The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Te Kooti, Rikirangi
Te Kooti, Rikirangi, is a Maori chief, whose rise into notoriety dates from the year 1865, when the last ashes of the Hau Hau fanaticism were being trodden out on the eastern shores of the North Island of New Zealand. A certain Major Fraser in the November of that year was engaged in a fight with Hau Haus at Waerengaahika, and among his troops (composed in large part of friendly Maoris) was Te Kooti (pronounced Te Kawti), whom, whether justly or unjustly has never been rightly ascertained, he suspected of treachery and communication with the enemy. It is certain that Te Kooti had a relative in the opposing Hau Hau force, and it is agreed that he was a quarrelsome dangerous man; but the question of his disloyalty remains open still. At any rate he was arrested by Major Fraser, and deported to the Chatham Islands, a small group about two hundred miles east of Port Lyttelton. Here, as the desultory war went on, other prisoners were confined, until the numbers were considerable. Te Kooti was detained for two years, at the end of which time the prisoners became restive, alleging that the Government had promised them their liberty after that interval—an allegation which, however, was denied. The discontent increased, and at last culminated in the escape of the prisoners, who on July 4th, 1868, seized a vessel called the Rifleman, and under the command of Te Kooti sailed for the North Island, and landed at Whareongaonga, six miles below Poverty Bay. Besides women and children, there were a hundred and sixty-three men, who had armed themselves with rifles and ammunition from the Chathams. Against these Captain Biggs proceeded with a small force of Europeans and Maoris; but Te Kooti refused to surrender, and Biggs was forced to retreat. The Government immediately despatched a force under Colonel Whitmore to arrest the fugitives; and Te Kooti, leaving the coast, made for the Maumaukai ridges, whence a small force which opposed his passage was obliged to retreat. It was stated by Te Kooti afterwards that, had the Government suffered him and his to depart it peace to their homes, nothing would have happened, and all would have been well; that he came with no warlike intentions, but merely to regain his liberty, of which he had been unjustly robbed. The Government, however, were of opinion that Te Kooti was dangerous, especially as most, if not all of his men were Hau Haus, and they were at the time engaged in a guerilla warfare with Titokowaru, a Hau Hau chief. Colonel Whitmore therefore tracked the fugitive through the ridges, where the heavy bush impeded progress, and a path had to be cut with great difficulty, and at last came up with him at Puketapu, where an indecisive engagement was fought. Te Kooti was a thorough tactician, as his marvellous career showed afterwards; and this was the first occasion the English had to notice his power. Colonel Whitmore gave up the pursuit, and in a month Te Kooti was a hundred miles inland among the fastnesses of an unknown country. For a short time nothing more was heard of the rebel, and the Government had its hands more than full with Titokowaru; but on Nov. 10th Te Kooti issued from his mountain retreat and came down upon the settlement of Poverty Bay, massacring man, woman, and child. In all thirty-two whites perished, and the tales of the massacre sent a thrill of horror through the colony and gave rise to a wild cry for vengeance. Immediately a body of volunteers was assembled, and was joined by the friendly Ngatiporous and Ngatikahungunus; the former, who formed the largest number of the avengers (for Maoris had perished in even greater proportion than whites), were headed by the famous Bopata (now Major Bopata), the bitterest foe the chief Hau Haus ever had and a staunch friend to the colonists. Bopata forced the Hau Haus to evacuate the Makaretu pa which they were occupying, and they took refuge in Ngatapa, an unassailable natural fortress surrounded by precipices. Here Ropata's men in. alarm deserted him, and the Ngatikahungunus took umbrage and went home. Ropata, however, and a Mr. Reece with sixteen men gallantly scaled the precipices and effected a lodgment under the pa. Forced to retire, Ropata retreated to his tribe for new troops, and, joining Whitmore's forces, marched once more upon the citadel. Under Ropata's guidance the pa was stormed, and taken amid terrible slaughter; but Te Kooti, with the bulk of his men, escaped westward. He soon reappeared, and from time to time swooped down upon friendly pas, killing all who offered any resistance. At this time he was in the wild recesses of the Uriwera mountains; and he seems to have been stimulated by his security and successes to assume considerable state and pose as a conqueror. Ropata was ever on his trail; and Te Kooti was careful never to come into collision with the dreaded Ngatiporou, but contented himself with occasional raids. The object of the Government was to pen him up in the eastern corner of the island, where he was isolated in great measure or surrounded by tribes friendly to the whites; at all costs they wished to keep him from passing westward into the Waikato country, where he might stir up the King natives to a renewal of the lately abandoned war and be himself safe from pursuit. However, by a series of successful strategies, he succeeded in eluding the combined forces and got through into the King country. Here, however, he was disappointed; Tawhiao, the King, refused to receive him, and the great chiefs gave him scant countenance. Even the famous fighting chief Rewi abandoned him, and he left the King country to enter once more on his cateran career in the mountains, in the course of which he received occasional checks from friendly natives and Europeans, but invariably managed to elude capture. After some time of quiescence he suddenly made his appearance in the Waikato near the settlement of Cambridge, where he entered into negotiations with Mr. Firth to secure peace and pardon. But Topia and the terrible Rangihiwinui were at his heels; and the Government, confident of his capture, rejected his overtures. Rangihiwinui and Colonel McDonell, with five hundred and twenty Wanganuis and Arawas and a hundred Europeans, came up with him north of Lake Taupo, in the heart of the island. His camp was captured; but, as ever, he escaped mysteriously, to be found again elsewhere and once again to vanish out of the ken of all men. His object now was to reach the Uriwera country, for the Uriweras were friendly to him, and in their wild mountains he might defy his foes as he had defied them so often before. But the Arawas sturdily refused to let him pass through their country; and he made a bold descent upon the coast of the Bay of Plenty, where the Tauranga settlers rose in desperate terror to defend their homes. But, leaving Tauranga untouched, Te Kooti turned southward, and fled before Rangihiwinui to Lake Rotorua, where he outmanœuvred an English officer who had been left to guard the passes, and broke eastward through the dense bush towards Uriwera. Tired and dispirited by the fruitless chase which had now lasted for eighteen months, the pursuers held a consultation, and resolved to organise a fresh expedition, of which the Maoris Ropata and Rangihiwinui should bear the main brunt. A price of £5,000 was put on Te Kooti's head, and the Ngatiporous rose in arms under the fierce Ropata, combining with the Wanganuis and Ngatikahungunus to crush the bold rebel in his lair. With a generalship which did him credit, Rangihiwinui penetrated the Uriwera country and made a treaty with the Uriweras, by whom Te Kooti found himself unsupported. Yet he was not idle, but continued to make his occasional raids, even when his following was reduced to two-score poorly fed Maoris, who lived no one knew how. His career was now practically closed, yet he could not be taken; and the hunt dragged on year by year, until finally by a last effort this brilliant savage burst away from the relentless troops of Ropata, and passed safely into the King country, where Rewi had in time past stipulated for a sort of city of refuge. Here this remarkable man lived quietly until men lost sense of the heat of the past fray, and he received a pardon from the New Zealand Government; and here he continued to remain till 1884, when he announced his intention of going down to the east coast, in the direction of Poverty Bay. An outcry was the immediate result, and Ropata especially urged upon the Government the necessity of preventing Te Kooti from carrying out his design. The settlers whose fathers and sons, wives and daughters, had perished fifteen years before, vowed that Te Kooti should die if he set foot on Hawke's Bay soil. The Government intervened, and Te Kooti abandoned his scheme, to which, however, he recurred in 1889, when he was placed under temporary arrest.