Hōne Heke cuts down the British flagstaff - again

Initially supportive of the Treaty of Waitangi, Hōne Heke became increasingly disenchanted with the effects of European colonisation. He expressed his dissatisfaction through repeated assaults on the symbol of British power. This was his third attack on the flagstaff on the hill above Kororāreka (Russell).

Hōne Heke chopping down the British flag at Kororāreka is an enduring image in New Zealand history. Traditional Pākehā interpretations portrayed him as a ‘rebel’ who was finally subdued by ‘good Governor [George] Grey’. This view failed to acknowledge the complexities of the conflict and the unresolved issue of Māori authority in the years after 1840, when Heke had been the first Māori to sign the Treaty of Waitangi.

The first assault on the flagstaff was made in July 1844 by Te Haratua, Heke’s right-hand man. The British re-erected the flagstaff, but it was felled again on 10 and 19 January 1845. A fourth attack on the flagstaff on 11 March coincided with the outbreak of war in the north.

Sometimes referred to as ‘Hōne Heke’s rebellion’ or the ‘Flagstaff War’, this was no simple matter of Māori versus British. It was a three-sided war involving two opposing factions of the Ngāpuhi confederation. Hōne Heke and Kawiti fought against both the Crown and other Ngāpuhi led by Tāmati Wāka Nene. The fighting ended in January 1846.

Image: Hōne Heke fells the flagstaff at Kororāreka