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War in Wellington and Whanganui 1845-47

These brief New Zealand Wars | ngā pakanga o Aotearoa campaigns in Wellington and Whanganui were sparked by a growing demand for access to arable land by settlers who, from 1839, had arrived in Wellington in increasing numbers. SCIS no. 1966001

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The fight at Battle Hill

The fight at Battle Hill

This 1846 painting shows troops advancing up Battle Hill to attack Te Rangihaeata's men.

Honiana Te Puni NZ Wars memorial

Honiana Te Puni NZ Wars memorial

This memorial stands in the Te Puni Street urupā burial ground in Petone. It commemorates prominent Te Ātiawa leader Honiana Te Puni's 'unbroken friendship' with Pākehā.

War in Wellington - War in Wellington

In 1846 fighting broke out in the Wellington region as the Ngāti Toa chief Te Rangihaeata backed local Maori opposed to European settlement in the Hutt Valley. The campaign claimed few lives and Ng...

From an oil-painting by G. Lindauer, in the Municipal Art Gallery, Auckland] — Topine te Mamaku

From an oil-painting by G. Lindauer, in the Municipal Art Gallery, Auckland] — Topine te Mamaku

The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume I: 1845–1864 - Chapter 14: The War at Wanganui - From an oil-painting by G. Lindauer , in the Municipal Art ...

Topine Te Mamaku

Topine Te Mamaku

Photograph of Topine Te Mamaku seated on the ground in front of a tent wrapped in a blanket, taken in May 1885 at Tawhata by Alfred Burton Inscriptions: Photographer's title on negative - bottom l...

WANGANUI. (Wellington Independent, 31 July 1847)

WANGANUI. (Wellington Independent, 04 August 1847)

Te Rauparaha

Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha was teina (junior) to his half-brother, Nohorua, yet due to his leadership abilities he commanded his people.

Te Rauparaha

In this 1840s image of Ngāti Toa leader Te Rauparaha, he wears a feather in his hair and a pōhoi (feather-ball earring). Te Rauparaha is famous for the role he played during the musket wars. His br...

Te Rauparaha sketch

Te Rauparaha‘s arrest was a controversial move by Governor George Grey. After the attack on Boucoult’s farm, Grey saw Te Rauparaha as a cause of rising tensions over occupation and ownership of whe...

Boulcott's Farm NZ Wars memorial

Boulcott's Farm NZ Wars memorial

Boulcott's Farm memorial in Lower Hutt, near Wellington.

Eight killed in attack on Boulcott Farm

Disagreements over the validity of land purchases by the New Zealand Company led to a series of skirmishes between Māori and government forces in the Wellington region from 1845 to 1846.

Battle Hill NZ Wars memorial

Battle Hill NZ Wars memorial

This tombstone marks the grave of two British men who were killed in action on Battle Hill in August 1846.

Wanganui. New Zealand. October 1847

Wanganui. New Zealand. October 1847

Margin below image in ink: Wanganui. N.Z. Oct.r 1847; on mount in ink in Dr Hockenís hand: Wanganui 1847 showing stockades and settlers houses some of which were fortified. T.M.H.; label in ink in ...

"Miss Gilfillan, Severely wounded by rebel Natives Apl. 1847"

"Miss Gilfillan, Severely wounded by rebel Natives Apl. 1847"

Copy photograph of a studio portrait of Miss Mary Gilfillan, who was badly injured in the Gilfillan massacre on 18 April 1847 at Matarawa, near Whanganui. Mary Gilfillan is seated at a table and r...

Wanganui N. Zealand.

Wanganui N. Zealand.

Lower right (l.r.) with brush: Wanganui N. Zealand W. Fox 1857; on sketchbook mount in ink in Dr Hocken’s hand: English Church and houses on site of the Avenue. Beyond are two large houses built an...

War in Whanganui - War in Whanganui

The confusion and uncertainty that had surrounded the New Zealand Company's land purchases in Whanganui erupted into violence in the autumn and winter of 1847. The conflict here also involved longs...

Whanganui in 1841

Whanganui in 1841

A general and close-up view of the new settlement of Petre or Whanganui (also known as Wanganui) in September 1841.

Photographer unknown: Memorial to New Zealand Wars in the Hutt Valley

Photographer unknown: Memorial to New Zealand Wars in the Hutt Valley

Stone memorial to the men who fell at Boulcott's Stockade in the Hutt Valley during the New Zealand Wars. Photographer unknown. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Film n...

McCormick, Arthur David, 1860-1943 :A boy's heroism. 'Awake! Awake!' [1908]

Bugler’s gallantry

This headline refers to the story of a young soldier, William Allen, who blew his bugle to warn his comrades but was cut down during an attack on Boulcott’s farm in 1846. Over the years the story ...

The Taita Stockade, 1846.

The Taita Stockade, 1846.

(Redrawn from the orinigal sketch by W. Swainson, F.R.S.)

[Swainson, William] 1789-1855 :[Stockade in clearing, Taita] 17 Oct. 184[6 or 1847?]

[Swainson, William] 1789-1855 :[Stockade in clearing, Taita] 17 Oct. 184[6 or 1847?]

A small fenced stockade in a clearing, surrounded by large tree trunks. There are two buildings inside the stockade's fencing, both small. According to Elsdon Best - "Stake stockade at Taita near...

Research papers

The Taita Post, Volume 53, 1921, Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1921

The Taita Post, Volume 53, 1921, Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1921

As this place is always called “Taitai,” which, according to Mr. Buck, a surveyor, of Hutt, is its correct name, our early settlers must have formed their own ideas of how it should be spelt. The n...

Portrait of Honiana Te Puni-kokopu, by Charles Heaphy

Portrait of Honiana Te Puni-kokopu, by Charles Heaphy

Portrait of Honiana Te Puni-kokopu, by Charles Heaphy

Barraud, Charles Decimus, 1822-1897 :[Te Puni seated in a whare in Pito-one Pa] N. Z. 1860

Barraud, Charles Decimus, 1822-1897 :[Te Puni seated in a whare in Pito-one Pa] N. Z. 1860

Shows the interior of a whare, with a white-bearded Maori man sitting on the ground beside a fire, a small dog asleep on the ground beside him. A taiaha leans on the wall at the left, and on the fa...

Te Wharepouri

One of two chiefs who sold land to the New Zealand Company for the Wellington settlement in 1839, Te Wharepouri was renowned as a warrior and an orator. The mere he gestures with remains in the pos...

Te Wharepouri, Te Kakapi-o-te-rangi - Biography

Te Wharepouri, known as Te Kakapi-o-te-rangi in his youth, was born probably not long before 1800, and grew up in Taranaki. His mother was Hine-i-te-uru, senior wife of Te Whiti-o-Rongomai II, fou...

The fight at Battle Hill, Horokiwi

58th and 99th Regiments advancing up Battle Hill

It was short-lived but also a cold and wet winter campaign that saw British forces track Te Rangihaeata and his taua up the Horokiwi valley north of Wellington in August 1846. Eventually they came...

Rutland Stockade, Whanganui

Rutland Stockade, Whanganui

Photograph taken by the studio of William James Harding, Whanganui. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Glass negative, 4.25 x 3.25 inches

Rutland stockade and jail, Wanganui

Rutland stockade and jail, Wanganui

Rutland stockade and jail, Wanganui, circa 1870s. Photograph taken by William James Harding. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Glass negative

Grave of Hohepa Te Umuroa

Grave of Hohepa Te Umuroa

Grave of Hohepa Te Umuroa, possibly on Maria Island, Tasmania, Australia, photographed between ca 1914-ca 1960. Caption on reverse of print reads: "Grave of one of the N Z Chiefs transported to V.D...

Group of mourners at the grave of Honiana Te Puni, Petone, Wellington

Honiana Te Puni

Honiana Te Puni’s (Te Ati Awa) gravestone pictured here in 1940 records the enormous gratitude and reverence Pakeha had for his support during the early settlement of Wellington and the subsequent ...

Ngāti Toarangatira

The Ngāti Toarangatira people, originally from Kāwhia, have survived changing fortunes.

Battle Hill Farm Reserve

On 6 August, 1846, government forces began their assault on Te Rangihaeata’s position at Horokiwi.

History of Te Ātiawa

Te Ātiawa stem from Toi-te-huatahi or Toi-kai-rakau, the wood eater.

Governor George Grey

George Grey is believed to have been born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1812.

Honiana, as he was known in his youth, belonged to Ngati Te Whiti and Ngati Tawhirikura hapu of Te Ati Awa.

Wellington battles, 1846

A map showing the locations of armed encounters in the Wellington area in 1846.

The fight at Battle Hill

The attack on Te Rangihaeata’s position at Battle Hill began on 6 August 1846 in freezing rain.

Wellington and Whanganui wars, 1846–1848

From the time that British settlers arrived in the Wellington area in 1839, land disputes had caused friction between Māori and European.

Wellington/Hutt Valley 1846

In 1846, Governor George Grey ordered the British Army to Wellington.

Wellington settlement and war in the Hutt

“Governor Grey turned his attention to the Cook Strait settlements, where the position for the last year had verged upon war.”

The boulder and the bugler: The Battle of Boulcott’s Farm in public memory

The story of the Boulcott’s Farm battle has been told in poetry and prose; in print, on stage screen; and in memorials and museums.

The dispatch carrier

A story from the period of the Wellington conflict.

Find more information on this topic on EPIC. Databases recommended: New Zealand Geographic, Australia New Zealand Reference Centre (Plus), New Zealand History Collection (BWB). School login may be ...

The New Zealand Hutt Valley Campaign 1846

A video for 3.2 NCEA history internal on the war in the Hutt Valley.

The British Army were stationed in Whanganui to protect settler communities against Māori from the Upper Whanganui river.

Early Wellington

An account of early Wellington featuring the circumstances that led up to the brief war and the ‘arrest’ of Te Rauparaha - chapters XI & XII.

Hero stories of New Zealand

The attack on Boulcott’s farm.

Boulcott’s farm

Letter to the editor in 1846 detailing the attack on Boulcott’s farm and Pakeha fatalities.

Young Allen, the brave bugler boy

An 1886 poem about the Private William Allen who died in the battle of Boulcott’s farm.

Fighting in Whanganui

An account of the fighting in Whanganui between troops and Upper Whanganui river Māori.

The Governor - The reverend traitor

TV drama The Governor examined the life of Governor George Grey in six thematic parts. In the first episode Grey arrives to colonial troubles including the rebellious Te Rauparaha.

St John's Wood, Whanganui, 1847

Fighting at St John's Wood, Whanganui, 1847

Skirmish at St John’s Wood, Whanganui

An inconclusive skirmish took place on 20 July 1847 at the climax of a month-long blockade which had confined settlers within the narrow limits of Wanganui township.

The war at Wanganui

The first settlers under the New Zealand Company took up their Wanganui land in 1841, but Māori. very soon disputed their title to many of the sections, declaring that they had never sold the land.

The shadow of war

A Pakeha account of the Wellington War by Elsdon Best.

An account of the attack of the Rebel Natives at the (Hutt Valley) Camp, May 1846

In the early hours of 16 May, 1846, shots were fired at Almon Boulcott’s farm in Wellington’s Hutt Valley. Ngāti Hauā-te-rangi fighters of Whanganui, led by Te Mamaku had attacked British soldiers ...

Hōhepa originates from the request by Matiu Mareikura (Ngati Rangi) to Jenny McLeod to write the story of Hōhepa Te Umuroa.

Official despatches

Official despatch by Major Edward Last covering the fight at Battle Hill and the subsequent capture of Māori prisoners.

Hohepa Te Umuroa

Te Umuroa with other Wanganui Māori travelled to Te Rangihaeata's pa at Taupo, Porirua. In May 1846 he took part in the attack on Boulcott's farm in the Hutt Valley.

Painting of Boulcott's stockade in Hutt Valley

Painting of Boulcott's stockade in Hutt Valley

1846 painting showing Boulcott's stockade in Hutt Valley.

The end of the war in Wellington

In the television series The New Zealand wars, James Belich explains why Ngāti Toa chief Te Rangihaeata and his men abandoned their strong pā at Pāuatahanui and retreated into the hills. The final ...

Rutland stockade, Whanganui

Rutland stockade, Whanganui

This sketch was made on 20 July 1847 when British troops moved down from Rutland stockade, seen on top of the hill with the flag, and engaged Tōpine Te Mamaku's upriver Māori at St John's Wood. Eac...

Artist unknown :(Pukenamu) Rutland Stockade, Wanganui, New Zealand [1847]

Artist unknown :(Pukenamu) Rutland Stockade, Wanganui, New Zealand [1847]

Plan view of Rutland Stockade (with north at the top), showing site for upper blockhouse on left, main gate to the south in the cente, 'officers' gate' to the right, cook house, guard house and oth...

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