Ropata Wahawaha
Ropata Wahawaha was a Māori military leader and rangatira of the Ngāti Porou iwi who rose to prominence during New Zealand's East Cape War and Te Kooti's War.
Born in 1820 in the Waiapu Valley on the East Cape, he was enslaved as a boy and became known as Rāpata Wahawaha. He later obtained his freedom and as an adult, became known as Ropata. In 1865, he fought against the Pai Mārire religious movement when it expanded into the East Cape area. During the conflict, he became rangatira of Te Aowera, a hapū of Ngāti Porou. As a Kūpapa, a Māori allied to the New Zealand Government, he fought alongside the Volunteer Force, New Zealand's militia, and led war parties against the Pai Mārire and their presence in the East Cape region was largely eliminated by mid-1866.
From 1868 to 1871, he commanded Ngāti Porou war parties in the pursuit of Te Kooti, a rebel Māori leader whose religious movement, Ringatū, threatened the security of the East Cape region. During the conflict he played a key role in the capture of Te Kooti's pā at Ngatapa, for which he was awarded the New Zealand Cross and was made a major in the Volunteer Force. His pursuit of Te Kooti was motivated by a desire to ensure that Ngāti Porou land was not subject to seizure by the Government. In his later years, he commanded the militia in the Ngāti Porou district, was a land agent and a member of the Legislative Council.
Early life
Rāpata Wahawaha was born about 1820 either in Te Puia Springs or Akuaku, in the Waiapu Valley on the East Cape. He was the son of Hīpora Koroua and Te Hapamana Te Whao. He was of the Te Aowera hapū of the Ngāti Porou iwi, one of the major Māori iwi in the eastern regions of the North Island of New Zealand.As a child Ropata was captured by the Rongowhakaata iwi during a conflict with Ngāti Porou over disputed land. He became the slave of Rāpata Whakapuhia whose name he perforce adopted. However, in later years when he rose to prominence he worked closely with Donald McLean who, having a broad Scottish accent, habitually pronounced his name as "Ropata" and it became the name by which he is generally known. He preferred this as it disassociated him from the period of life when he was a slave. By 1839 Ropata had gained his freedom and was living with the Ngāti Porou. He was married to Harata Te Ihi whose nephew, Paratene Ngata, was raised in their household.
East Cape War
Little is known of Ropata's life following his marriage until 1865, when the East Cape War broke out. Ngāti Porou had become divided following the arrival on the East Cape that year of the leaders of the Pai Mārire religious movement. The religion espoused its followers, known as Hauhau, immunity to bullets and sought to move pākehā off Maori land. It also advocated for the Kingites. Some of the hapū of Ngāti Porou converted to the new religion while others opposed it.Owing to the work of missionaries in the area since the 1830s, many Ngāti Porou, including Ropata's hapū, had a strong Christian faith. They were angered by the murder of Carl Völkner by the Hauhau in early 1865. Furthermore, they realised that alignment with Pai Mārire would lead to conflict with the New Zealand Government, and a risk of confiscation of their land, as had happened elsewhere in the country.
Waiapu Valley campaign
Ropata himself was staunchly Anglican, and was a founding member of the diocese of Waiapu. On 5 June, he was among a number of Te Aowera attending celebrations for the establishment of a church at Popoti, when they were advised that some Hauhau had arrived in the Waiapu Valley. In response to pleas by a Ngāti Porou leader, he gathered a party of 40 men, mainly from his own hapū of Te Aowera. His party was poorly equipped, with only a few flintlock muskets among them, and traditional weapons such as mere and taiaha. In contrast, the Hauhau were armed with modern rifles. On 20 June Ropata led an attack on the Hauhau, who had established a pā at Mangaone. Although the Te Aowera were defeated, Ropata gained some notoriety when, in single combat, he killed a Hauhau leader. The rangatira of the Te Aowera was killed in the engagement and Ropata succeeded him as the leader of his hapū. He suffered another defeat two days later when his party was driven off during an attack of the Hauhau's pā at Pukemaire. In addition, their own pā at Tikitiki was captured.When the Hauhau arrived in Waiapu Valley, Mōkena Kōhere, a senior rangatira of Ngāti Porou, had appealed to Donald McLean, the superintendent for the Hawke's Bay Province, for assistance. Much needed supplies were subsequently sent along with one hundred militia, who arrived at Te Hatepe pā, to where Ropata and his party had withdrawn. His force now numbered around 85, following the arrival of Te Aowera reinforcements. The arrival of personnel of the Volunteer Force, New Zealand's militia, on 13 July further boosted numbers. This proved timely for the Hauhau attacked the next day and were driven off.
Further defeats followed for the Hauhau, thanks to the intervention of the militia, but Ropata also played key roles in the fighting; He staged a successful ambush of Hauhau forces in late July and, equipped with modern weapons, later carried out campaigns alongside Henare Potae, another rangatira of Ngāti Porou, towards Tokomaru Bay and Tolaga Bay, seizing Hauhau pā. By this time, he had established himself as a respected warrior and rangatira among Ngāti Porou. He was also regarded as ruthless: according to an account written in 1879 by Walter Gudgeon, at one point Ropata found some men from his own hapū, Te Aowera, among a group of Hauhau prisoners and he personally shot each one. Monty Soutar, a Ngāti Porou historian, disputes this, writing in 2000 that no evidence in contemporary records could be found to support this action occurred.
On 3 October, in conjunction with over 100 militia, Ropata's war party of 120 commenced a siege of the Pai Mārire stronghold of Pukemaire pā. Ropata, with a group of 12 warriors, dug a sap leading up to the palisade of the pā and pulled it down to gain entry. Although they had to withdraw, and poor weather delayed a renewed attack, the Hauhau abandoned Pukemaire a few days later and retreated to Hungahungatoroa. Ropata, with a group of his men, harried the Hauhau as they withdrew. On 13 October, they attacked Hungahungatoroa with Ropata part of a group sent to a ridge, overlooking the pā, to snipe at the Hauhau. At the suggestion of Mōkena Kōhere, negotiations commenced with defenders and the Ngāti Porou among them surrendered after receiving guarantees of their safety. The remainder, about 60, escaped out the rear of the pā. One, a senior leader of the Hauhau, was taken captive by Ropata; a colonial militia officer, upon discovering the identity of the prisoner, executed him. The action at Hungahungatoroa eliminated the last of the Hauhau strongholds in the Waiapu Valley. Some Ngāti Porou were allowed to return to their hapū after swearing allegiance to the Crown while others were sent to the Chatham Islands.
Shift to the Poverty Bay
There was still a Hauhau presence in Poverty Bay, to the south of the Waiapu Valley, centred on Waerenga-a-hika, a pā manned by around 400 to 500 Hauhau. The militia, despite being reinforced with troops brought in from Napier, only numbered 150 or so, inadequate to attack the pā. McLean sought Ropata's assistance to deal with the threat. He eagerly complied; many of the Hauhau in Poverty Bay were of the Rongowhakaata iwi, which had enslaved him as a child. Ropata gathered a Ngāti Porou war party of 300 warriors and joined the militia in what amounted to a seven-day siege on Waerenga-a-hika that commenced in mid-November. After an attempted breakout, the Hauhau were defeated and the survivors taken as prisoners to the Chatham Islands.Ropata continued to lead his war party south, this time in assistance of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi, which was aligned with the Government. In January 1866, he and 150 Ngāti Porou landed at Wairoa. Together with 150 militia and 250 warriors from Ngāti Kahungunu iwi, they pushed towards Lake Waikaremoana in pursuit of the Hauhau. When the force was ambushed on 12 January and its lead elements began to fall back, Ropata helped restore morale, moving forward and setting fire to the undergrowth which obscured the vision of the Hauhau. Unable to see in the face of the advancing Ropata and his men, they withdrew. Closely pursued, around 25 to 35 were killed and several others taken prisoner. The losses of Ngāti Kahungunu and Porou amounted to 14 killed, one being Ropata's uncle, mostly in the initial ambush. Few militia were involved in this engagement but one later recorded that Ropata executed four leaders of the Hauhau that were among the prisoners. He had initially proposed to spare those of Ngāti Kahungunu but this was not acceptable to that tribe's rangatira who wished to make an example for the rest of their iwi. The Government forces and their allies then returned to Wairoa. There was further engagements with the remaining Hauhau over the next few months, but these involved Ngāti Kahungunu. By the middle of the year, the Hauhau threat to the East Cape had largely been eliminated.
Te Kooti's War
In July 1868, Ropata was called upon again by the Government to help deal with a new threat. This was Te Kooti, of Ngāti Maru, a hapū of Rongowhakaata iwi, who had recently escaped from captivity in the Chatham Islands. Te Kooti had been sent there when he was arrested in March 1866 as a spy during the campaign against the Hauhau in Poverty Bay. While on the Chathams, he had become a religious leader among the numerous exiled Hauhau, espousing his own faith, Ringatū, based upon the Bible. After two years, the prisoners had become frustrated at their treatment, having been held without trial, and Te Kooti led them in surprising their guards and seizing a vessel to sail back to New Zealand.Te Kooti and his followers made landfall near Poverty Bay on 9 July 1868 and made their way inland shortly afterwards. The local militia commander, Captain Biggs, ordered some of his men in pursuit after an initial attempt by a local rangatira to negotiate with Te Kooti was rejected. The militia were defeated in an encounter on 20 July, and there would be further unsuccessful skirmishes with Te Kooti's men over the next several weeks. Te Kooti's ranks soon swelled with converts from among the Māori of the region, who in their fervour, murdered some Ngāti Kahungunu rangatira. In response, in late October, Ropata and his Ngāti Porou were brought in.