First Taranaki War - The Battle of Waireka

The Battle of Waireka

The military action at Waitara brought the result Kingi had been hoping for and within 10 days of the Te Kohia battle, about 500 warriors from the Taranaki, Ngati Ruanui and Nga Rauru iwi converged on the New Plymouth area to provide support. The warriors built an entrenched and stockaded pā named Kaipopo on one of the hills at Waireka, about 8 km southwest of New Plymouth and 4 km from the Omata stockade that lay on the road to the town. The area was scattered with some houses built by European settlers, and on 27 March, five settlers, including two boys, were either shot or tomahawked in the Omata district.

Tensions in New Plymouth quickly climbed and many settlers abandoned their farms to flee for the safety of the town. Among those who remained in the Omata area were the Rev. Henry Brown, the Rev. Thomas Gilbert and several others who were either French or Portuguese. All felt safe: both ministers were treated by Māori as tapu or untouchable, while the others were confident the Māori grievance was with only the British.

About 1pm on 28 March, a British force of about 335 men – 28 Navy, 88 from the British 65th Regiment, 103 members of the newly formed Taranaki Rifle Volunteers and 56 from a local militia – set off in two columns to "rescue" those who had remained behind. It would be the first occasion on which a British Volunteer corps engaged an enemy on the battlefield.

Captain Charles Brown, in command of the settlers, was ordered to march down the coast until he reached the rear of the Māori positions at Waireka. The Regulars, under Lieut-Colonel G.F. Murray, marched down the main road to Omata, intending to dislodge a war party reported to be at Whalers Gate, north of Omata. Once the road was clear, it was intended they would be joined by the Volunteers and militia, who had "rescued" the settlers, before marching back to New Plymouth. Because of the heightened state of fear in New Plymouth, however, Murray had been ordered to return his troops to the town before nightfall. The Volunteers were armed with muzzle-loading Enfield rifles and the militia had old smooth-bore muskets from the 1840s, with each man issued with just 30 rounds of ammunition.

Murray met no resistance at Whalers Gate, but as he approached Waireka he heard the sound of rapid firing towards the coast. He entrenched his men and opened fire on the Kaipopo pā with a rocket tube. The gunfire Murray heard was being exchanged between about 200 Māori warriors who, armed mostly with double-barrel shotguns and some rifles, were firing from the cover of bush and flax in the river gully, and the militia and Volunteers, who had retreated to the safety of the farmhouse of settler John Jury.

About 5:30 pm, Murray sounded the bugle for a retreat, withdrawing his Regulars for the march back to New Plymouth so they could arrive before dark. His withdrawal left the settler force, which had already suffered two killed and eight wounded, isolated at the farmhouse with little ammunition and late in the night, carrying their casualties, they scrambled across paddocks to the Omata stockade, arriving about 12:30 am, before returning to New Plymouth.

Late in the afternoon, meanwhile, Captain Peter Cracroft, commander of HMS Niger, had landed 60 bluejackets at New Plymouth and marched via Omata to Waireka, encountering Murray as he prepared to retreat. Cracroft's troops fired 24-pound rockets into the pā from a distance of about 700 metres and stormed it at dusk, tearing down three Māori ensigns. The first man into the pā was leading seaman William Odgers, who was awarded a Victoria Cross for bravery – the first awarded in the New Zealand wars. Cracroft's men then returned to New Plymouth, without making contact with the settler force, who were still at the Jury farmhouse.

Cracroft was lauded as a hero for his mission, with claims of the number of Māori killed by his troops ranging from 70 to 150. Total European losses were 14 killed and wounded. Historian James Belich has claimed the pā was more of a camp and all but empty and the total Māori casualties amounted to no more than one. He described the "legend" of Waireka as a classic example of the construction of a paper victory, with invented claims of "enormous" losses and a great British victory.

The settlers, apparently overlooked in the fracas, watched the action from their house and the next day made their own way to New Plymouth, where Gilbert said: "It was no wish of ours that an armed expedition should be set on foot on our behalf. We were perfectly safe."

Murray was widely condemned for his actions in withdrawing his troops and a court of inquiry was convened into his conduct.