1. Ngā Pakanga Ngutu Pārera
THE MUSKET WARS
Ngā Pakanga Ngutu Pārera

2. The Musket Wars and Canterbury
For Ngāi Tahu and Canterbury settlers, more significant than NZ Wars
A major reason for the Treaty of Waitangi being signed
A reason why NZ Wars never reached here?
Put Ngāi Tahu in very weakened position  Kemp’s Deed/ massive land loss
For Ngāi Tahu, the Musket Wars were in many ways more significant than the later New Zealand Wars, yet we know a lot more about the NZ Wars (and even then, not a lot!). Huge numbers of Ngāi Tahu lost their lives to an internal civil war and later raids by the Ngāti Toa rangatira, Te Rauparaha. In particular, Te Rauparaha’s raid on Takapuneke in Akaroa Harbour proved to be a motivating factor in getting the British Government moving on the issue of establishing British law to control both the musket trade and also the general actions of profiteering Europeans. The Musket wars did huge damage to iwi across Aotearoa but in Canterbury in particular, the population dropped from close to 10,000 to less than 1,000 over two decades, leaving Ngāi Tahu in no position to protect their land from the mass arrival of Europeans post-treaty.

3. European illustration of toa (warriors) practicing with both mere, taiaha, European axes and muskets
By Joseph Merret, c1845

4. Overview of the Musket Wars
Mainly s
Musket trade an embarrassment to British Crown, appalling to missionaries
Prior to muskets, inter-iwi/ inter-hapu conflicts had minimal casualties
Wars were often carried out to get more land but to keep land, victorious iwi/ hapu needed to make peace with the conquered – usually through intermarriage
Muskets led to a huge increase in casualties AND made it possible for small numbers, if well-armed, to drive people off their lands and keep hold of them
Less well-armed North Island iwi (ngā iwi O Te Ika A Maui) were driven south
For all of Aotearoa, the Musket Wars were terribly destructive. Inter-iwi conflicts that had previously been settled by select groups of skilled warriors fighting hand to hand, with casualties numbering usually in the 10s, now became far larger in scale, with casualties numbering in the hundreds and iwi with more/ better muskets displacing others, who were then forced to try to acquire land elsewhere, causing warfare to spread. These wars even spread as far as Rekohu/ the Chatham Islands, where Captain … accepted bribe from displaced Ngāti --- to deposit them in the Chathams, where they quickly conquered and decimated the local Mori Ori population. European involvement in the Musket Wars, from selling/ bartering muskets to Māori through to active involvement in the wars as with …, was a huge embarrassment to the British. Horrified missionaries who were seeing the casualties of these wars first hand put pressure on Britain to annex New Zealand in order to stop the trade, as did the earliest settlers who feared being caught up in the conflicts. Death in war, starvation due to land loss and being captured as slaves were commonly the consequence for iwi unable to obtain as many muskets as their neighbours, so desperation for arms also fueled early land sales. The main European traders (often ex-sealers and whalers), had little regard for the destruction they were causing.

5. Map of taua (war parties) by Ngāpuhi, 1820-22
nz/en/interactive/38081 /ngapuhi-battles

6. Musket barter system
/diagram/38078/musket- costs

7. Historiography
Old view – Europeans began the wars by introducing the musket.
New view (not held by all historians) – muskets exaggerated an already existing aspect of Māori society, they didn’t create it
“Muskets (ngutu pārera) changed the face of intertribal warfare, decimating some tribes and drastically altering the rohe (territorial boundaries) of others” (NZHsitory.net, 14/11/2016)
‘Warfare was endemic in Māori society; it was an integral part of the Māori political system’. Angela Ballara: Taua – ‘Musket Wars’, ‘Land Wars’ or ‘Tikanga’? Warfare in Māori Society in the Early Nineteenth Century (Penguin Books, Auckland, 2003, p.11)  Muskets mainly made worse an existing trend
How drastic a change were the Musket Wars?
Some historians see the Musket Wars as a huge revolution in Māori society. This is perhaps because missionaries presented them this way. BUT can you as students think of why missionaries might exaggerate the effect of the muskets?
Many modern historian acknowledge that muskets played a major role in worsening internal Māori conflicts but they argue other factors also playeda large part. Ballara and Bellich both point to the role played by the plain old potato – because it grew much easier in cold conditions than the kumara, so it produced food surpluses that allowed Māori to spend less time farming and more time training for war. It also meant that Māori had an economic incentive for taking over more land as they could grow potatoes to sell to the Europeans.

8. Changes in Pā
Pā became more like fortresses to provide protection Iwi without fortified pā were easy prey to those with muskets
Pā constructed by Ngāti Tama on Rēkohu/ the Chathams

9. TASK
Go to history/the-musket-wars
A) Define ‘historiography’
B) Name three historians that challenge the idea that the musket was the dominant factor contributing to wars between iwi in the 1810s-1840s. For each historian, give a one sentence summary of their point of view on the Musket Wars.
C) In your opinion, is ‘the Musket Wars’ an appropriate or a misleading name for this series of conflicts? Give reasons.

10. Canterbury/ Waitaha
Prior to Musket Wars, Canterbury had thriving population of Ngāi Tahu (with also Ngāti Mamoe, Waitaha heritage). Estimates vary – around 5-8,000 in 1800, after Musket Wars as low as 500
Main populations were at Kaiapoi Pā (Ngāi Tūāhuriri) and on Banks Peninsula, around Akaroa Harbour
The start of the Musket Wars for Ngāi Tahu was a terrible civil war known as the ‘Kai Huanga’ (Eat Relatives) feud
Pre-European estimates of Māori populations are really hard to be accurate about. Early explorers recorded estimated numbers they observed from the shore. Cook did not interact with Banks Peninsula Ngāi Tahu but recorded thriving populations of Ngāi Tahu at Kaikoura and in Otakou (Otago). They described them as strong, robust and active. Analysis of Māori remains by early anthropologists show Ngāi Tahu were tall (at least 2.5cm taller on average than the average European at the time) and healthy, with little evidence of violent deaths. Remains showed that deterioration of the spine from hard labour, lung disease and childbirth were main causes of death at this time, not fighting. Kaiapohia Pā alone was clearly designed to serve a community of hundreds in the immediate pā but also to serve as a place of refuge for hundreds more outlying kāinga who were expected to retreat within the palisades if they got wind of an attack. It is a huge site, clearly designed to accommodated large numbers if needed.

11. Kai Huanga Feud
This began when the wife of a local rangatira put on the cloak of the upoko rangatira/ head chief of all Ngāi Tahu, Te Maiharanui. This violated strict tapu.
In an effort to avoid Te Maiharanui’s wrath, the woman’s relatives killed a slave in her place. The slave’s owners took offence and attacked. Te Maiharanui became involved on his return and attacked. In the end, one kāinga called on a Ngāi Tahu rangatira from Otakou for support – Taiaroa. He bought muskets.
At a battle at Wairewa, Tairoa’s forces defeated Te Maiharanui’s supporters. They were killed as they tried to flee in waka and eaten. Because the victors and dead were so closely related they cut off the heads before cooking and eaten them, so no one could tell who they were.
Fighting went on for several years and by 1830 Canterbury Ngāi Tahu had suffered such vast population losses they were struggling to survive
The destructive nature of the Kai Huanga feud is hard to comprehend, The fact that utu would be carried out because of a serious violation of tapu is not unexpected, but the fact the reprisals throughout were often directed at parties with no guilt or involvement in the original offence, which eventually caused the fighting to draw in the whole of Waitaha, is hard to understand. An historian in 1914, HC Jacobson (in Tales of Banks Peninsula) drew the conclusion that “there is little doubt that mutual jealousies and old grudges were working below the surface in men's minds” and that the wearing of Te Maiharanui’s cloak by Murihaka was just a trigger of tensions that had been brewing for a long time.

12. Te Matenga Taiaroa, c 1860
The rangatira who brought muskets to Waitaha for the first time.
ph/2085/te-matenga-taiaroa-about- 1860

13. Historiography Read this now rather dated account from 1914:
d1-d1-d8.html
Summarise in 5 bullet points the role muskets played in the conflict.
How fair and balanced do you think the author is? Write an annotation regarding the reliability and accuracy of this source.
How does this more recent account by the Department of Conservation compare to the older version? partners/maori/ripapa/

14. Te Rauparaha’s Campaigns - Background
The damage done by the Kai Huanga feud made Canterbury Ngāi Tahu very vulnerable to well-armed iwi from the north
Te Rauparaha of Ngāti Toa was insulted by 3 Ngāi Tahu rangatira and sought terrible revenge
First he attacked Kaikoura – whole kāinga slaughtered in night
He and his allies approached main Ngāi Tahu pā at Kaiapoi under guise of pounamu trading
Ngāi Tahu took preemptive strike, killed 8 rangatira inc. his uncle
Reportedly, a group of 3 Ngāi Tahu chiefs hearing of Te Rauparaha’s prowess in the North Island insulted this young upstart and a Kaikoura rangatira reportedly said he would gut Te Rauparaha with his fish hook if he ever came to Te Wai Pounamu. Unfortuately, the Ngati Toa warrior chief heard of this and gathered forces to raid the south island. His first attack against Canterbury Ngai Tahu was to attack the sleeping village of the Kaikoura rangatira who had insulted him, and then he moved on to Kaiapoia, claiming to be there for the pounamu trade. Ngāi Tūāhuriri welcomed in a trading party including 8 rangatira, one of whom was Te Rauparaha’s uncle. They then killed those inside the pā – either because they had received news of the deaths at Kaikoura or just sensed the Ngāti Toa were not there with peaceful intentions. Te Rauparaha was outside the pā walls and was able to flee back up north, where he plotted a terrible revenge. Te Maiharanui was at Kaiapohia at the time of the murders of the Ngāti Toa rangatira and he became the first target of revenge.

15. Te Rauparaha – NZ’s Napoleon?
Right: 1840s water colour by R. Hall
rauparaha
Below; Sketch in 1847 by William Bambridge, rauparaha-sketch

16. Te Rauparaha’s Campaigns - Takapuneke
Te Maiharanui, who had been at Kaiapoi, was now home at Takapuneke
Te Rauparaha bribed Captain Stewart of Brig Elizabeth with full cargo of flax
Stuart moored in Akaroa Harbour, 6 Nov 1830, invited Te Maiharanui and family on board with promise of trade agreement. Captured by Te Rauparaha’s men
Sleeping kāinga slaughtered in night by Te Rauparaha’s forces. Feast of human flesh held on shore
Te Maiharanui and wife taken north to be tortured, killed and eaten
The Takapuneke massacre is without doubt one of Canterbury’s worst tragedies, yet the experiences of the Canterbury Battalion at Gallipoli are a hundred times more well-known.
Te Rauparaha used the European hunger for flax to create durable ropes for rigging their sales to strike a deal. Captain John Stewart of the Brig Elizabeth was an active participant in the plan to capture Te Maiharanui, offering him a discussion over trade (possibly to establish a whaling station). Te Maiharanui’s people expected such negotiations to last well into the night so no alarm was raised when their rangatira failed to return from the Elizabeth. Te Rauparaha’s forces were able to stealthily move among the sleeping kāinga and murder many before anyone even awoke.
Meanwhile, according to many accounts, Te Maiharanui was taken prisoner below decks with his wife and daughter. He reportedly slipped his bonds enough to strangle his daughter and push her body out of the porthole in order to spare her the torture and cannibalism that he knew he faced. He was restrained before he could offer his wife the same mercy.

17. Takapuneke – as significant as Waitangi?
British Crown deeply ashamed of Stewart’s involvement
Issued warrant for his arrest. An attempt was made to try him in Australia but it failed
Increased pressure from missionaries to stop musket trade and control immoral Pākeha
Sped up moves to negotiate a treaty BUT would there still have been a treaty without this event?
Historiography: “a place that, it can be argued, constitutes the missing link in the story of the Treaty of Waitangi” – Matthew Leonard
Although Stewart later claimed to have been horrified by what he witnessed of Te Rauparah’s men feasting on human flesh, he still transported the live prisoners and cooked flesh back to Kapiti where Te Maihanarnui was tortured and killed by the wives of the rangatira killed at Kaiapohia the previous year.
Stewart was charged for his involvement by the Governor of New South Wales but the Ngāi Tahu witnesses against him were not accepted to testify because they were not Christian so he and his crew were not punished. Nevertheless, the British Crown was horrified at his role in this.
Within 10 years, the Treaty was negotiated and signed. Ironically, this agreement that was supposed to protect Māori from exploitation by immoral Europeans may have even made things worse for Ngā Tahu by encouraging a rush of settlers when they were at their weakest point.

18. Sources Read the Te Ara article on this event:
Find 3 details you can add to the notes from the previous slide.

19. An old argument
Read these two accounts by Europeans over what they thought happened at Takapunueke
body-d1-d11.html

20. Historians’ perspectives
Read Matthew Leonard, John Wilson and Gordon Ogilvie’s accounts of the Takapuneke massacre.
Draw a scale like this:
Place each historian on it with a short quote from them and 3 bullet point summary of why you placed them there
inutes/agendas/2007/September/AkaroaWairewa26th/C lause6Attachment.pdf
Takapuneke is of greater significance than Waitangi
Takapuneke is of far less significance than Waitangi ..

21. Te Rauparaha’s revenge continues – Kaiapoi Pā
Te Rauparaha returned 2 years later to complete his quest for utu
Plains Ngāi Tahu retreated to well-protected pā at Kaiapoi, faced 3 month siege
Ngāti Toa forces built up piles of rushes around picket fencing
After weeks, Ngāi Tahu in desperation set fire to rushes themselves in favourable winds
Winds changed and defensive palisade was burned away, Ngāti Toa gained entry
Wholesale slaughter. Women taken up north in forced marriages. Whole community destroyed.
Te Rauparaha’s ruthless treatment of Canterbury Ngāi Tahu was famous across New Zealand at the time though few know of it today. The Kaiapohia Pā site had excellent natural defenses, including marshes around the sides with hidden boards underwater that allowed friends to approach but forced enemies to run the risk of becoming stuck in the muddy bottom of the marsh and being picked off. However, it was still a site chosen and designed BEFORE the arrival of the musket. Te Rauparaha surrounded the pā and used his muskets to pick off anyone who tried to flee and any defender who got within range. Under cover of musket fire his men were able to continuously pile rushes around the palisades till they had the makings of a great fire. Ngai Tahu, unable to get out to remove the rushes, instead waited until the winds were blowing away from the palisades and set fire to them. This worked well at first, with the flames and smoke driving the Ngāti Toa back, but then the winds changed, the palisades caught fire and the Ngāti Toa gained entry and slaughtered most of the people, enslaving the rest. A handful escaped over the hidden boardwalk.
An Anglican reverend (Rev. Raven) a few years later gathered all the bones he could find and gave them a proper burial at a near-by site and Reverend J. Stack organized a monument to those who died that still stands today.

22. Kaiapoi Pā https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ochoY4cnDrI
Above: Photograph c1900 of the monument erected in by Rev Stack to those who died in Te Rauparaha’s raid
whenua/kaiapoi-pa/
Right – plan of the pā
kaiapoi-pa

23. An eye-witness account preserved…
Read through this newspaper article and see how well it agrees with what you have studied. Note – the article is from 15 September 1880 so is it truly primary?
Find some evidence within the article that IS truly primary and highlight it
?query=onawe%20massacre

24. Te Rauparaha’s revenge continues – Onawe
Māori of Akaroa had built a new pā considered impregnable on Onawe Peninsula
Te Rauparaha’s men approached with human shield of captives from Kaiapoi
Once defenses were reached, pā became a death trap due to Te Rauparaha’s muskets
Only a handful of survivors (some swam out)
Onawe Pā was a true musket-era pā with excellent defenses, designed and constructed after the Takapuneke Massacre to give Akaroa Māori a defensive site against any future raids by Te Rauparaha. It should have worked – the tiny isthmus joining it to Horomaka/ Banks Peninsula was so narrow that only a handful of warriors could approach at once and could be picked off. It was equipped with excellent resources to withstand a siege, including fish traps were lives seafood could be stored.
However, when the Ngāti Toa were sighted the Ngāi Tahu sent out a war band who made a strike against Te Rauparaha’s forces, then returned to the pā. As they approached, so did Te Rauparaha with captives from Kaiapoi infront of his war party. To fire on him and stop his advance, the Ngāi Tahu would have been forced to kill their onw warriors and relatives being used as human shields. Through this tactic, the Ngāti Toa forces gained entry and began slaughtering the inhabitants. Some climbed the palisades and swum across the harbor to Akaroa in an effort to escape, including women with babies strapped to their backs.
After a few raids on smaller kāinga around the peninsula Te Rauparaha was met with forces of Ngāi Tahu from Otakou who were well-armed and he was driven out. He returned to Kapiti with large numbers of slaves.
Te Rauparaha tried a couple more times in the mid 1830s to attack Ngāi Tahu but by this stage they had acquired plenty of muskets of their own and repelled him. Eventually, he converted to Christianity and made peace with Ngāi Tahu. He sent his son with many of the captured women to be returned to their families as a peace offering.

25. Onawe Peninsula

26. Onawe’s excellent natural defenses

27. “A Memory of Te Rauparaha”
Extract from
MARLBOROUGH EXPRESS, VOLUME XLIV, ISSUE 77, 7 APRIL 1910
b.govt.nz/newspapers/ MEX

28. Overall Significance of Musket wars for Canterbury/ Waitaha: Immediate
Within 8 years Treaty negotiated and signed, musket trade ended. Treaty signed in Akaroa Harbour 30 May by only 2 rangatira, the whole S.I. claimed by Britain by right of discovery
Ngāti Toa converted to Christianity – peace agreement, many women returned to Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu left very weak, central Canterbury population numbering around 500 – very poor position to negotiate with settlers
Entire S.I. lost by Ngāi Tahu (with exception of tiny reserves) within 25 year of Treaty signing
The Treaty was presented in Akaroa and read by Edward Williams (son of Henry Williams, who wrote the Māori language version of the Treaty) and so it is likely the two rangatira who signed – Tikao and Iwikau – understood most of what they were agreeing to. Tikao in particular did, as he frequently cited the Treaty and his rigsht under it during later attempts by British agents to get land from Akaroa Māori.
However, dozens of chiefs refused to attend at all and in the end the British claimed the South Island by right of discovery as they didn’t have enough signed support to claim it by treaty.

29. Land loss map
land-loss-south-island
In which years did the largest land losses occur?
From what you know of the Treaty, do you think it was being honored here?
Treaty Clause 2: “Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the Chiefs and Tribes of New Zealand and to the respective families and individuals thereof the full exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession; but the Chiefs of the United Tribes and the individual Chiefs yield to Her Majesty the exclusive right of Preemption over such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to alienate at such prices as may be agreed upon between the respective Proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty to treat with them in that behalf.” …

30. Overall Significance of Musket Wars for Canterbury/ Waitaha: Long Term
An ongoing fight for recognition of the tapu status of sites, esp Takapuneke
Use (abuse?) of these sites caused long-term damage in relationship between Māori and Council
Used as farmland, ship-building yard, crayfish-canning factory, SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS AND TOWN DUMP, then plan to sell land for housing
“It was only at the very end of the century that this sorry tale of cultural insensitivity changed into one of growing awareness in the community” – John Wilson, Harry Evison, et al: Toitu te Whenua: the Land Remains: Takapuneke (2010)
Akaroa Civic Trust, historians and Onuku Māori fought together to get a reserve including Green’s Point and Takapuneke
Agreement made 1998, Council apologized, reserve finally established Ongoing discussion on how to best make use of reserve still exists today
Local government sold off parts of Takapuneke, and used the area for sewage works. Parts of the sewage works still remain in use at the lower end of the site, which were withheld when the land was made a reserve. They also sold off parts of the site into private ownership, which is why the next slide shows a part that remains in private ownership within the reserve. It was the council's plan to sell off the land for residential development that really united the Onuku Runanga and local heritage advocates to campaign for a reserve. They petitioned Parliament and even received a visit and support from Helen Clark but it still took about 10 years to achieve their goal.

31. Current reserve
wp.govt.nz/the- council/public- notices/show/1

32. Takapuneke in the news
press/news/ /Special-status-sought-for- Cantys-Waitangi
korihi/126688/call-to-let-akaroa-reserve-revert-to- native-bush

33. Bibliography
Bibliography AN INCIDENT. IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE COLONY. (Marlborough express, ) (no date) Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). cclstaff (2016a) Takapūneke. Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). cclstaff (2016b) Ōnawe pa. Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). Copyright, C. (2003) Musket wars. Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). Evison, H. (2010) Toitu te whenua = the land remains: Takapūneke and green’s point Edited by John Wilson. Akaroa [N.Z.]: Akaroa Civic Trust. Hunt, C.P. (2016) Kaiapoi Pā. Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). Keane, B. (2012) 1. – musket wars – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). New zealand historical fiction (2015) Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). Ogilvie, G. (1990) Banks peninsula, cradle of Canterbury. Wellington: CP Books. Tau, T.M. (2012) 1. – Ngāi Tahu – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). Taylor, W.A. (2016) Lore and history of the south island Maori. Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). Te Rauparaha (2012) Available at: (Accessed: 15 November 2016). Whitcombe (1966) Peninsula & Plain: A History and Geography of Banks peninsula and the Canterbury Plains. Edited by Tombs. Revised edn. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd. Citations, Quotes & Annotations (AN INCIDENT. IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE COLONY. (Marlborough express, ), no date) (cclstaff, 2016a) (cclstaff, 2016b) (Copyright, 2003) (Evison, 2010) (Hunt, 2016) (Keane, 2012) (New zealand historical fiction, 2015) (Ogilvie, 1990) (Tau, 2012) (Taylor, 2016) (Te Rauparaha, 2012) (Whitcombe, 1966)