Te Kooti's War - Te Kooti

Te Kooti

Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki was born circa 1832 into the Ngati Maru sub-tribe of the Māori people in Poverty Bay on the south shore of East Cape. In his early youth he was very wild, causing a great deal of trouble within the tribe and the area. His father rejected him and tried to bury him alive in a kumara pit.He was then adopted by Te Turuki. He argued with local missionaries and together with a group of young Maori terrorized the district. As a result of his lawlessness against both Maori and Pakeha he was driven from the land by a chief of the Te Aitanga a Mahaki in a taua in 1853. He was considered a philanderer and during his life had at least 10 wives. He then became involved in trading, in competition with the Pakeha traders Harris and Captain Reade. A successful trader,he sailed the unlicenced schooner Rua Whetihi up to Auckland .

Unlike most of the Ngati Manu he did not convert to Pai Marire or Hau Hauism when that new religion swept through the district in 1865. In fact he opposed it actively during the subsequent civil wars (see East Cape War).

Te Kooti fought on the government's side during the siege of Waerenga a Hika in 1865. However he was accused by one of the Māori chiefs of supplying gunpowder to the besieged Hau Hau, his brother being among them, and was arrested. The charge was dismissed and he was released. He was later arrested in March 1866 and charged with spying. There is a suspicion that one of his accusers coveted some land that Te Kooti had refused to sell him. Another suggestion is that the Pākehā traders resented his success as a competitor. It is also clear that many of the kupapa or loyalist Māori wanted him out of the area, seeing him as a dangerous trouble-maker. Before his case was heard he was shipped off to the Chatham Islands along with Hau Hau prisoners of war.

During his time of exile Te Kooti claimed he experienced various spiritual revelations which formed the basis of his new faith, the Ringa Tu, in English, crudely, the Hand Upheld. He began holding religious services for his fellow prisoners and after the departure of the leading chiefs acquired a large following. Initially he preached acceptance but after mid 1868 when the leading chiefs were released and angry that he was not, Te Kooti seized the opportunity to create a secret resistance movement under his direct control.