Siege of Ngatapa
Many of Te Kooti's followers were subsequently captured and executed by the Ngāti Porou and some Māori members of the Armed Constabulary with the cognisance of Whitmore, a massacre that has in modern times been condemned as an abuse of law and human rights.
[5] Te Kooti was a Māori warrior of the Rongowhakaata iwi who in 1865 had fought on the side of the New Zealand government against the Pai Mārire religious movement during the siege of Waerenga-a-Hika in Poverty Bay.
[9] After rebuffing a request from Biggs to surrender, Te Kooti and his Ringatū warriors were pursued by the local militia, made up of European settlers, in order to prevent them moving inland.
[9] The militia were soon reinforced with troops from the Armed Constabulary, a paramilitary law enforcement agency that formed New Zealand's main defence force at the time and which was led by Colonel George Whitmore.
[11][12] In September, conflict in South Taranaki saw Whitmore and his men withdrawn to deal with that threat while the government sought a truce with Te Kooti, offering land in exchange for a surrender of arms.
[16] As a result of the massacre, the government were now determined to deal with Te Kooti, placing a bounty for his capture and sending Whitmore's Armed Constabulary back to the region.
[15] On 17 November, Te Kooti began withdrawing his forces and captives from Poverty Bay to the rural community of Makeretu, known now as Ashley Clinton, about 48 kilometres (30 mi) west of Tūranga—now Gisborne.
A force of around 370 kūpapa, led by Ropata Wahawaha of the Ngāti Porou iwi, arrived at Makeretu on 2 December, bringing the total number opposing Te Kooti to over 800.
A secondary hill, known as the Crow's Nest and about 800 metres (2,600 ft) to the east rose from the same ridge, and this formed the approach to the base of the hilltop, which was triangular in shape.
When Te Kooti laid out the defensive arrangements he gave little consideration to the construction of traps and diversions, often problematic for attackers of modern pā.
Another weakness was the lack of a water source within the pā which, after the withdrawal from Makaretu, would contain around 300 of Te Kooti's warriors, their families plus numerous prisoners, at least 500 people in all.
[20][21] On 4 December, after an initial attack on Ngatapa by the remaining kūpapa was beaten off by concentrated fire from the Ringatū, Ropata and a European officer, Lieutenant George Preece of the Armed Constabulary who was attached to the Ngāti Porou contingent, led a party up close to the pā and during the course of the afternoon small groups of warriors were able to join them.
He had previously decided just days earlier to return to South Taranaki on hearing the rumours that Te Kooti had quit Ngatapa and retired inland.
[25][26] Concerned that Te Kooti could still vacate Ngatapa before Whitmore could get there with his men, a contingent of Ngāti Kahungunu had moved off from Wairoa to penetrate the interior and cut off his retreat.
[24] Whitmore departed Tūranga with his force on 24 December and three days later was observing Ngatapa from a position, dubbed Fort Richmond, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away, having placed a number of depots of stores on his march to make supply of his troops easier.
Ngatapa pā was effectively encircled, with only the north side, a high rocky precipice considered far too steep for use as an escape route, left unsecured.
On 3 January, Te Kooti's Ringatū warriors made a sortie against the Armed Constabulary holding the western perimeter, astride the narrow and precarious ridge line.
The next day, the Te Arawa men of the Armed Constabulary and Ngāti Porou warriors climbed the steep southern side via a route discovered by Ropata's scouts.
[29][30] No rearguard remained to cover the escape and Ropata's Ngāti Porou and the Te Arawa Armed Constabulary promptly set off in pursuit of the fleeing Ringatū.
Te Kooti and his key followers evaded capture but around 130 of his men, weak from hunger and lacking ammunition for defence, were rounded up from the bush and gorges below over the next two days.
As many Ngāti Porou were incensed at the murders committed by the Ringatū in Poverty Bay, most of the prisoners were marched up to a cliff and executed on Ropata's orders.
Te Kooti suffered a major defeat with at least half of his Ringatū warriors, around 130 or so, being killed at Ngatapa or executed in the subsequent pursuit through the bush following their escape from the pā.
[32][33] The historian Matthew Wright noted that Ropata, who ordered the executions, had been captured and enslaved by Te Kooti's Rongowhakaata iwi as a young man and this was a factor in the massacre at Ngatapa.
[35] Te Kooti found refuge in the Urewera ranges with the Tūhoe iwi and from there raided a number of Māori communities that he perceived as being allied to the government.
[36] In 2004, in a report on land claims in the Poverty Bay and East Cape regions, the Waitangi Tribunal described the executions at Ngatapa as "one of the worst abuses of law and human rights in New Zealand's colonial history".
[37] On 5 January 2019, to commemorate the passage of 150 years since the massacre, a pouwhenua (land post) sculpted from totara wood was unveiled near Matawhero by descendants of those killed.
