The Massacre at Poverty Bay
After years of the Europeans making their colony in New Zealand, a man named Te Kooti decided to trust the British and work with them. He did not want to convert to Christianity, or “Pai Marire”, but he began working in the shipping industry along the coastline. Despite his genuine effort to get along with the white men, they believed that his resistance to Christianity meant he was part of a spy rebel group called “HauHau”.
He tried to explain himself to Donald McLean, who was the police inspector. McLean became fluent in the Maori language in order to settle disputes like this, but he did not believe Te Kooti, and sent him to prison on Chatham Island. During that time, he converted to a religion called Ringatu, which was based more on Judaism and the Old Testament, mixed with the native Maori customs. In 1868, he managed to escape and free hundreds of prisoners. There were 135 women with children, and 163 men living in the prison on Chatham Island, and he managed to release them all.
Instead of going on a wild rampage, Te Kooti and his men aimed their guns at a magistrate, saying that they wanted to travel to “King Country”, or England, to become educated. When the magistrate refused to accept their demands, Kooti’s men began a battle that lasted for several months in Poverty Bay. More and more native people began to join up with Te Kooti, so the government put a bounty on his head. They broke into the magistrate’s house and kills him, his wife, and children, along with 51 other European people. This became known as the “Massacre at Poverty Bay”.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
The First Meeting – Abel Tasman and Māori in Golden Bay. Karen Stade. The Prow. 2012
Pre-1840 Contact. Government of New Zealand. NZ History.
Ten crew of Cook’s ship killed and eaten. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2016
Te Kooti. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2017.
Carl Völkner. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2017
The Northern War. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2017
The Musket Wars. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2015
War in Whanganui. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2014
A Frontier of Chaos? The Boyd Incident. Ministry of Culture and Heritage.
Treaty events 1800-49. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2017
