Battle of Kororāreka explained

Conflict:Battle of Kororāreka
Partof:the Flagstaff War
Date:11 March 1845
Place:Kororāreka / Russell, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Map Type:Northland
Result:Māori victory
Combatant2: Māori
Commander1: David Robertson-Macdonald
George Phillpotts
Edward Barclay
John Campbell
Cornthwaite Hector
Commander2: Hone Heke
Te Ruki Kawiti
Pūmuka
Units1: Royal Navy
  • HMS Hazard
  • Royal Marines

British Army

Civil volunteers

  • Civic Guard
Units2: Taua
  • Hone Heke
  • Te Ruki Kawiti
  • Pūmuka[1]
Strength1:~90 sailors & marines
~52 soldiers[2]
~70 armed civilians[3] [4]
Strength2:~600 warriors
Casualties1:Military (11 March)
10 killed
~22 wounded
Civil (11-17 March)
~13 killed
>13 wounded
Casualties2:~34 killed
unknown wounded

The Battle of Kororāreka, or the Burning of Kororāreka, on 11 March 1845, was an engagement of the Flagstaff War in New Zealand. Following the establishment of British control of the islands, war broke out with a small group of the native population which resulted in the fall of the town of Kororāreka, present day Russell, to Māori warriors.[5]

Background

Although he had been the first to sign the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840, Ngā Puhi chief Hōne Heke became increasingly unhappy with the outcome. He objected to the relocation of the capital to Auckland and changes to custom tariffs that caused a serious loss of revenue to the Ngāpuhi.[6]

In July 1844, Heke and a group of warriors entered the town, and the Pakaraka chief Te Haratua cut down the flagstaff.[7] Heke himself had set out to cut down the flagstaff, but had been persuaded by Archdeacon William Williams not to do so.[8] Six months later on 10 January 1845 the flagstaff was cut down a second time - this time by Heke. A new and stronger flagstaff sheathed in iron was erected later that month and guard post built around it - but the next morning the flagstaff was felled for the third time.

Governor FitzRoy sent over to New South Wales for reinforcements. A block-house and ditch, designed by Captain George Augustus Bennett, RE, was built at the base of the flagstaff, a guard of 20 soldiers was placed in this, and a fourth flagstaff erected.[9]

Battle

On 11 March 1845 Hōne Heke and his men, along with Te Ruki Kawiti and his followers together attacked the town.

British forces were outnumbered. HM Sloop Hazard landed a party to aid the detachment of 96th Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Edward Barclay. In all there were about 140 soldiers, sailors and marines. The American sloop USS St. Louis, under Captain Isaac McKeever, USN, was also present and her crew assisted in evacuating the British subjects.[10]

Heavy skirmishing lasted for a while until a large explosion destroyed all of the defender's reserve ammunition. The explosion also set a building on fire which spread. At about that time the British had begun to withdraw to the safety of the ships anchored in the bay and evacuate the civilian population. HMS Hazard then bombarded Māori positions.

On the day, ten military defenders and three civilians were killed in action or died of wounds. At least thirty-six were variously wounded. The town was mostly destroyed after evacuation and over the following days.

Killed in Action and Died of Wounds
MāoriName and IdentityActionBuriedRef
Pūmuka. Rangatira, Ngāpuhi, Te Roroa, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti PouMatavia Pass
Hirawanu
Kereopa
About 31 unidentified
Military
Royal NavyMatavia PassChrist Church, Kororāreka, 11 March[11] [12] [13] [14]
Alexander May. Private, Royal Marines, HMS Hazard Matavia PassChrist Church, Kororāreka, 11 March
Whitaker Denby. Seaman, HMS Hazard Matavia PassChrist Church, Kororāreka, 11 March
William Love. Seaman, HMS Hazard Matavia PassChrist Church, Kororāreka, 11 March
William Lovell. Seaman, HMS Hazard One Gun Battery, Matavia PassChrist Church, Kororāreka, 11 March
Frederick George Minikin. Seaman, HMS Hazard Matavia PassChrist Church, Kororāreka, 11 March
British ArmyWilliam Giddens. Private, 96th RegimentFlagstaff BlockhouseSt Paul's Church, Paihia, 12 March[15]
Henry Ireson. Private, 96th RegimentFlagstaff BlockhouseSt Paul's Church, Paihia, 12 March
George Jackson. Private, 96th RegimentFlagstaff BlockhouseSt Paul's Church, Paihia, 12 March
William Miller. Private, 96th RegimentFlagstaff BlockhouseSt Paul's Church, Paihia, 12 March
James Duross. Private, 96th RegimentLower Blockhouse. Severe head wound. Died, Auckland, 3 April[16] [17] [18]
Civil
GovernmentJohn Thompson. Seaman, HM Colonial Brig Victoria; Police boatmanStockade explosion. BurnsDied, HMS Hazard, 14 MarchAt sea, 14 March
Unidentified. Seaman, HM Colonial Brig Victoria. Possibly John PierpointGSW to forehead. Possibly Pierpont, died, Auckland, 23 MarchSymonds Street Cemetery, Auckland, 25 March[19]
CivilianHenry Torre. Commander, schooner Dolphin; solicitor Stockade explosion. Burns Died, HMS Hazard, 12 MarchSt Paul's Church, Paihia, 12 March[20]
Fanny Wing. Daughter of Rautangi and Thomas WingFlagstaff BlockhouseSt Paul's Church, Paihia, 12 March
9 unidentifiedPost-battle spoils. Some bodies burnt, 11–17 MarchChrist Church, Kororāreka, 11–17 March 1845[21] [22] [23]

Memorial

Six men from the Hazard who died in the action are remembered by a grave marker at Christ Church, Russell. The last two verses of the poem England's Dead by Felicia Hemans are inscribed on the marker in memory of them:

The warlike of the isles,
The men of field and wave!
Are not the rocks their funeral piles,
The seas and shores their grave?

Go, stranger! track the deep,
Free, free the white sail spread!
Wave may not foam, nor wild wind sweep,
Where rest not England's dead.[24]

Variation in the verses appear in visitor observations and through marker restoration since 1845.[25] [26] [27] [28] [11] [29]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: The sacking of the settlement at the Bay of Islands, called Kororarika, by the natives, on the voluntary surrender thereof by the naval and British forces . . New South Wales, Australia . 8 April 1845 . 2 January 2020 . 2 .
  2. Book: FitzRoy, Robert . Remarks on New Zealand in February 1846 . W. and H. White . London . 1846 . 38 . 9780902041134 .
  3. News: Bay of Islands . The New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian . 1 . 25 . 29 March 1845 . 3 .
  4. George . Phillpotts . Robert FitzRoy . Kororāreka . 15 March 1845 . Great Britain Parliamentary Papers: Papers Relative to New Zealand, 1845 . London.
  5. Web site: Battle of Kororareka . Russell Museum . 23 June 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110724201345/http://www.russellmuseum.org.nz/Kororareka_battle.htm . 24 July 2011 . live.
  6. Web site: Kawiti . Tawai . Hekes War in the North . No. 16 Ao Hou, Te / The New World, National Library of New Zealand. 46 . October 1956. 10 Oct 2012.
  7. Web site: Kawharu . Freda Rankin . Story: Heke Pōkai, Hōne Wiremu . Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand; Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . 1990 . 30 November 2023. "...Te Haratua, Heke's second in command, led his men to cut down the flagstaff..."
  8. Book: Carleton, Hugh . The Life of Henry Williams, Archdeacon of Waimate . 2 . Wilson & Horton via Early New Zealand Books (ENZB), University of Auckland Library . Auckland . 1877 .
  9. Book: Cowan, James . The New Zealand Wars and the Pioneering Period . 1 . Chapter 4: The Fall of Kororareka . http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cow01NewZ-c4.html . Ministry of Internal Affairs . Wellington . 1922 .
  10. Book: Colledge, J. J.. J. J. Colledge . Ben Warlow . Ships of the Royal Navy

    The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy

    . 2006 . London . Chatham University . 978-1-86176-281-8 . 67375475 . 159.
  11. News: HTF . 20 October 1885 . Some Obscure Naval Heroes . Sydney Morning Herald . New South Wales . 2019-12-31.
  12. Selwyn . George Augustus . 1847 . A Letter from the Bishop of New Zealand to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; Containing an Account of the Affray Between the Settlers and the Natives at Kororareka . Church in the Colonies, New Zealand, Part 4 . 13 . London . The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel . ENZB.
  13. Admiralty, Captain’s Log, HMS Hazard, 01 April 1841–6 May 1847 (The National Archives Kew, ADM 51/3613)
  14. News: Phillpotts . George . Veitch . John Topwell . Legislative Council: H.M. Ship Hazard, Bay of Islands, March 11, 1845 . The Southern Cross . 2 . 101 . 22 March 1845 . 2 .
  15. News: Barclay . Edward . Bay of Islands: H.M.S. Hazard, March 15, 1845 . The Southern Cross . 2 . 101 . 22 March 1845 . 2.
  16. News: Domestic . Auckland Times . 3 . 117 . 8 April 1845 .
  17. News: New Zealand Domestic News. . 18 . 1052 . 10 May 1845 . 4 . Trove.
  18. Web site: James Duross . Online Cenotaph . Auckland War Memorial Museum . 26 March 2023.
  19. Web site: Cemetery Records: Pierpont, -, d.1845; Reipont, - . Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections SSC-7177 . Auckland Libraries . Auckland .
  20. C G . Davis. Cobb . Death of Mr Henry Torre . 15 July 1845 . http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1741195882 . Plymouth.
  21. News: Bay of Islands . New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian . 1 . 29 . 26 April 1845 . 3 .
  22. News: Bay of Islands . The Southern Cross . 2 . 101 . 22 March 1845 . 2 .
  23. Web site: Kororāreka residents NZ Wars memorial .
  24. Book: Hemans, Felicia Dorothea Browne . The Works of Mrs. Hemans; with a Memoir of Her Life . 5 . William Blackwood & Sons . Edinburgh . 1839 . 127–129 .
  25. Book: King, Marie Menary . A Most Noble Anchorage: A Story of Russell and the Bay of Islands . Northland Historical Publications Society . 1992 . 18 June 2011 . 5 October 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121005034148/http://www.reocities.com/wlorac/russbois.txt . dead .
  26. Wearne . R T . New Zealand's Old Church Curiosities . Walkabout . Australian National Travel Association . 1 March 1958 . 24 . 3 . 38–41 . National Library of Australia.
  27. Book: Morris, Edward Ellis . Edward Ellis Morris . Cassell's picturesque Australasia . 4 . Cassell & Company . 1890 . 125 .
  28. News: The Vagabond . In New Zealand . . 10979 . Victoria, Australia . 3 May 1890 . 28 February 2021 . 4 . .
  29. News: Auckland, New Zealand: A Cruise in the Local Steamer . . 37 . 5614 . New South Wales, Australia . 6 May 1856 . 28 February 2021 . 2 . National Library of Australia .