Hauhau Raiders

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 105, 20 May 1937, Page 7

Hauhau Raiders

TROUBLES OF SIXTIES Mrs. Raraeka's Death Recalls Fierce Battle PURSUIT OF TE KOOTI Th# death of an ancient Maori womx.Q, Pirihira Rameka, at Omahu recently recalls the hauh&u tnrables, the massacrejs and ralds of Te Kooti, ajad in partteular a. fierce battle between Te Kooti's forces and loyal forces at Te Posiajiga. Mr. George Ebbett, of Hastings, rplatee incidents in which Mr?. Rameka was directly eoncerned. "I have read of the death at Omahu a iew days ago' of Pirihira Rameka, said te be 113 years old and a follower for many years of the rebel perpetrator of the Povqrty Bay ^.nd Mohaka massacres, Te Kooti, ' ' Mr. Ebbett writes. «I think the history xeported to you aiay be a littlo astray in places. "Pirihira eame to Omahu with Renata Kawepo frqm Taupo towards the §nd of 1869. Her husband, Wi Pjro, killed ©n the morning of September §5, 1869, at a fight called by ihe Maoris Te Ponanga, on Lake Rotoaira, jnst gouth of Tokaanu, The spot where he wa? shot ig still pointed put by the Taupo Maoris close to the lef t-hand sxde of the road a? oue travel* over the saddle between Rotpaira and Tokaanu. • > - " Wi Pixo was a close relative of Te Kooti's and was with hira at the Chatham Islands when about 170 of them were deported to, and confined Ifchere, as prisonerg. They escaped in the 'Riflemen,, which. they captured at Waitangi, the porfc of the Chatham Mands, and finaUy .landed in Kew Zealand again at Whareongaonga, just south of Gisborne, Savage Pelight ia SlauEhteL " Of Wi Piro, dames Cowan in fNew gealand Wars' says: 'He was afterWard#" conspicuous _in every raid and

nngagement and wag oae of those who took""* savage dejight in sJaughtering prigonejV • "Renata Kawepo, of Omahu, came te be at Taupo in this masner: The Grovernment requested the Hawke'g Ruy Maoris to assist in the pursuit pf Te Heeti, Omdhne 7 ihe Opape mnss&ero liad taken place and Te Kooti §e§med to be a» far from capture &s eve?8

"Henare Tomoana and Raui Hapi ieft fron* heie ea September 8, 1869, for Taupo via Tarawera with 140 men, and Benata left Omahu with a largw foree and went by Moawhanga. Heaare camped at the Runanga, on the prgsent-Napier-Taupe road, and nest day veaehed the pa at.the outlet of the Tauranga-Taupe, en the shereg qf the lahe. "Te Hooti 'attacked the pa that day. There wa» »n indecifsiye skirmish, but before refciring he captured 120 of Henare's horsea and wounded three of his men, Te Rooti took up a position on the crest of th# Ponanga hill and on the morning of September 3d, the ioyai Maoris, uuder Colonel McDonneii, Captain gt. George and Captain Preepe, attacked him thcre. "The hauhaus werp defeated and left severn! dead, and ameng them was Wi Pino. That night a diyisjon ef ' the 4rmed Conetabulary arrjyed at Tokaanu from Napier under captain Seannell (&n unele of Mr. Ravjd Scan-, . nell) and Captain Northcroft. "On Ootqber 4 Major Ivepa (Kemp) ar4vfd with a eentingeut of 70 nativps, Ameng them was Winiata Pukoro, of ihe Ngatihau, on# af the most daring and eeurageous Maori fighters evpr knpws, Renata Eawepo had algo arrived with his Hawke's Bay men. Ther§ was a most spectacular war dnnce by ihe Arawa? and the Hawkp'a Bay Maoris, all stark naked, to weleoms the Wangannis, whp, though few, wpre ali pieked men with great fighting reputatiena. "There was endless jealousy and nntagonism among the different tribes and McBenneli'g work to preservg haxmony and unity among them was gny, thing but light. Moreover, they wero all more or less obsessed with a superstitious fear of Te Kooti, who took up Ms position in a fertified viilage called Te Porere, rirat KiU To Winiata "By trickory MePpuuell got aR the Irlhes to attaek togetiier. The Arawas advanced to occupy some high ground in front of the pa, and the hauhaus sallied out " to prevcnt this, • but, unseen by them, the Wanganuis had erept rouad and now attacked them on the flanl# with sueh vigqur that they wers compelled to retreat in disorder to the pa. "Winiata, as usual, killod the first raan in the figlxt, and two other hauhaus were shot before they got baek. "The pa was now charged by all the troops^ who got into the ditch in front

of the parapet. This was eight feet high and four feet through, but there were no angle? to sweep the ditch putsidp, and the loopholeg were etraight, so tfeat the rifle? pf the defenders could not be depressed. Winiata, with hi? usual daring, pushed his ;arm into a loophole, grasped a rifle barrel ancl puUel it put beferp its owne? could fire, "Great efforts were mad© te tmdermine the parapet, but this #as tqo slow fop the fiery-spirited Winiata, He climbed te the top pf the parapet, rifle after rifle was pushed up to him, and be fired into the masse? ef the enemy below nntil a bullet went through his brain and he fell head into fhe ditch, "Thus died Winiata Pakoro, the most renowned fighting man of the fighting Ngatibau. Exasperated by Ma death, the Wanganuis scaled the parapet and stonned the pa, All who remained were shot or bayoneted. Te Kooti had a finger shot off but esoaped with some of his followers to the bush, "The Ngatehau realised what mutilation and insults and jndignities the body of Winiata would be subject to at the hands of the enemy could they find it, That night thoy'turned amde a smal! stream, a tributary ef the ■ Wanganui river, buried him in a hoie tn the shingle in the bed of it, and thqn turned the stream bsck, Gouged Out Au Eye "After the fight, on the same day, Renata Hawepo entered the bush elone and eame across two hauhaus, a man and a womau (the' woman's husbhnd bad been shot in the pa, and sh§ was in a vile temper). A, fight immediately eommenced, but Renata got the man down and, with one band, was holding him down by the bair and with the other getting the tomahawk from his belt to kii! him wben the woman from bebind gpngcd out one pf his eyes,' tore his ea? to pieess when she pulled the greenstone pendant ont of it and otherwise so mauled him that he fainted. IPortuntely an Arrued Constabulaxy man and an Arawa appeared and pnUed her off and' took her prispner, - t , , "Next day McDonald asked her about the fight. He said, Renata wili lose an eye, Kaitoa (serve him right) said this yiragp. I only wish I had killed him.' "Some short timo after, McDonald sent the Kahungunu home to Hawke's Bay, He said he had had enough of them, and it was then that Pirihira, the pid woman who has jnst died, and some others surrendered and- came baek with Renata Kawepo, He died nt Omahu in 1889 and is buried in the Omahu cemetery. "It is probabie this old woman was in captiyity with Te Kooti at Wharekauri on the Chatham?, Therq ig no official recprd' pf it but _ when he ' escaped 64 women came with him, "If she could have writen her experienees, what a thrilling story it would have "made. What hauhau rites and ceremonies, what war dances ihd burhihg and slaughter and rapine she mupt have seenj what hardship she mugfe haye copje threugh, No doubt she had seen wild fanatical danees round smoked pakeha heads and must have witnessed many eold'blooded murders| but it is deubtful if she eve? saw any eannibalism*' *