By Rhonda Bartle

Lights along the shore

If Te Wherowhero was coming, it meant war!  Kumara and potatoes were dug and piled in storage pits.  Men hurried to construct whare, dig ditches, build bullet-proof clay banks. The Otaka Pa stood on a steep hill, probably where the Moturoa Cool Stores are today, but it was a small pa compared to some. Te Atiawa people enclosed the villages of both Otaka and Matipu in a single line of palisades and hoped it would hold.

On Christmas Eve 1831, camp fire lights from Te Wherowhero's war parties (taua) could be seen out along the northern coast. He and his warriors were heading for Ngamotu. They would reach Otaka pa on 30 January 1832.

Te Wherowhero was a formidable fighter, tall, with a mighty body. The battle at Motunui had made him famous; he'd fought and killed dozens of enemy single-handed.

Legend has it he sent word to Barrett and Love that he intended to cut off their heads and preserve them: Barrett responded he quite liked his head where it was.

Spies and Refugees

Now those at Otaka Pa began to wonder about two Waikato canoes that had pulled into Waitara a short time before, and whether they might have carried spies. Perhaps Te Wherowhero knew it was a good time to attack. There were only scattered remnants of tribes living between Mokau and Ngamotu now, as many Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama iwi had tramped off south to avoid bloodshed. And Te Atiawa had gone with them.

Soon refugees began arriving at Otaka pa, all Te Atiawa people who had fled from their tribal land a little to the north. Once they would have stayed to defend it, but they had seen far too many gun barrels shining in the sun. Dropping their hoes in the field, they'd run to the safety of Pukerangiora, the strongest pa in the district, on the banks of the Waitara river. It should have been the safest place to go except it was now filled with terrified and disorganised refugees and there was not longer enough food.

Brutality and Conquest

Later, terrible tales would be told about the siege at Pukerangiora, how Te Wherowhero's warriors sat outside and held everybody hostage.  How weeks went by without food, and hunger drove some hostages out, only to be killed or held prisoner.  Te Wherowhero ordered those with fine tattoos to be carefully beheaded so their mokomokai could be saved for trade. But others were systematically butchered and prepared for food.  Only slaves survived, or those destined to be Tainui dinners further down the track.

Preparing for Invasion

At Ngamotu, Otaka pa also filled with fugitives, as well as reinforcements arriving from Puke Ariki, Pukaka and other pa close by.  Three cannons, thought to have been bought from a passing ship, were hauled up the hillside and propped inside. They had Maori names - Ruakoura, Onepoto and Pupoipoi.

The cannons were very old, made at the turn of the 17th century.  Sea and salt had corroded the barrels and there weren't enough cannon balls.  Make-shift carriages made them difficult to aim and dangerous to fire, and the recoil could knock a man senseless. As instruments of war they were next to useless.

For extra cannon fodder, Barrett and his men filled powder bags with anything they could find; stones, pieces of iron, broken glass. Though there were good reserves of gunpowder, ammunition for the muskets was low.  The 350 men in the pa carried  traditional weapons and 100 muskets.

Tricks or a real try at peace?

When Te Wherowhero marched along the seashore on 30 January, 1832, no one was very surprised.  With him came 1600 warriors, plus women and slaves captured at Pukerangiora.  At Otaka they watched from the palisades as the taua split into two at the Huatoki stream and began to surround the pa.

Down on the beach, Te Wherowhero began to wave his mat as a sign he wanted to talk.  Several chiefs from the pa, including Te Wharepouri went down on the sand to meet him.

Blood on the sand

There are two differing accounts of what happened next.  Some say the chiefs made a pact to keep the peace for several days, whereby the Waikato warriors stamped a haka in front of the pa, fired their guns in salute, before throwing them down on the ground.  But as they rushed forward to rub noses with relatives inside, Barrett and the others opened fire and bodies fell everywhere. Those still holding guns retaliated.  Tainui took the view that the besieged had broken the peace.

Others say that the Pakeha considered the peace agreement to be nothing more than treachery and fired the first shots. Whatever the truth, a bloody battle began that would last three weeks.

Another attempt at peace was made four days later. But when Te Wherowhero asked to come inside the pa and hold a tangi for his dead, Te Atiawa again grew suspicious and said no. A final try took place on the deck of Currency Lass, newly arrived off shore for a shipment of flax.  Love and Te Wherowhero talked on deck - neutral territory. When the chief suggested a deal that would let him trade all the flax in Patarutu and take the white men to Kawhia as slaves, Love refused.

Different Fighting Styles

The Maori way of war is very different to the European and Barrett and his companions often found they were following bizarre rules.  Maori leaders did not 'lead' but attempted to 'persuade' their men into battle. Neither camp would attack during the hours of darkness, something that seemed so strange to Barrett and Love that they wore themselves out trying to stay awake all day and night. It astounded them to see warriors from both sides sleeping calmly in their trenches with blankets or mats pulled over them.  Families from each side would get together inside the pa for a friendly chat.  And Tainui chiefs wandered in for a meal, examined the cannons, took note of Te Atiawa battle tactics and loudly pointed out where they were likely to go wrong.  As provisions grew short, Tainui even bartered for food and tobacco with muskets seized at Pukerangiora.

Yet all during the day, the enemies built towers and engaged in sniper fire. The attackers cut down karaka trees for ladders to breach the walls. When flaming torches sailed into the pa and onto the roofs of the whare, Te Atiawa warriors fired back from the battlements.

Gunfire and Confusion

For the most part, Te Atiawa were good fighters, yet Barrett found the pa a place of great confusion and noise. Filled with gunfire and loud boasting from warriors of their various skills, often those on the same side squabbled and fought each other.  There were times Barrett thought it was more dangerous inside than out.

When two sisters on opposite sides argued, the one who had sided with Waikato rushed out to be with them, only to be killed immediately and chopped into pieces to be cooked.  Waikato washed her body in the Hongihongi stream, making the water tapu and unfit to drink. Fortunately, wells were dug and alternative water found, which meant people in the pa did not go dry.

In late February, under the cover of darkness, thirty or forty Ngati Tama warriors arrived by canoe and crept up the hill, to help defend the pa. But what should have been a celebration quickly turned to woe when the smallest cannon blew up. To all those in Otaka, it seemed a bad omen. But not to Te Wherowhero, who thought it a good sign. Food supplies were completely gone and he'd just been given the news that other enemies had invaded their homes at Mokau.  Tired of being hungry and sick of an unexpectedly long battle at Ngamotu, he decided to pack up his men, go back and protect their land.

But first, in the usual fashion, he told all Te Ati Awa that he would strike them hard in the morning and slaughter them all first.

The Final Day

As promised, on the morning of 20th February, 1832, Te Wherowhero's warriors attacked, staying long enough for a short hard fight amid belching cannon fire.  For the first time, the cannons were effective. Mounted on three sides of the pa, they mowed down many invaders who, in a hurry to be gone, were reckless and not organised.

An imagined depiction by A.H. Messenger of the defence of Otaka Pa.

Before they withdrew, Waikato and Te Maniapoto piled their dead on the roof of the temporary whare they'd built during the siege, setting fire to them so they couldn't be eaten by the enemy.  Then they began the long trek back to Mokau, lamenting the loss of four important tribal chiefs and sixty lesser ones.

Aftermath

It was said later that when Te Wherowhero's people left, Te Atiawa chased after them, inflicting two hundred further casualties. 

It was also recorded that, '...the victorious defenders fed their injured and defeated enemies and gave a pious Christian burial to their dead'. 

Another report said, '...dismembered Waikato carcasses decorated Ngamotu doorways, days of celebration and feasting followed, dogs ate their fill, February flies came in clouds, and Barrett, Love and the seamen could only look on in revulsion, thankful that it had not been their fate.'

An Eye Witness Account

Sheridan, who, like most white men, found cannibalism utterly disturbing, wrote:

'Oh, what a scene for a man of Christian feeling to behold, dead bodies strewn about the settlements in every direction.  By great persuasion we prevailed on the savages not to cook any inside the fence or to come into our houses during the time they were regaling themselves.'

When Te Atiawa buried their fallen chiefs, Barrett and Love were dismayed; eight valued muskets went into the grave with every one. The battle might be won, but not the war. Like everyone in Ngamotu, they knew they might not be lucky enough to win another round. The smell of utu still carried strongly on the wind.

A Self-imposed Exile

In June 1832, the Te Atiawa tribe along with Barrett and Love, led by chiefs Te Puni, Te Wharepouri and Te Tautara, set out on Te Heke Tama Te Uaua - the great trek south along the Te Whakaahurangi track. They knew it was just a matter of time before Waikato struck again.

Rangipoto, who was on the march, tells the story:

'There were many of us, some 1400 fighting men, without counting women or children.  Each tribe marched in a body and close to each other so that none might be left behind, nor was there any straggling allowed.  The men of each tribe marched in front and behind, the women and children between them, and certain men were sent off to see that the distance between each party was maintained.  We slept in the forest the first and succeeding night.  It was cold, being winter (June) and the frost was on the ground.  The kakas (parrots) were very fat at the time...'

On small group stayed behind on the semi-island fortress of Mikotahi, to keep the home fires burning, ensuring the land stayed occupied.  Te Atiawa people might one day return, when they had gathered strength.

History has often made heroes of Barrett and Love for winning the battle at Otaka, but perhaps they were fighting simply to survive. They could almost be seen as 'extras' in a bloody battle scene - not necessarily the key to victory, but more like accidental Pakeha warriors, who at times, because of their lack of understanding of Maori war tactics, might actually have made things worse.

Tribute to Mr Barrett

Whooh! Them er stirring times, when Chief Dickey did reign

O'er Moturoa's realm on't flat lung the shore,

To bir such a mind, be'ent us owd whelers faim,

And close by't firehob the yarns tow spin o'er.

The saucy Whykatos, gowd Lard! Didn'tum squelch!

As um Pukeriangoro come tow repeat:

When oot fram't tunnels, didn't our guns let belch!

As in scyores tuk the beggars clin off of thir feet!

Bravo, Dickey Barrett! ul roun shout Bravo!

Was such Chief ne'er an airmy nid turn tail on foe.

Bravo, Dickey Barrett! ul roun shoutBravo!

Ner er may owd England of such stuff run low.

 

Archibald Hood, 1890