War is a state of armed conflict between different countries or different groups within a country. Sporadic armed conflict accompanied the settlement of New Zealand, from 1843 to 1869, with the bulk of the fighting during the 1860s in Taranaki, Waikato, the Bay of Plenty, and the east coast of the North Island. These armed conflicts have been referred to as "Maori wars", "land wars", "the great wars of Aotearoa", "Anglo-Maori wars", "sovereignty wars", or "the New Zealand wars". During these wars, nearly 3000 people lost their lives, including pro- and anti-government Maori, settlers, and British soldiers..

The Wairau massacre

A dispute between New Zealand Company settlers and Ngati Toa chiefs over land erupted at Wairau, near Nelson, on June 17, 1843, the first serious armed clash between Maoris and settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. In a bungled attempt to arrest Ngati Toa chief Te Rauparaha, and his nephew Te Rangihaeata, four Maori died and three were wounded, while among the British the toll was 22 dead, including Captain Arthur Wakefield, and five wounded. Twelve settlers were shot dead or clubbed to death after surrendering to Maori who were pursuing them, as revenge, or “utu”, for the inadvertent death of Te Rangihaeata’s wife, who was at the scene. Governor Robert FitzRoy found the actions of the colonists to have been illegal and declined to take any action against Te Rauparaha, wisely, because he did not have the troops to meet him on anything like equal terms.

Flagstaff War

A simmering dispute in the far north of the North Island erupted into the Flagstaff War during much of 1845. Ngapuhi chiefs Hone Heke, who had been the first to sign the treaty of Waitangi, and his ally Kawiti, had revolted against the authority of the British in a series of clashes fought between March 11, 1845, and January 11, 1846, in and around the Bay of Islands. The conflict is best remembered for Hone Heke’s challenge to the authority of the British by cutting down the flagstaff at Kororareka (later Russell), four times, the first on July 8, 1844. Actions in that war included: The burning of Kororareka, on March 11, 1845; the burning of Pomare's Pa, on April 30; an attack on Puketutu Pa, on May 8; the burning of Kapotai Pa, on May 15; the Battle of Te Ahuahu, on June 12; the attack on Ohaeawai Pa, on June 23, which was burnt on July 10; and the siege of Ruapekapeka Pa, from December 27, 1845, to January 11, 1846. The northern war ended on January 11, 1846, when British troops occupied Ruapekapeka Pa.

The Hutt War 1846

Ngati Toa chief Rangihaeata’s warriors begin to harass settlers in the Hutt Valley in February 1846. The new governor, George Grey (FitzRoy had been recalled), moved troops to Wellington and declared martial law in June. A Wanganui settler named Richard Deighton saw a letter signed by Te Rauparaha calling for a raid on Hutt Valley frontier posts so walked to Wellington to warn Grey -- who had Te Rauparaha arrested on July 23, 1846. British troops attacked Pauatahanui Pa, which Rangihaeata evacuated, and on August 6, attacked his pa at Horokiwi. The defence at Horokiwi was abandoned on August 13, thus ending the war in Wellington.

Fighting in Wanganui 1847-48

Wanganui settlers had difficulty in taking possession of the land they bought and faced continued demands from Maori for more money, thefts, while having survey pegs removed. A 400-strong war party led by Taupo chief Iwikau Te Heuheu arrived in January 1845 seeking revenge for an 1840 defeat, although settlers were not involved. Grey visited in March 1846 and gained an agreement to complete land sales. But by the end of winter, chiefs led by Topine Te Mamaku threatened to attack Wanganui. Troops were moved to Wanganui by December of that year. Tension snapped when a teenage midshipman shot and wounded a chief in a dispute over money on April 14, 1847. Two days later six members of the Gilfillan family were murdered as revenge. Four Maori culprits were tried and hanged on April 26 just before a 600-strong war party arrived to rescue them. Wanganui was attacked on May 19. Wanganui settlers spent June and July cooped up in town forbidden to go beyond the range of the muskets of the 600 soldiers in the town’s stockade until warriors retreated after a final showing on July 23.

First Taranaki War 1860-61

Taranaki had been deserted in 1839, regarded by Maori as unsafe, and, attracted there by Te Atiawa chief Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake, the New Zealand Company that year entered into three transactions for all of Taranaki. The presence of white settlers brought peace so Taranki exiles returned, increasing pressure on land and bringing opposition to land sales. Land commissioner William Spain investigated the company’s purchases and awarded 24,483 hectares to the company and its settlers. But Governor FitzRoy rejected Spain’s recommendation and allotted to settlers a small block of 1416 hectares around New Plymouth and told settlers to leave their farms.

Some united Maori opposition to land sales appeared at a meeting of 2,000 tribes people at Manawapou near Hawera in May, 1854. Wiremu Kingi, who had sold the whole district to the New Zealand Company 15 years earlier, was by that time chief of the land league. On August 3, 1854, land leaguers murdered Rawiri Waiaka and four family members who wished to sell land, sparking the Puketapu feud that involved running battles through settler farms.

Anarchy continued until March 1859, when a further new governor, Thomas Gore Browne, called a large meeting to end the fighting. At the meeting, a Waitara chief named Te Teira Manuka offered his land for sale. After two commissioners spent 10 months investigating ownership of Te Teira Manuka’s 396-hectare block known as Pekapeka, at Waitara near New Plymouth, the government’s chief land purchase officer accepted the offer. A £100 deposit was paid. The government tried to survey some of the land in February 1860 and found the block occupied by protestors. The occupation was considered an act of rebellion. Martial law was declared, troops occupied part of the block and attacked Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake’s fortified pa there on March 17, 1860.

That was how the Waitara fighting between the government and rebel Maori started. More than 3500 imperial troops brought in from Australia, as well as volunteer soldiers, militia, and pro-government Maori, fought against rebel Maori forces that fluctuated between a few hundred and about 1500. By the time peace was agreed on April 8, 1861, total losses of colonial troops, settlers, and pro-government Maori were 64, while anti-government Maori casualties totalled 196. The fighting caused economic hardship, with migration all but coming to a stop and the destruction of three-quarters of farmhouses at Omata, Bell Block, Tataraimaka, and settlements nearer the town. Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake retreated to Waikato and did not submit until 1872.

The military enters Waikato 1863-64

Waikato-Tainui regarded Mokau in north Taranaki as part of their realm based on a conquest in 1831.. Waikato king-maker Wiremu Tamehana (who persuaded Te Wherowhero to become the first Maori “king”, Potatau I, installed in June 1858) had sided with the Taranaki land leaguers since he sought to resist further land sales and settler encroachment. After fighting erupted at Waitara, on March 17, 1860, war parties from Waikato, Maniapoto, and Wiremu Tamehana’s Ngati Haua fought colonial government forces in Taranaki. Governor Thomas Gore Brown convened a month-long conference of more than 100 chiefs at Kohimarama, Auckland, starting July 10, 1860, to gain support against the rebels at Waitara and to isolate supporters of the Maori king. But Potatau I died on June 25, 1860, to be succeeded by his son, Tawhiao, who did not command the same respect. Tribes in the Waikato became disunited and spun out of control from 1860.

Supporters of the Maori king subsequently developed two plans of attack on Auckland, one involving a night attack when the town would be set on fire in a number of places by Maori living there for that purpose. Before any such uprising could occur, the government issued an order, on July 9, 1863, requiring all Maori living north of the Mangatawhiri River, to take an oath of allegiance to the Queen and give up their weapons. Those refusing to do so were required to retire to the Waikato. A further proclamation dated July 11, 1863, warned that those who wage war against the government would have their lands confiscated.

Colonial government soldiers crossed the Mangatawhiri River on July 12, 1863. Maori unwilling to take the oath were evicted as the colonial force advanced. Fighting occurred at Meremere, Ngaruawahia, Rangiaowhia (southwest of Cambridge) and at Orakau (near Te Awamutu) during 1863 and 1864. The final military action in Waikato was on April 2, 1864, at Orakau. A proclamation confiscating land was issued in December 1864 under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863. Wiremu Tamehana made peace in 1865.

A total of 619 anti-government Maori were killed in fighting in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty from 1863–1864, while 162 British army, settlers and pro-government Maori lost their lives. The confiscated Waikato territory initially comprised 486,501 hectares, including virtually all of Waikato north of a line drawn from Raglan to Tauranga. Approximately 127,218 hectares were returned to those Waikato Maori who were judged not to have rebelled. The area finally confiscated totalled 359,283 hectares. Since then there has been peace in the Waikato.

The Hauhau wars

An often overlooked aspect of New Zealand’s wars is the impact of a fanatical cult known as Pai Marire, called “Hau Haus” by settlers because of their battle chant “Hapa, hapa! Pai marire, hau!”. Hauhau fighters believed that a chant could ward off Pakeha bullets. They decapitated some of their victims, and used those heads in a perverted rite of worship. These fighters followed the beliefs of self-styled prophet, Te Ua Haumene, who founded the Pai Marire Hauhau religion that blended ancient Maori spells with Christian liturgy and promised deliverance from European domination.

Te Ua attracted government attention when fanatical followers attacked and defeated a patrol of imperial and colonial forces at Te Ahuahu, north Taranaki, on April 6, 1864. The event was shocking to settlers because the bodies of the seven soldiers killed in the attack were found naked and decapitated. The heads, including that of the expedition leader, Captain T. W. J. Lloyd, were carried to their prophets, and some were smoke-dried. The head was used as a medium in Pai Marire rites.

A band of 200 Pai Marire warriors launched a chanting daylight attack on Sentry Hill Redoubt, Te Morere, on April 30, 1864, to be mown down by gunfire from rifles aimed through the loopholes in the parapet. Fifty warriors were killed that day, while a single government soldier lost his life.

Te Ua sent Kereopa Te Rau and Patara Raukatauri to Opotiki, in December, 1864, where they converted the Whakatohea tribe, and told them to hand over German Lutheran missionary Carl Volkner, who was not there at the time. When Volkner did return, on March 1, 1865, Kereopa had him and the Rev. Thomas Grace seized. On the afternoon of the next day, Volkner was marched into his church, taken outside and hanged from a willow tree, and decapitated. Kereopa filled a communion chalice with Volkner’s blood, gouged out both eyes, and swallowed them, choking on one.

The government sent James Te Mautaranui Fulloon on July 22, 1865, to investigate Volkner’s murder. Fulloon, too, was murdered, with two others. The government’s next move came in early September 1865, when a force of 500 men arrived, landing with difficulty at Opotiki during wind and heavy rain and under fire from well-armed insurgents. This force took possession of Volkner’s church and fortified it. After some skirmishing, a battle took place on October 4th at a new fortified pa four miles from Opotiki forced the Hauhaus to retreat, leaving 35 Hauhaus and three government soldiers dead. An attack by government troops in the Waioeka Gorge on October 20th resulted in Hauhaus surrendering.

The final battle against Pai Marire Hau Hau insurgents was at Waerenga a hika near Gisborne. A combined force of 600 English and pro-government Maori besieged a pa there for seven days, defeating them on November 22, 1865. About 100 Hauhaus were killed and 400 taken prisoner, many of whom were shipped to the Chatham Islands. A total of 772 anti-government Maori were killed during the Hauhau campaigns while 128 British soldiers, settlers, and pro-government Maori lost their lives.

Taranaki 1863-1868

Sporadic fighting continued in Taranaki, attracting an increasing and ongoing military response. Three hundred men of the 57th Regiment evicted members of five tribes– Te Atiawa, Taranaki, Ngati Ruanui, Ngati Rauru and Whanganui – from settler land they had occupied at Tataraimaka, 20km south-west of New Plymouth, on March 12, 1863.

Nine of the 10 soldiers in a small British party were killed in an ambush near Oakura on May 4, 1863. Governor George Grey blamed Waikato forces under the Maori king, and soon after renounced the government’s claims to land at Waitara. On June 4, 1863, a total of 870 men led by the new British commander, Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron, easily overwhelmed the 50 Maori who still camped at Tataraimaka, killing half of them.

The military entered Waikato on July 12, 1863. Taranaki remained relatively quiet with the exception of a skirmish at Allen’s Hill, above Omata, on October 2, 1863. This action, also known as Poutoko,

Maori built several pa on the Kaitake range, inland from Oakura, but were driven out of the area by troops and militia in March 1864 and a redoubt was built to protect local military settlers. Pai Marire-Hau Hau fanatics killed seven members of a British patrol in an ambush at Te Ahuahu near Oakura on April 6, 1864. Two hundred Hau Hau warriors attacked the Sentry Hill redoubt, 9 m north-east of New Plymouth, on April 30, 1864, in a one-sided battle that cost the lives of possibly a fifth of the Māori force.

On September 8, 1864, a force of 450 men of the 70th Regiment and Bushrangers returned to Te Arei, scene of the final British campaign of the First Taranaki War, and took the Hauhau pa of Manutahi after its inhabitants had abandoned it.

Lower Wanganui pro-government Maori routed a Hauhau war party intending to raid Wanganui at the Battle of Moutoa, on the Wanganui River, on May 14, 1864. Among the 50 Hauhau killed was the prophet Matene Rangitauira, while the defending forces suffered 15 deaths. Sporadic fighting between Upper and Lower Wanganui iwi continued through to 1865 and in April 1865 a combined force of 200 Taranaki Military Settlers and Patea Rangers was sent to Pipiriki, 90km upriver from Wanganui, to establish a military post. Three redoubts were built. A force of more than 1000 Maori began a siege of the redoubts from July 19 to July 30. A relief force of 300 Forest Rangers, Wanganui Rangers and Native Contingent, as well as several hundred Lower Wanganui Māori, arrived but discovered the Hauhau positions abandoned.

Land confiscation was enabled by the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, passed in December of that year. A total of 479,848 hectares were confiscated in Taranaki by means of proclamations in January and September 1865.

General Duncan Cameron entered the Wanganui district in January 1865, to secure "sufficient possession" of land between Wanganui and the Patea River to provide access to Waitotara, an area that had been surveyed and had a sale and purchase agreement for in 1863, and in turn had sold more than 12,000 acres (49 km2) in October 1864, but some Māori disputed the sale and refused to leave.

Cameron's force of 2300 crossed the Waitotara River on February 2, 1865, and established posts at Waitotara, Patea and several other places before arriving at the Waingongoro River, between Hawera and Manaia, on March 31, where a large camp and redoubts were built. Troops encountered fire at Hawera, and at Te Ngaio, between Patea and Kakaramea, on March 15 when ambushed by about 200 Maori, including unarmed women. Cameron claimed 80 Maori losses, while his force suffered one killed and three wounded in the Te Ngaio attack, which was the last military attempt by Māori to halt Cameron's northward advance.

Cameron had also declined to attack Weraroa pa. Independently of Cameron, Governor Grey and Captain Thomas McDonnell led a mix of colonial forces in raids on several Hauhau villages near the pā, taking 60 prisoners. The pā was shelled the next day and Grey captured the pa after learning it had been abandoned,

By April 1865, a string of redoubts brought the length of Taranaki coastline occupied to 130km, although the forts commanded practically only the country within rifle range of their parapets. Grey proclaimed peace, on September 2, 1865, to all Maori who had taken part in the West Coast "rebellion", but with little effect. By September 20, there were further deaths following a Maori ambush at Warea and reprisals by the 43rd Regiment and Mounted Corps.

Major-General Trevor Chute replaced Cameron and arrived in New Plymouth on September 20, 1865, just as the withdrawal of British troops from New Zealand began. Chute embarked on a series of aggressive forest operations, following Maori into their strongholds and storming pa. Chute's force burned the village of Okutuku, inland of Waverley on January 3, 1866 and stormed the pā with bayonets the next day, On January 7 they repeated the strategy at Te Putahi. On January 14, he launched an attack on the strongly fortified Otapawa pa, about 8km north of Hawera.

On January 17, 1866, Chute led a force of 514 to New Plymouth along an ancient inland Maori war track to the east of Mt Egmont-Taranaki. But facing heavy undergrowth and torrential rain, and carrying just three days' provisions, the column ran out of food and did not arrive in New Plymouth until 26 January, having been forced to eat a dog and two horses en route.

In early 1866 military settlers began taking possession of land confiscated from Taranaki Maori As surveyors moved on to the land, the Government recalled forces from Opotiki on the east coast to form a camp at Patea to provide additional security, with Major Thomas McDonnell, an able but ruthless commander.

A series of attacks on small parties and convoys in June prompted retaliatory raids by McDonnell on local villages, including a bayonet raid on the Pokokaikai pā north of Hawera on August 1, 1866, in which two men and a woman were killed. In September 1866 the field headquarters of the South Taranaki force was established at a redoubt built at Waihi (Normanby) and further raids were launched from it in September and October against pa and villages in the interior, including Te Pungarehu, on the western side of the Waingongoro River, Keteonetea, Te Popoia and Tirotiromoana. Villages were burned and crops destroyed in the raids and villagers were shot or taken prisoner.

Titokowaru's War

With local Maori weakened and intimidated, fighting came to an end in November and an uneasy peace prevailed on the west coast until the outbreak of the third Taranaki War, generally known as Titokowaru's War. In June 1868, the forces of Ngati Ruanui leader Titokowaru destroyed a colonist blockhouse inland of Hawera. A large government force sent to destroy Titokowaru's stronghold was defeated on September 7, 1868, with heavy casualties, including the famous Prussian adventurer Gustavus von Tempsky. Titokowaru advanced south and defeated a second colonial force at Moturoa. He built a diamond shaped fortress at Tauranga Ika. Government troops attacked on February 2, 1869, but Titokowaru's forces slipped away under the cover of darkness.

Te Kooti’s revenge

During fighting at Waerenga a Hika in November 1865, a member of the Rongowhakaata tribe named Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki, who was serving on the government side, was accused of firing blanks and of being in contact with the Pai Marire-Hauhau rebels. He was arrested on November 21, 1865, denied the charges, and was released. Arrested again on other charges in March 1866, although he was not convicted, Te Kooti was regarded as too dangerous to be let loose so he was shipped to Napier with Hauhau prisoners. Despite an appeal to government agent Donald McLean on June 4th for a hearing, McLean would not listen to him, and Te Kooti was shipped to the Chatham Islands. While there he formed a religion later known as Ringatu (“uplifted hand”).

Te Kooti led an escape from the Chatham Islands, on July 4, 1868, of 163 men, 64 women, and 71 children when he seized a supply ship, the Rifleman, the redoubt, and all the guards, and arrived in Poverty Bay on the evening of July 10, 1868. After an attempt at negotiation, resident magistrate Reginald Biggs a force of about 80 chased Te Kooti to be repelled in an attack, as was a further, bigger force.

Yet another force of 200 led by Colonel George Whitmore chased Te Kooti across a high, forested range between the Hangaroa and Ruakituri branches of the Wairoa River, to Puketapu Pa, northeast of Lake Waikaremoana. By this time Te Kooti had up to 400 fighters. The government tried to negotiate with Te Kooti, who waited at Puketapu pa, seeking support from the Maori king and Tuhoe. The Maori king declined support.

Te Kooti and 100 fighters attacked the Poverty Bay settlement of Matawhero shortly before midnight on November 9, 1868, in an event that went down in history as the Matawhero massacre. Seventy people were killed including more than 20 Maori, which included seven chiefs. Te Kooti seized Patutahi, capturing supplies and 300 Maori prisoners.

Within a month, a combined force of about 370 government fighters, settlers and Maori, drove Te Kooti’s fighters from Puketapu pa on December 3rd, leaving 60 dead. Te Kooti escaped with his men, to a mountain fortress, Ngatapa, 10km away. Government forces attacked Te Kooti at Ngatapa on December 3rd, again on December 31st, and stormed the pa on January 4, 1869. Te Kooti evacuated the pa that night. Te Kooti and his immediate followers escaped, but he had lost half his fighting force. A total of 136 were killed, with 120 executed after capture. Government forces had 11 killed and 11 wounded.

The Waitangi Tribunal turned the execution of captives at Ngatapa into a government atrocity and has made substantial payments to multiple tribes who had people there on the wrong side. However, there is more to the story because a key Maori leader on the government side against Te Kooti was Ngati Porou leader Rapata Wahawaha, who had grown up as a slave to the Rongowhakaata tribe, many of whom became Pai Marire-Hauhau, and many fought for Te Kooti. At Ngatapa, he exacted revenge. His biography stresses that he only executed “male prisoners taken in arms”. Militia leaders did not sanction the executions and Colonel Whitmore would have been hard pressed to prevent it because nearly all soldiers were Maori.

Te Kooti withdrew to a corner of the Urewera forest and gained Tuhoe support on March 20, 1869, around the time Te Kooti’s forces raided the Whakatane area.

Te Kooti’s forces attacked the settlement at Mohaka on April 10, 1869, as revenge for being prevented from marching inland when he landed from the Chatham Islands. Sixty-one Mohaka men, women and children, including seven settlers, were killed in the fighting. The children of the Lavin family had been thrown into the air and impaled on bayonets.

A month later a government force of 1300 men entered Te Kooti's sanctuary, the remote Ureweras, from May 4 to May 18, 1869, attempting to force Te Kooti into the open by destroying food supplies and strongholds. A combined Maori-European force defeated Te Kooti’s forces at Te Porere, Taupo, on October 3, 1869. Te Kooti was defeated at Maraetahi, Urewera, with the loss of 20 men, on March 23. 1870. The Urewera tribes surrendered on April 17, 1870, and on September 1, 1871. After defeat at Te Hapua, Te Kooti withdrew to the King Country on May 17, 1872. Shots fired at the retreating Te Kooti at Mangaone on February 14th of that year are regarded as the last shots of the 1860s armed conflict. A total of 399 of Te Kooti’s men were killed while 212 British soldiers, settlers, and pro-government Maori lost their lives. The Tuhoe tribe had 50,300 hectares of land confiscated in the eastern Bay of Plenty, on January 17, 1866.

Resistance fades

After the New Zealand Wars ended in 1872, the King Country remained closed to Pakeha for more than a decade, until Ngati Maniapoto leaders agreed to the construction of the North Island Main Trunk railway in the mid 1880s. South Taranaki also resisted settler incursions until 1881, when the assertive Parihaka community was dispersed by the colonial army. Resistance flared briefly in Hokianga in 1898, and parts of Urewera remained off-limits to Pakeha until 1916. Several thousand people died in the New Zealand wars, most of them Maori. The numbers below are those of the historian James Cowan.