirake tried to entice the British in to battle and, after several failed attempts, took provactive action by establishing a Pa at Pukehinahina. This was right at the

Gate of the mission.

The "Gate Pa", as it was known, was literally a gate. It allowed carts to pass through the stock fence that ran along the border of the mission land. On hearing this Greer asked for reinforcements. These arrived, on 21 April 1864, and were under the command of Lieutenant General

Cameron. Cameron was keen to achieve one swift decisive victory as his campaigns in the Waikato had been indecisive.

Rawiri had assembled just 230 warriors. The British gathered a force of some 1700 men. The Pa was carefully located such that the British had to attack it front on. The warriors

constructed a maze of trenches and underground shelters in the Pa to withstand artillery bombardment.

Even though they had to march through tidal swamps to do so, the British troops managed

to take up a position behind the Pa. The warriors were trapped.

Just as the sun came up on 29 April 1864, Cameron unleashed the heaviest artillery bombardment of the entire NZ campaign. The Battle This is an excerpt of what was reported in the Illustrated London News in July 1864:

It seems that General Cameron had, on the 27th, examined the position of the Maoris, and laid his plan of attack. A force composed of the head-quarter companies of the 43rd Light Infantry, under

Colonel Booth, 68th under Colonel Greer, and the Naval Brigade, came out of Te Papa at nightfall on the 28th, and lay close to the pa, which was a series of earthworks or

redoubts, on the crest of a hill, connected with each other by a perfect labyrinth of trenches and subterranean passages, which the Maoris had burrowed in the ground.

The officers and men of our ships of war, during the same night of the 28th, having landed a 110-pounder and two 40-pounder Armstrong guns, placed them as a siege

battery within range of the enemy's fortifications, while other artillery were set in position behind the earthworks we constructed on a hill to our right and in front of the

pa. They must have worked hard, for many hours, to complete these formidable preparations.

When the morning dawned General Cameron gave orders to open fire from our

batteries.

It was kept up without cessation from seven o'clock in the morning till four in the afternoon.

Still the Maoris did not show themselves; there was no sign of life in the pa.

The evening was wearing on. It was at length resolved upon to storm the pa.

Commander Hay, of the Harrier, led the storming party. The covering party advanced in front of the pa, within 100 yards of its outer face, and opened fire.

The defenders of the pa replied almost instantly. The Maoris had leaped from their cover

to defend their works, and gallantly and well they fought. While the fire in front was at its height, the stormers advanced in column at the double, and with a cheer carried the

breach. The stormers were in the pa, and a desperate conflict took place.

The storming party was exposed to a murderous fire on all sides, and from hidden assailants beneath, and without an officer left to lead them, were wavering. Captain Hamilton sprang on the parapet, and, shouting, “Follow me, men!” fell dead with a bullet through the brain - many of his officers shared the same fate. There was a momentary lull.

The next moment both English and Maoris poured out of the pa through the breach,

while a destructive fire was opened from the pa and rifle pits. The stormers were repulsed in front with severe loss.

Every available man in Tauranga was sent for.

Meantime, the Maoris were exulting at their success, and challenged our troops to

advance. They were heard to boast that a great number of pakehas were slain.

The pa was evacuated, however, during the night of the 29th of April, and the great body of the enemy escaped.

The total number of British wounded was not less than eighty, besides thirty killed. The

affair is not considered to have done much credit to our arms. The assault, though preceded and supported by the fire of our heaviest artillery, was a disastrous failure.

So that was a contemporary account of the battle itself.

Aftermath

The dead British soldiers were buried at Mission Cemetery. You can visit their graves even now.

Cameron and the majority of his troops returned to Auckland after the battle, leaving Greer in command.

Revenge at Te Ranga

2 months later, a patrol found Maori building a new fortification at Te Ranga. This is located near the corner of Pyes Pa Road and Joyce Road. Greer was determined not to let them fully develop their entrenchments so he quickly attacked. This battle is often described as one of the bloodiest of the New Zealand

campaigns. British troops exacted terrible vengeance for Gate Pa. 120 warriors lost their

lives including chiefs Rawiri and Henare Taratoa, whose bodies were later buried at Mission

Cemetery.

Surrender On 25 July 1864, Ngai Te Rangi formally surrendered at Te Papa. The government punished the Maori by confiscating large tracts of land and giving it to soldiers who fought in the Waikato War. Tauranga then became a military settlement. As you will know, the grievance in relation to the confiscation of land has more or less been settled.

WHILE EVERY ATTEMPT HAS BEEN MADE TO MAKE THIS AN ACCURATE ACCOUNT, I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL HISTORIAN AND CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT THIS ARTICLE IS 100% CORRECT!