Canon, Ruapekapeka Pā, Battlefield site, Northland, New Zealand.
Māori of the Ngāpuhi iwi (tribe) went to war with the colonial government of New Zealand in 1845. They fought because Great Britain tried to impose an unacceptable version of the Queen’s sovereignty upon them. The Battle of Ruapekapeka was the last of a series of clashes collectively known as The Northern War (1845-6). The conflict involved the British, Ngāpuhi and other Māori iwi (tribes) of the northern North Island. The Māori warriors were fighting for their rights guaranteed under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi). The British were attempting to suppress the “natives” rebelling against the Crown. Ruapekapeka was the site of the last battle of the Northern War. About 400 Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine warriors stood against a combined British force of 1600. The warriors built a pā (fortification), which was cleverly adapted to the methods and armaments of European warfare. However, they were outnumbered four to one and they lacked heavy artillery. The British did not. For days, they blasted the pā with canons, howitzers, mortars, and rockets, eventually breaching the massive timber palisades. In 1846, Ruapekapeka Pā was a remarkable fortification. With its double-row of massive timber palisades, rifle trenches, flanking angles and bomb-proof bunkers, Ruapekapeka was a masterpiece of military engineering. Ruapekapeka represented a transition from traditional Māori pa, to defences especially designed to counter the long distance projectile and explosive weaponry of the British. The site is remarkable to this day with its highly visible and well-preserved defences carved into the landscape.
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Photo credit: © John Steele / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: battlefield, bay, canon, colonial, conservation, department, doc, hine, historic, history, imperialism, islands, maori, military, ngāpuhi, ngāti, northland, race, relations, resistance, ruapekapeka, war, warriors, winter, zealand
