Te Kooti's War - Te Kooti Strikes Back

Te Kooti Strikes Back

Early in November Te Kooti led his men back down to Poverty Bay, easily avoiding the government forces based in the area. On the night of 10 November, Te Kooti's men attacked the settlement of Matawhero in Poverty Bay. That night some 54 people were killed. Most of the dead were killed after being captured. Almost the first to die were the magistrate, Reginald Biggs, and his family. It was not random killing - the men who died had all been active in the process of alienating Māori land. The captured were taken out side one at a time and killed by being hit in the face with a roofing hammer and then mutilated with a tomahawk. Although repugnant to the British, Te Kooti deemed it appropriate that their families should die with them. Among those who died were also 20 Māori, again specifically targeted. Some of them at least had signed over or sold land that Te Kooti owned.

This devastating attack on a Pākehā settlement gave Te Kooti effective control of the Poverty Bay area. In the days that followed other Māori were captured and then executed. On 12 November he went to Oweta Pā. Its chief, Paratene Pototi, appears to have been largely responsible for Te Kooti's arrest and exile. He had apparently kicked and abused Te Kooti while he was waiting, bound, for transportation. Paratene and six of his chiefs were killed.

Few historians attempt to explain the change in Te Kooti. His escape from the Chatham Islands was accomplished with three deaths, one a hated guard another a collaborator and the third his own uncle. He not only released the crew of the Rifleman but he paid them and gave them a letter exonerating them. He had taken prisoners during his earlier march inland and released them unharmed. Up until the raid on Matawhero he had ordered the execution of five Māori caught carrying dispatches for the colonial troops, one of them a relative by marriage of his brother. Some of these were revenge (utu) for betrayal. Others were allegedly inspired by God: Te Kooti was becoming increasingly misguided by his visions. The mass killings immediately created a large number of enemies, both Pākehā and Māori. There was now almost no chance of any settlement or peace. But they also brought him numerous recruits. Many of whom believed that Te Kooti wielded divine power along Old Testament lines. However many were also coerced into cooperation on fear of death. When Gilbert Mair's Arawa flying squad started operating in the Ureweras many of these Tuhoe "converts " quickly left Te Kooti's band.