Flagstaff War - Battle of Te Ahuahu

Battle of Te Ahuahu

Until the 1980s, histories of the First Māori War tend to ignore the poorly documented Battle of Te Ahuahu yet it was in some ways the most desperate fight of the entire war. However, there are no detailed accounts of the action. It was fought entirely between the Māori, Hone Heke and his tribe against Tāmati Wāka Nene and his warriors. As there was no British involvement in the action there is limited mention of the event in contemporary British accounts.

After the successful defence of Puketutu Pā on the shores of Lake Omapere, Hone Heke returned to his pā at Te Ahuahu, a major residential settlement a short distance from both Heke's Pā at Puketutu and the site of the later Battle of Ohaeawai. Some days later he went on to Kaikohe to gather food supplies. During his absence one of Tāmati Wāka Nene's allies, the Hokianga chief, Makoare Te Taonui, attacked and captured Te Ahuahu. This was a tremendous blow to Heke's mana or prestige, obviously it had to be recaptured as soon as possible.

The ensuing battle was a traditional formal Māori conflict, taking place in the open with the preliminary challenges and responses. By Māori standards, the battle was considerably large. Heke mustered somewhere between 400 and 500 warriors while Tāmati Wāka Nene had about 300 men. Hone Heke lost at least 30 warriors. There are no detailed accounts of the battle fought on 12 June 1845 nearby Te Ahuahu at Pukenui. Carlton (1874) provides a brief description of the battle: "Heke committed the error (against the advice of Pene Taui) of attacking Walker, who had advanced to Pukenui. With four hundred men, he attacked about one hundred and fifty of Walker's party, taking them also by surprise; but was beaten back with loss. Kahakaha was killed, Haratua was shot through the lungs".

Rev. Richard Davis also recorded that a "sharp battle was fought on the 12th inst. between the loyal and disaffected natives. The disaffected, although consisting of 500 men, were kept at bay all day, and ultimately driven off the field by the loyalists, although their force did not exceed 100. Three of our people fell, two on the side of the disaffected, and one on the side of the loyalists. When the bodies were brought home, as one of them was a principal chief of great note and bravery, he was laid in state, about a hundred yards from our fence, before he was buried. The troops were in the Bay at the time, and were sent for by Walker, the conquering chief; but they were so tardy in their movements that they did not arrive at the seat of war to commence operations until the 24th inst.!"

Tāmati Wāka Nene remained in control of Heke's pā. Heke was severely wounded and did not rejoin the conflict until some months later, at the closing phase of the Battle of Ruapekapeka. Tāmati Wāka Nene later described it as a "most complete victory over Heke".