Pukehinahina (Battle of Gate Pā 29.4.1864) by William Edward Morris
This poem by former Tauranga City Archivist, William Edward Morris (1913-1999), was published in his 1977 book of poetry Treadmill of Time', page 45.
A brown pattern tide -
not a tidal wave of ochre colour
a huddle of tribal mahogany faces
screwed in indecision
watching Māori lands confiscated by
Government purveyors,
cut into blocks by Government surveyors -
left to grow rank for a time
creating seeds to a war-like clime.
Of all lands confiscated during
Māori wars
only one area Tauranga, where
50,000 acres were taken
for not a tithe of compensation -
thus spoke Māori Elder Turi Te Kani
at centenary of Gate Pā.
As mutterings became a distinct
threat to Government composure
Ngāi Te Rangi in the West
moved inland to Waoku reconditioned
a Pā beyond confines of Te Papa -
and were joined by tribal warriors
from Waikato wars -
when soldier, and sailor arrived
in Tauranga harbour - they did not
advance - instead Māoris invited troops
to come if it was their wish to fight
and sent a copy of rules to be observed
as of right.
There was no reply
so they advanced to Pukehinahina
ridge - built a system of redoubt
and trench - covered way like a giant
maze,
with only a fragmentation of a Pā
confusing to attackers this strategy
of war -
and officers, and other ranks died on
this trench floor - something campaigns
in other lands had never showed before.
No English regiment at Waterloo
lost as many officers as did the 43rd
at Gate Pā -
11 1 officers and men were killed or
wounded -
Māori lost 25 of her ochre coloured
sons.
Opposing a force of 2000
230 Māoris won the day - no matter
what historians have to say.
This Māori maze of trenches
carried to English shores by Artist
Major Robley, became a standard pattern
for friend, or foe in world war one -
trench warfare was there to stay -
it had its birth half a century before
in a brief Māori war.
Land and its tenure
has engendered strife since man
ceased to be a nomad,
$40, plus goods
a Christian Mission Society
paid for 1,334 acres on which Tauranga
sits today, -
would a city be there if Māoris
at least some of them had not learnt
a Christian way.
“If they enemy hunger feed him -
if he thirsts give him drink”.
Henare Taratoa was a mission trained
student - he taught Pākehā soldiers chivalry
in battle - amid maxim and cannon rattle
at Gate Pā.
He died at Te Ranga
a magnificent gesture of defiance
teaching us that on Māori word there
was reliance.
A great warrior of more recent
wars said,
“There was not victory at Gate Pā
but victory of a different sort
when arms were piled at Te Ranga
two races lived together in harmony -
an honourable peace was filed.”
It is difficult to understand
why one of a most war-like race
in our world
would feel need of complete surrender -
unless they felt that it was best for
both sides -
and by their act
Hell of Māori wars was rent asunder
no more would cannon thunder, musketry
rattle
no more would foreign troops die
on foreign soil in futile battle,
under Antipodean skies.
If Gate Pā was a stepping stone
to Peace
then it has its place in history
no matter who won -
yet there can be no doubt it was
a confused victory to ochre coloured
sons.
Some historians may minimise and lie -
Gate Pā was an epic that will never
die.
