Te Kooti's War - Escape and Pursuit

Escape and Pursuit

Because the prisoners were well behaved the prison officers had become very casual in their duties. On 4 July 1868 Te Kooti led a revolt that took over the entire prison complex, capturing the guards and the armoury. At the same time another party of prisoners captured the supply ship Rifleman, which had just arrived in port. Only two people were killed - a particularly disliked guard and one of the prisoners who was said to have co-operated with the guards. The next day the Rifleman sailed for the mainland carrying virtually all the prisoners: 163 men, 64 women and 71 children.

During the voyage the ship was becalmed. Te Kooti claimed that his uncle, who was sceptical of Te Kooti's claimed powers,was to blame for the becalming, and should be sacrificed. One of Te Kooti's main followers, who later became Te Kooti's main executioner, bound the man and threw him overboard. The ship landed at Whareongaonga, about 25 km south-west of Gisborne, on 10 July. The prisoners unloaded the ship and Te Kooti paid off the Pākehā crew of the Rifleman. He also gave them a letter exonerating them for any responsibility for his escape. The ex-prisoners then gave thanks to God for their safe return, not on their knees as had hitherto been the custom but by raising their hand at the end of their prayers, from which comes their name Ringa Tu.

Two days later, on 12 July 1868, Reginald Biggs, the resident magistrate of Gisborne, sent Te Kooti a message demanding that they surrender their weapons. He promised no more than an investigation into their complaints. On the other hand the prisoners wanted only to make their way peacefully inland to the King Country, the southern Waikato. Te Kooti intended to replace King Tawhiao as the spiritual leader of the Māori people. However when he went to the King Country the King ejected him and his band band of rebels.

The colonial militia led by Biggs tried unsuccessfully to stop this march inland on 20 July at Paparatu near Lake Waikaremoana. This engagement was a complete success for Te Kooti. The militia were routed, losing most of their supplies, weapons and ammunition, and all their horses. At Te Koneke and Ruakituri there were two further battles attempting to stop Te Kooti, but they were unsuccessful and he was able to establish a base at Puketapu Pa north-west of Lake Waikaremoana.

It was here that things began to go wrong.

The New Zealand Government made its only serious attempt to negotiate with Te Kooti. A missionary, Father Reignier, was sent to tell the Ringatu that if they would only surrender their arms every thing could be sorted out, they would not be prosecuted and they would be given land to settle on. He did not deliver the message, and it reached Te Kooti in a garbled form second or third hand.

Then on 29 October came a further blow. Unsurprisingly King Tawhiao rejected the offer to replace him and the Ringatu were told that if they entered the Waikato they would be treated as invaders.

The final blow was rejection by the Tuhoe Tribe. "The People of the Mist" could have offered them sanctuary in the Urewera Ranges but they were at best only half-hearted about it. They would not allow him to enter their territory, but they would also not allow the government forces to cross their territory to attack Te Kooti.

Te Kooti was gaining recruits, and by mid October he probably had as many as 250 warriors under his command, many of them disgruntled by the increasing rate of land confiscation. Perhaps because of this his attention turned away from the Waikato and King Movement and focused on local issues. He was to strike savagely at some of the men implicated in the confiscations, both Pākehā and Māori.