A MAORI AMAZON

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 568, 27 June 1933, Page 6

A MAORI AMAZON

MRS. JANE FOLEY HEROINE OF, HISTORICAL EPISODE AT GATE PA DEATH IN ROTORUA^ One of the most picturesque and interesting personalities in the early and troubled history of New Zealand during the period of the Maori wars, passed away at Rotorua on Saturday with the death of Mrs, Jane Foley at the advanced age of 97 years. Mrs. Foley was the Heni te Kiri-Karamu whom Mr. James Cowan, in his History of the Maori Wars, describes as "the Maori warrior woman." A deadshot with rifle and fowling piece, she took part in the forays between the Maoris and the Imperial forces, first as one of the defenders at the historic seige of the Gate Pa and later as a member of a party of Arawa "friendlies" who co-operated with Captain Gilbert Mair in his pursuit of Te Kooti. The daughter of an English North countryman hailing from Sunderland and a Maori chieftainness of the Arawas, Mrs. Foley saw some of the most interesting stages of this country's development, not only as a spectator but as an active participant. She it was, who carried water to the dying Colonel Booth as he lay rnortally wounded inside the barricades of the pa after the assault, a deed which has become historical and which' is quoted as typical of the chivalry of the Maori in his warfare. The late Mrs. Foley was born at Kaitaia in 1837 and early in life she showed a remarkable ability for assimilating the Pakeha knowledge, a great deal of which she learned from her father, Richard Russell, a Sunderland man who had come to New Zealand as a ship's chandler seeking his fortune. Her progress was so rapid that while still in her teens, she was able to take a position as a native school teacher at the Three Kings and later as a governess to a well-known Auckland family. In addition to Maori and English, she spoke French fluently and among her other varied accomplishments, possessed " a most Amazonian efficieney in the use of firearms. iSkirmishes in Bush After some years as a teacher and governess, she married Te-Kiri-Ka-ramu, chief of the Ngati Rangi-te-Aorere, sub-tribe of the Arawas and living in the Te Ngae district. Later her husband was appointed farm, manager to Mr. Robert Graham of El-

lerslie and for some years was in charge of Waiheke Island which Mr. Graham then ran as a station. After a further period spent in Whangarei, Mrs. Te Kiri, as she then was, decided to return to the country of her mother's people. It was at this stage that she became involved in the protracted struggle then at its height between the hostile Maori tribes and the Imperial forces. Firmly convinced of the justice of the Maori cause, she joined a party of the Koheriki hapu who were determined to join the main body of the Kingite natives and went through many adventures in the bush before finally effeeting the junction. Sfie pa'rticipated in several exciting skinnishes and on one occasion lived for three weeks almost entirely on wild honey and eold water while endeavouring to avoia the cordon cf troops stretched througli the Wairoa hills. Finally the natives slipped past the tents in the night, so close that they could hear the men within laughing and ialking. They than crossed ihe Mangatangi river over a log briage which the axemen destroyed to prevent the troops from pursuing them. This party, which Mr. Cowan describes as being composed of thirty to forty particularly hardy and able fighting' anen, later split up into two sections and one of these was surprised and routed by a party of Forest Rangers in a gorge of the Kohukohunui range. Heni-te-Kiri, however, was With the other section which, she stated, had been warned by a tohunga that the proposed route was dangerous.

Defence o'f Gatqf jPa This party of the Koheriki hapu succeeded in joining the Tauranga natives or Ngai-te-Rangi, under their fighting chief, Rawiri, who had fortified the Gate Pa and after sending out a challenge to General Cameron, were awaiting the onslaught of the Imperial forces. The Koheriki party, however, arrived too late to occupy the main pa but nothing daunted, set to work and fortified a small pa of their own which they bravely defended under their chief Wi Koka. Although all the women were ordered out of the encampments before the fighting eommenced, Heni-te-Kiri was allowed to remain; she had expressed a wish to be allowed to fight with her brother, ' Neri, who was one of the Koheriki party and as she was recognised as a fighting woman and one well skilled in the use of firearms, she was allowed to remain in the redoubt. The attack upon the pa is now history. It was made with a force of about 1,650 officers and men made up of the men of a naval hrigade and units from the 43rd and 68th regiments together with a movable column composed of anen from the 12th, 14th, 40th and 65th regiments. General Cameron was supported by one of the most considerable forces of artillery which were usett* in the Maori wars and subjected the pa to a most intense bombardment. In spite of this, however, the Ngai-te-Rangi and their allies fought with such' resource and tenacity that the British attacks were beaten off and the defenders were able finally to withdraw with the honours of war. A Compassiohate Act "The defenders treated the wounded British with a chivalry and humanity that surprised their foes," says Mr. Cowan in his history. "With few exceptions, they did not despoil them of anything but their arms and such articles a,s the naval officers' telescopes; they did not tomah'awk them after they; had fallen and they. : gave water to the wounded lying within their lines. Heni-te-Kiri-Karamu, a blend of Amazon and vivandiere, was as compassionate as she was brave. It was she who, under fire, gave water

resist the cries of the wounded men and filling a nail-can with water ran out and gave a drink to thef nearest man and to three other soldiers nearby. She then left the can, containing the remainder of the water beside the •first man, who hapuened to be the colonel who had commanded the attack. -A f t- the death of her first husband, Mrs. Te Kiri re-married, h'er second husband being Denis Foley, a Tipperary Irishman who was in charge of the military canteen at Maketu and proprietor of the old Travellers' Rest Hotel. After the death of her second husband, she cam,e to Rotorua where she resided with one of her sons. She was for a number of years a licensed M'aori interpreter, first class, and was a well-known figure in courts in the Rotorua district and at Auckland and Thames. She was also in business as a native agent and for a period had an office in the building at present occupied by Messrs Urquhart and Roe. Mrs. Foley's "whakapapa" or geneological tree, traced her descent through an unbroken male line, with the exception of her mother, back to Ngatoroirangi, high priest of the Arawa canoe. She lived to see five generations of her descendants. Three sons and two daughters were the issue from the first marriage and four of these still survive. They are Rangi-te^Aorere-te-Kiri (Te Ngae), Honi— te-Kiri (Te Ngae), Te-Ngahoa_ te-Kiri (Te Ngae) and Rangi Tauni-hinihi-te-Kiri (Ohinemutu); ' Three sons and three daughters were born from the second marriage but three of them pre-deeeased their mother. Those left to mourn their loss are Mr. J, D. Foley (Rotorua), Mrs. J. G.