The Forgotten Wars by Ron Crosby

Author:Ron Crosby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oratia Media
Published: 2020-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

From Kaikōura Te Rauparaha continued south to the mouth of the Waipara River, where he linked up with the inland ope of Ngāti Rārua and Rangitāne. The combined taua now moved overland to approach Kaiapoi, in the hope of also taking that pā by surprise. By now, however, scouts had brought back news of the progress of the taua and the taking of Takahanga as the taua came down the coast, and the pā was strongly defended by many thousands of Kāi Tahu behind its massive palisading. Moreover, messengers had been sent to request urgent assistance from their relatives in Murihiku (Southland), who were more heavily armed with muskets. Taiaroa and about a hundred of his men from Ōtākou (on the Otago peninsula) had been visiting Akaroa when word reached them that the taua was approaching Kaiapoi, and they soon made a night entry into the pā from the Rakahuri River.

As the long siege began, Te Rauparaha moved his fleet of waka to the Rakahuri to dominate and cut off the pā from the sea, and his men also began the laborious process of digging a series of zig-zag sap trenches up to the palisading. At one point Taiaroa and his men attempted to burn Te Rauparaha’s waka during the night but they were frustrated by heavy rain. After months of hard work the saps reached almost to the palisading and Ngāti Toa started heaping up huge piles of cut mānuka in preparation for burning the palisading down. At night courageous Kāi Tahu such as Hakopa Te Ata o Tu would enter the saps, attack any Ngāti Toa who were in them, and try to drag away the growing bundles of material. But it was a hopeless task, and after some three months of hard work massive piles had accumulated, reaching well up the sides of the palisading.

While this sapping work was going on, Te Rauparaha received a major reinforcement when Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Tama arrived from the west coast with their men. Ngāti Toa and their allies were now only awaiting a strong southerly wind to light the piles of mānuka and launch their final attack.

As the outcome was becoming very clear, Te Pehi Kupe’s son Te Hiko called out to Taiaroa that he and his Ōtākou men should withdraw as no utu was sought against them. Taiaroa could see the inevitability of what was about to happen, and he tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Kāi Tūāhuriri hapū defenders of the pā to abandon it and flee at night. When they refused, he decided to take the opportunity to depart in the night with his Ōtākou men.

Soon after this, when a very strong northwesterly wind was blowing, the Kāi Tahu rangatira Pureko took the desperate gamble of lighting the huge piles of wood by shoving burning brands through the gaps in the palisading. For a time the tactic seemed to be working, and huge flames and clouds of smoke streamed away from the palisading as the mānuka piles in the saps burned fiercely.

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