The Wairau Incident- what went wrong?

On 17 June 1843, 22 Europeans and four Māori were killed when an armed group of New Zealand Company settlers fought with some Ngāti Toa iwi members  over the purchase of land in the Wairau Valley. This 'affray' or incident at Tuamarina, 10 km north of today’s town of Blenheim, was the first significant or major armed conflict between Māori and British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Nine of the Europeans had been executed after surrendering, and outraged settlers demanded action against Ngāti Toa. 

They were disappointed when the new governor, Robert FitzRoy, judged that the Māori group had been provoked by the Europeans. FitzRoy’s subsequent inaction was widely condemned by Pākehā, but the alternative – open warfare with Ngāti Toa – would have been disastrous for settlers struggling to establish themselves in a new land. Effectively- what Fitzroy told the settlers was it was not their land to take. 

The Wairau incident had its beginnings in the migration of Ngāti Toa iwi and their allies from Kāwhia (near Hamilton) to the Kapiti region of the southern North Island. Led by Te Rauparaha and armed with muskets, Ngāti Toa had defeated three traditionally armed local tribes, Rangitāne, Ngāti Apa and Muaūpoko. After the important battle for Kapiti Island in 1824, Ngāti Toa extended its power into the South Island. Combining force with diplomacy, Te Rauparaha developed alliances with other tribes to maintain control of both sides of Cook Strait. Kapiti became the centre of an important trading centre. Trade with Pākehā was welcomed and whalers and traders were encouraged to live among Ngāti Toa.

It was with these conquering tribes that the New Zealand Company had to negotiate to buy land when it arrived in 1839. The Company, through the operations of its chief negotiator Colonel William Wakefield, eventually claimed to have bought 1.2 million hectares in the Cook Strait region. On the basis of three dubious (and soon discredited) purchases, the Company set about establishing its main settlement at Port Nicholson (Wellington), where the first shiploads of immigrants arrived in January 1840. The important questions were: Who owned the land? What pieces of land were sold? And who had the right to sell the land in the first place? 

Port Nicholson struggled to establish itself. Flooding in the Hutt Valley forced the Company to leave 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 disagreed with the Company’s claims they had sold their land. Their reliance on Māori for survival did not sit well with the many Company settlers who viewed them as a “meddlesome obstacle” to European settlement.

The second of the Company’s planned settlements in the Cook Strait region was at Nelson. The Company claimed to have purchased land at Port Whakatū (Nelson) from Ngāti Toa in 1839. Captain Arthur Wakefield, William’s brother, subsequently negotiated with the resident Te Tau Ihu chiefs, who rejected Ngāti Toa’s claims to the area.

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 sour when both the Company and the Crown reneged on some of the purchase terms. When the Company decided to push ahead with plans to survey the Wairau plains, things took a serious turn for the worse.

The fertile plains of the Wairau Valley, some 70 km south-east of Nelson, were seen as the answer to the settlement’s lack of nearby flat land suitable for agriculture. New Zealand Company surveyors sent to the area in early 1843 met with immediate opposition from Ngāti Toa. Te Rauparaha was clear 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 with Arthur Wakefield. Ngāti Toa wanted the matter to be looked into as part of William Spain’s (the main person looking at land purchasing) investigation into all land purchases made prior to the Treaty of Waitangi. 

When Ngāti Toa ordered a halt to the survey, William Wakefield instructed his brother Arthur to continue with it and a fresh survey party arrived in the Wairau Valley in April 1843. The Company hoped that once settlers occupied the land, the Crown would have little choice but to recognise its claims.

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

Though the timber and bedding materials destroyed in the fire had been taken from land claimed by Ngāti Toa, Nelson settlers sensed a chance to put Te Rauparaha in his place. Some said that as Ngāti Toa had taken the land through conquest, it was not theirs to sell. This argument was a thin one: how Te Rauparaha had got the land was irrelevant if he had not included it in the sale to the Company. Nevertheless, a decision was made to arrest Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata on charges of arson.

An armed but militarily inexperienced posse 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, the excitable Thompson made two attempts to place handcuffs on Te Rauparaha – an insult to his mana. 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. As the tension rose, a musket shot rang out. It may have been accidentally fired by a European attempting to hastily recross to the safety of the eastern bank. In the confused fighting which followed, about nine of the posse were killed or fatally injured. So were two Māori – including Te Rongo, one of Te Rangihaeata’s wives. After a disorganised retreat during which four more Europeans were killed, 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. 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. 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 the fallout from this incident was one of the first tasks facing the new governor, Robert FitzRoy, when he arrived in the colony in December 1843. FitzRoy ignored calls to bring to justice those responsible. The official view was that Ngāti Toa had been provoked by the reckless actions of the New Zealand Company in continuing the survey despite the lack of evidence that the Nelson settlers had any claims to land beyond Tasman Bay.

This response was approved by the Colonial Office, which was unwilling to pay the expense of military action against Ngāti Toa. The New Zealand Company and its settlers could barely conceal their anger. The government’s inaction seemed to confirm their long-held view that it 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. Not only did these fall far short of the Company’s demands, they 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 of families already struggling to establish themselves in a new land. But angry Company officials called for FitzRoy’s replacement. He was recalled to Britain in late 1845.

The sequels to Wairau were further fighting in the Hutt Valley and Porirua in 1846, and in Whanganui in 1847. In each case the causes – and the participants – were largely those involved in 1843.

Source: NZ History.