The Wairau Incident- read and think about the text

On 17 June 1843, 22 Europeans and four Māori were killed when an armed party of New Zealand Company settlers clashed with Ngāti Toa over the purchase of land in the Wairau Valley.

Who were the ‘New Zealand Company settlers’?

Who are Ngati Toa?

This affray at Tuamarina, 10 km north of today’s town of Blenheim, was the first significant armed conflict between Māori and British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Find Tuamarina on the map. 

What is an ‘affray’? Let’s discuss this word.

What year was the Treaty of Waitangi signed? What was the Treaty supposed to do? 

Nine of the Europeans had been killed after surrendering, and outraged settlers demanded action against Ngāti Toa. They were disappointed when the new Governor, Robert FitzRoy, judged that the Māori had been provoked by the Europeans.

What is a Governor?

Was there a Prime Minister at this time too?

The Wairau incident had its origins (beginnings) in the migration of Ngāti Toa to the Wellington area from Kawhia (near Hamilton).

Led by Te Rauparaha (an important Ngati Toa chief) and armed with muskets, Ngāti Toa had defeated three local tribes, Rangitāne, Ngāti Apa and Muaūpoko.

In 1824, Ngāti Toa extended its influence into the South Island. Te Rauparaha lived on Kapiti Island near Wellington. He started to trade with whalers, and traders were encouraged to live among Ngāti Toa.

In 1839, the New Zealand Company, through a man called Colonel William Wakefield, claimed to have purchased (bought) 1.2 million hectares in the Cook Strait region.

These purchases were seen as dubious (dodgy) but the Company set about establishing its main settlement at Port Nicholson (Wellington). The first shiploads of immigrants arrived in January 1840.

Does that mean that Wellington was first known as Port Nicholson?

Which countries do you think the immigrants/ settlers came from?

Port Nicholson struggled to establish itself. Flooding in the Hutt Valley forced the Company to abandon the original site. When they moved across the harbour to Te Aro and (present-day) Thorndon, the settlers ran into more problems. The Māori occupants of these places believed that the Company’s claims they had sold their land were wrong.

The second of the Company’s planned settlements in the Cook Strait region was at Nelson.

The Company said they had purchased land at Port Whakatū (Nelson) from Ngāti Toa in 1839.

Captain Arthur Wakefield, William’s brother, talked with the local Te Tau Ihu chiefs, who rejected Ngāti Toa’s claims to the area. They said it wasn’t Ngati Toa’s land to sell.

By the end of February 1842 there were 500 settlers in Nelson and another 1500 on the way.

Nelson Māori initially profited by supplying the new settlers with food, but relations began to go wrong when some deals with settlers didn’t happen.  

Nelson was also seen as too hilly and the company wanted more flat land for farming.

The fertile plains of the Wairau Valley, some 70 km south-east of Nelson, (near Blenheim and Picton) were seen as the answer to the settlement’s lack of nearby flat land suitable for agriculture.

New Zealand Company sent surveyors to the area in early 1843.

What do you think a surveyor does? Have you seen this word before? Do you know much about their work?

The surveyors met with immediate opposition from Ngāti Toa. Te Rauparaha was adamant that this land had not been included in the Company’s 1839 ‘purchases’.

Accompanied by his nephew Te Rangihaeata and another senior chief, Te Hiko, Te Rauparaha went to Nelson for talks.

They met with Arthur Wakefield. He was the leader of the New Zealand Company.

Ngāti Toa wanted the matter to be looked into as part of an investigation into all land purchases made prior to Britain’s annexation of New Zealand (through the Treaty of Waitangi 1840). This was a big problem for all Maori iwi at the time. There were many arguments and disputes about land which may, or may not, have been sold.

When Ngāti Toa ordered a halt to the survey, William Wakefield instructed his brother Arthur to continue with it.

A fresh survey party (of surveyors) arrived in the Wairau Valley in April 1843. The Company hoped that once settlers occupied (lived on) the land, the Crown (the Government) would have little choice but to let them stay there.

In early June 1843 Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata kicked the Company surveyors off the land and burnt their temporary shelters (huts) – taking care to protect their personal property and provisions.

Nelson settlers saw a chance to get back at Te Rauparaha. Some said that as Ngāti Toa had taken the land through conquest (fighting), it was not theirs to sell anyway.

This argument was a thin one: how Te Rauparaha had acquired the land was irrelevant if he had not included it in the sale to the Company.

A decision was made to arrest Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata on charges of arson. (burning things down).

What happened next?

An armed group of 49 Europeans, including Nelson Chief Constable Henry Thompson and Arthur Wakefield, arrived on the eastern side of the Tuamarina Stream on 17 June 1843.

Nearly twice as many Māori, including Te Rauparaha, Te Rangihaeata and a number of women and children, had gathered on the opposite bank.

After eight of the Europeans crossed the river on a makeshift bridge formed by a canoe, Constable  Thompson made two attempts to place handcuffs on Te Rauparaha.

Do you think this was a good idea? What is your view or opinion?

Meanwhile, Te Rangihaeata, who was also to be arrested, shouted that he was on his own land and that Maori did not go to England to take Pākehā land.

A musket shot rang out.  

Do you know what a musket is?

It was probably fired accidentally by a European person on the eastern bank.

In the confused fighting which followed, about nine of the Nelson group were killed or fatally injured.

So were two Māori – including Te Rongo, one of Te Rangihaeata’s wives.

Four more Europeans were killed as they tried to retreat and the survivors were surrounded and forced to surrender.

Though Te Rauparaha seems to have been willing to spare the captives, he gave his consent when Te Rangihaeata insisted on obtaining utu for his wife.

Utu. We will have a really good discussion about this word. It is a really good word to know and discuss.

Nine European prisoners, including Arthur Wakefield and Henry Thompson were killed on the spot, with Te Rangihaeata playing a leading role in the executions.

The news from Wairau shocked settlers throughout the colony.

What is a colony?

The killing of men who had surrendered was viewed as cold-blooded murder. Many feared that these events signalled the beginning of a widespread Māori rebellion.

Dealing with this problem was one of the first tasks facing the new governor, Robert FitzRoy, when he arrived in the colony in December 1843.

 FitzRoy resisted calls to bring to justice those responsible.

His view was that Ngāti Toa had been provoked by the actions of the New Zealand Company in continuing the survey despite the lack of evidence that the Nelson settlers had any legitimate claims to land beyond Tasman Bay.

The Government in England didn’t want a war against Ngāti Toa because it would cost a lot of money to get soldiers to New Zealand and was a big task to organise.  

The New Zealand Company and its settlers were very angry. They thought the Governor and the British government gave more weight to the needs of Māori than to those of Europeans.

FitzRoy upset the New Zealand Company again when he issued Crown grants for land in Wellington and Nelson. This required the payment of more money to Māori.

In fact, FitzRoy’s actions were far-sighted.  War would probably have resulted had he attempted to force the issue with Ngāti Toa – worsening the plight (problems) of families already struggling to establish themselves in a new land.

A memorial to the Europeans killed was unveiled in 1869 at Tuamarina Cemetery, where it still stands on a spur above the stream that was for many years known as 'Massacre Hill'.

It was erected at the initiative of Edward Wakefield, whose uncle Arthur had died in the incident.

The town of Wakefield- just south of Nelson is also named after the William Wakefield, the founder of the New Zealand Company.

Source: NZ History.

·       Te Rauparaha: Nearly every New Zealander (and many people overseas) would probably know something about Te Rauparaha without actually knowing that they do. Do you know what it is?