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Battle in the dunes
from Plenty March 2020
Battle in
the Dunes
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WORDS WHARE AKUHATA /// PHOTOGRAPHY ANDY TAYLOR
The drive along the Matatā Straits between Whakatāne and Te Puke is about as Kiwi as it gets. Pōhutukawa and toi toi-clad sandstone cliffs on one side, rolling dunes and the big blue ocean on the other. On a good day it’s a postcard of peace and solitude.
What many motorists travelling the straights don’t know is that those dunes were the scene of one of the most brutal conflicts to take place in the Bay of Plenty. This was the 1864 Battle of Kaokaoroa; it was fought between iwi supporting or opposing the British and, because it occurred just a day before the fateful battle at Gate Pā (Pukehinahina), it remains largely forgotten. Whare Akuhata, whose ancestors fought in the battle – and whose tūpuna Henare Taratoa played a key role at Gate Pā – looks back on the bloody battle of the dunes.
THAT THE BATTLE OF KAOKAOROA was overshadowed by Gate Pā in its immediate aftermath is perhaps understandable, given that the latter involved the defeat of colonial troops and was on the doorstep of Tauranga. But why it remains in the shadows today is a mystery. Māori have always remembered the importance of conflicts that, according to historian Vincent O’Malley, have profoundly shaped the course and direction of our history; rather than the battles of the First World War, he notes, the New Zealand Wars is the defining conflict in our history. But for the majority of New Zealanders, most of these defining battles are just place names, or are completely unknown.
The battle of Kaokaoroa is a perfect example, both of how selective our history is but also of the complexity of the New Zealand Wars as a whole. This was one of the biggest battles fought in the Bay of Plenty, it was quite possibly pivotal to deciding the outcome of the British strategy in the central North Island, and – most surprising of all – the combatants on both sides were almost entirely Māori.
On the one hand Te Arawa (from the Rotorua Lakes area) supported the colonial forces, while on the other side was an East Coast contingent that numbered some 800 toa (warriors) from Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau ā Apanui, Ngāti Awa and Tūhoe.
The East Coast contingent’s aim was to assist the Māori King in fighting the colonial forces that were invading the Waikato; to do this they needed to pass through Te Arawa territory and join the Kingite forces assembling in the Waikato. Te Arawa were conflicted in that they knew that if they let this East Coast force through to the Waikato then they could be seen as aiding anti-government forces and have their lands confiscated. The previous year, and ahead of the planned invasion of the Waikato, the Crown had enacted the New Zealand Settlements Act that provided for the confiscation of land from those tribes who were in what it termed “rebellion” against the Crown. More than 1.2 million hectares of land was confiscated throughout the country, most of it in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and East Coast/Hawkes Bay. To avoid further confiscation therefore, Te Arawa had good reason to side with the Crown, but it is worth noting that it was also a chance to settle some old scores with neighbouring iwi, particularly Ngāti Awa. To confuse matters even more, some hapū of Te Arawa chose a different allegiance, siding with the Waikato iwi in their struggle against the Crown. It was, to put it mildly, a very complex situation.
TŪHOE AND NGĀTI WHARE from Te Urewera had already skirted Te Arawa’s rohe and made it through to Waikato, where they played a significant role at the Battle of Ōrakau. Other iwi had travelled to the Waikato via Tauranga, and this route was the principle reason the colonial forces established a base there – to block any further reinforcements from taking part in the coming battle – but for Tauranga Māori the force represented the clear and present danger of land confiscation.
The East Coast contingent initially tried to skirt Tauranga by forcing their way through Te Arawa territory via the lakes. On 7 March they met Te Arawa forces at Lake Rotoiti and skirmishes were fought at Tapuaeharuru, at the eastern end of the lake, and on Taurua, the hills above. After three days of fighting, the East Coast contingent fell back towards Matatā, but it had been a close run thing. Both sides had suffered equal losses, but foremost among the fallen was Apanui, a high chief from the East Coast. He fell at Te Tu-arai, the wooded headland just to the eastward of ‘Emery’s house’, the home of an early settler still remembered today by Emery’s Store overlooking the lake.
It was not long before the East Coasters were once more on the move. On 21 April they approached Maketū, where government forces had established a redoubt, and fighting soon broke out, with the redoubt making good use of two field guns that had been brought up. After several days a standoff developed, with the attackers dug in about a mile east of Maketū and clearly preparing for an assault on the defenders. But on 26 April the warship HMS Falcon and the gunboat Sandfl arrived and the course of the conflict changed dramatically; the two ships began a bombardment of the East Coast iwi who, lacking artillery, were helpless to respond to. A 300-strong Te Arawa reinforcement group had also arrived and the combined forces were too strong for the East Coasters, who withdrew along the coast under harassing – but at times surprisingly accurate –fire from the Falcon and Sandfly and pursued by the Te Arawa f rces and some colonial troops.
On 28 April they found themselves at the western end of the Matatā straights, Ōtamarākau; the long sandy beach that stretches back eastwards is called Kaokaoroa – ‘the long rib’ – and it was there that the two forces began to play out the final and fateful last stages of the conflict
The Falcon and Sandfly had now withdrawn, so the ensuing battle was to be fought at close range, with muskets, flintlocks and double and single barrelled shotguns. It raged over the sand hills and kūmara plantations between the sea and the high sandstone cliffs, and while both sides fought fiercely it soon became clear that the East Coast forces were losing ground.
They made a stand near the Pikowhai (or Puakowhai) stream just west of Matatā. The principal Arawa chiefs engaging them, beside the energetic Pokiha Taranui, were the old warrior Tohi te Ururangi, Matene te Auheke, Te Waata Taranui, Te Mapu, Rota Rangihoro, Henare te Pukuatua, Te Araki te Pohu, Te Kohai Tarahina, Paora Pahupahu, and Kepa te Rangipuawhe, men who represented all sections of the Arawa people. On the East Coast side an estimated 400 men boldly held their fire and then unleashed a fearsome volley designed to decimate the advancing Te Arawa warriors. Remarkably, it had little effect – the Te Arawa line surged on
The fighting was furious, with further musket volleys exchanged before the two sides met hand to hand. Little quarter was given, and while Te Arawa were triumphant, the fighting didn’t go all their way; they lost one of their most significant rangatira, Tohi Te Ururangi, who was mortally wounded on the battlefield. In revenge his widow shot and killed Te Āporotanga, a Te Whakatōhea rangatira who had been taken prisoner. It was an act of utu that was bitterly resented and that would have repercussions later in Ōpōtiki.
The East Coast contingent carried out a gallant fighting retreat to the estuary at Matatā, but the writing was on the wall. They had left waka near there while on the advance, and though some managed to escape in these along the Orini River that ran parallel with the coast and connected the Awaa-te-Atua with Whakatāne, others were not so lucky; they tried to escape inland, but were pursued and killed as they climbed the sandstone cliffs
The two-day battle had devastated the East Coast contingent and it soon broke up as the various iwi within it drifted homewards. It was a stunning victory for Te Arawa, so much so that even Governor Grey chose to comment, praising Te Arawa and noting that 53 dead from the East Coast contingent had been left on the battlefield, as opposed to just one casualty for Te Arawa.
An accurate tally of losses will never be known, but Grey’s comment is interesting in that it was perhaps the first admission of the vital role the Crown’s iwi allies would play in the war.
It was also probably the only recognition the battle at Kaokaoroa ever received. On the following day, 700 Imperial Army troops, with a further 1000 in reserve, attempted to storm Gate Pā – only to be resoundingly defeated by a force of just 225 Tauranga and Kingite Māori. The humbling of Crown troops by such a small force was considered a much more ‘newsworthy’ event at the time, and Gate Pā remains one of the best known – if not fully understood – battles of the New Zealand Wars (See Plenty 15).
If the East Coast contingent had broken through the resulting battle or battles may have been even more newsworthy. In the days before electronic communications the unexpected arrival of the East Coasters in the Western Bay would have been a very unwelcome development for an Imperial Army licking its wounds in the aftermath of Gate Pā. Similarly, if they had reached the Waikato, the events that played out in the following months of 1864 could have been very different indeed.
THE DEAD OF KAOKAOROA were buried close to the Awatarariki Stream, near Matatā. It is a watercourse prone to flooding and on several occasions these floods have given up the dead. As recently as 2015 human remains – including two skulls – were discovered following flooding; poignant
reminders that Kaokaoroa is not ready to be forgotten completely.
