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St Paul's Church memorials, Auckland

For some years Saint Paul’s Anglican Church in Symonds Street boasted an unusual memorial outside the church: a First World War memorial tram shelter. This was demolished in 1971, but there remain a number of other memorials inside the church: a Field Ambulance memorial plaque, a parish roll of honour, several New Zealand Wars memorial plaques, and a memorial to victims of the wreck of the HMS Wairarapa in 1894.

First World War memorial tram shelter

After the First World War, the St Paul’s congregation decided to build a tram shelter outside the church in memory of the men of the parish who had died on active service. Bishop W.A. Averill laid the foundation stone on 20 July 1919. Acting Minister of Defence Gordon Coates unveiled the completed building on 28 March 1920.

The architect D.B. Patterson had designed the shelter in a compatible style with the church behind it. It was solidly constructed of Rangitoto and Melbourne bluestone, with dressings of Oamaru stone. The words ‘Remembering these dead, let the living be humble’ were carved into the Tudor arch surmounting the entrance. To the left of the entrance was a tablet inscribed with the names of the First World War campaigns; to the right a tablet with a memorial inscription to the fallen. Inside was an Oamaru stone frieze inscribed with the names of 26 battles and a series of polished stone tablets inscribed with the names of 50 fallen (nine more names were added after the unveiling).

Four stained glass windows were later installed in the windows on the back wall.

When trams were replaced by buses in 1956, the building continued for a while in use as a bus shelter. However, after the bus stop was moved, it became a haunt for tramps and target for vandals. The parish demolished the building in December 1971. It is not known what happened to the stained glass windows and the stone tablets. The names of the fallen, at least, were preserved, since there is a roll of honour in the church’s Requiem Chapel. This polished wooden tablet lists in alphabetical order a total of 72 men connected with the church who died in the two world wars.

Field Ambulance memorial plaque

The tram shelter was not St Paul’s only First World War memorial: on 8 May 1921 Lady Jellicoe, wife of the Governor-General, unveiled a brass tablet inside the church in memory of officers and men of No. 3 Rifle Brigade Field Ambulance who fell during the war. This is headed: ‘Erected by No. 3 / (Rifle Brigade) / Field Ambulance / In memory of the / officers & men of the / unit who fell in France / in the Great War’ The names of nine officers are listed in order of rank; the place and date of death are also given. Two NCOs and 24 men are listed by name only. For some years the unit’s flag was displayed above the tablet.

New Zealand Wars memorial plaques

The Requiem Chapel also houses several brass New Zealand Wars memorial plaques. These are relics of the first St Paul’s church, which stood in Emily Place between 1841 and 1885, and which in its early years served as the city’s proto-cathedral and its garrison church. The plaques were transferred to the new St Paul’s when it was opened on the present site in 1895.

One of the tablets was erected in memory of Captain Thomas George Strange, who had been killed at Waitara in 1861. It reads: “To the memory / of / Thomas George Strange / Captain in Her Majesty’s / 65^th Regiment. / Born A.D. 1827. / Killed in action at Waitara, / in the / northern island of New Zealand. / February the 10^th 1861. / ‘The trumpet shall sound and the / dead shall be raised incorruptible / and we shall be changed.’ / This tablet was erected by his / sorrowing widow.”

Another was funded by members of the 1st Waikato Regiment to honour fellow soldiers who had been killed at the Battle of Titi Hill, Mauku, on 23 October 1863: “Sacred / to the / memory / of / Lieutenants Thomas Norman / and William Percival / & of / Corporal Michael Power & / Privates / William Beswick, George Oborne / Farqr. McGilvray and Wm. Williamson / of the 1st Waikato Regt. / who fell in action on the 23^rd October 1863 at Mauku / This tablet is erected by the / Officers Non Commisnd [sic] Officers & Privates / of the / Regiment.”

Yet another was erected in memory of Captain John Shaw Phelps: “To the memory of / John Shaw Phelps / Captain in H.M. 14^th Regiment of Foot, / only son of J.C. Phelps Esqr. / of Gostwyck, Paterson River, N.S.W. / Born in Sydney 21^st May, 1829. / Died, 25^th Nov. 1863. / At the Queen’s Redoubt, New Zealand. / From wounds received while gallantly / leading his company against the hostile / Maoris at Rangariri [sic] on the 20^th Nov. / An affectionate son, a loving brother, / and a true friend.”

Finally, there is a substantial brass tablet that evidently was once accompanied by memorial windows, and honours soldiers and sailors who were buried in the Symonds Street cemetery. It is inscribed as follows: “H.M.D.G. / These windows were re-erected in honoured memory of / [followed by names in five columns] [first column] Commodore Wm. F. Burnett C.B. / H.M.S. Orpheus / Lieutenant Wm. E. Mitchell / H.M.S. Esk / Assistant Surgeon / Geo. R. Pickthorn M.B. / H.M.S. Challenger / Midshipman Thomas A. Watkins / H.M.S. Curacoa / [second column] Colonel Chas. W. Austen / 2^nd Battn. 16^th Reg. / Colonel Marmaduke G. Nixon / Col. [?] Def. Force & Royal Caly. Vols. / Lieut Col John F. Kempt / 1^st Battn. 12^th Reg. / Major Henry Cole / 1^st Battn. 12^th Reg / [third column] Major E. Withers 65^th Reg. / Major James Paul / 65^th Reg. / Major Edward Cantrobus / 2^nd Waikato Militia / Capt. and St Major James T. Ring / 18^th Royal Irish / [fourth column] Capt. John S. Phelps / 14^th Foot / Capt. Henry Mercer / Royal Arty. / Capt. Richard Swift / 65^th Reg. / Lieut. Coll McLeod / 43^rd L.I. / [fifth column] Lieut. Wm. L. Murphy 1^st Battn. 12^th Reg. / Lieut. G.G.S. Menteath 70^th Reg. / Lieut. J.H. Wood Junr. / 2^nd Waikato Militia / Ensign Andrew Ducrow 40^th Reg. / Sergt. J.J. Hanson / Commt Staff Co. / Captain Geo. J. Dormer / 14^th Reg. / And other officers and men who gave their lives in service of the Empire, especially during the Maori Wars. / And whose bodies lie in the Symonds St. Cemetery, Auckland. / R.I.P.”

SS Wairarapa memorial tablet

St Paul’s is also the home of an elaborately carved marble tablet commemorating victims of the wreck of the SS Wairarapa. A total of 121 passengers and crew or more died after the ship struck the cliffs at Miners Head on Great Barrier Island on 29th October 1894. The tablet in St Pauls was erected by the Steward Department of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand in honour of the ten men, women and boys of the department who lost their lives: William H. Judd, Charlotte McDonald, Annie McQuaid, Lizzie Grindrod, Harry Vear, Alexander McLean, Richard Croucher, Hugh Monaghan, Alfred Holmes and John McDonald.

Sources: ‘St Paul’s Memorial Shelter’, NZ Herald, 19/7/1919, p. 11; ‘St Paul’s Tram Shelter’, NZ Herald, 26/3/1920, p. 4; ‘The Soldiers’ Part: Memorial to Fallen’, NZ Herald, 29/3/1920, p. 6; ‘War Ambulance Work: Memorial at St Paul’s’, NZ Herald, 9/5/1921, p. 6; ‘Modern Chivalry’, Auckland Star, 9/5/1921, p. 8; Jackie Eaglen, A Brief History of St Paul’s Symonds Street, Auckland, 1991, pp. 14, 17; ‘Old Memorial Stone Shelter To Be Demolished’, NZ Herald, 30/12/1971, p. 1.

Credit:

Historical images: ‘Wayside shelter erected’, Auckland Weekly News, 1 April 1920, p. 35 (Auckland Libraries Sir George Grey Special Collections 1-W1825); Henry Winkelmann, Memorial tram shelter outside St Paul’s, 11 April 1922 (Auckland Libraries Sir George Grey Special Collections 1-W1825)
Other images and information: Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2014

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Waikaraka Cemetery veterans’ memorial

In 1883 the NZ Government granted Onehunga Borough an area of 47 acres on the edge of the Manukau Harbour for use as a recreation ground, rifle range and public cemetery. This area became known as Waikaraka Park. In July 1890 a cemetery was opened—somewhat controversially—on the southern portion of the reserve.

Waikaraka Cemetery became the customary burial place for late residents of the Ranfurly Veterans’ Home in nearby Three Kings. The Ranfurly Home had been opened in 1903 as a South African War memorial and as a home for old soldiers who had seen active service in the British army or navy or (in some cases) the colonial forces.

Fundraising to restore the graves in the veterans’ portion of the cemetery, and to erect a suitable memorial to those buried there, began in 1909. In 1913 Onehunga Borough Council gave permission for work to proceed. There were some delays because of shortage of funds, but on 26 April 1917 Governor the Earl of Liverpool finally unveiled a substantial War Veterans’ Memorial on the site.

The monument, designed by Auckland architect Norman Wade, and erected by McNab and Mason, consisted of a semi-circular reinforced concrete wall, covered by a white granite plaster finish, and surmounted by an obelisk in the centre, a statue of a soldier at one end and a statue of a sailor at the other. A marble tablet inset below the obelisk explained the purpose of the memorial (“To commemorate the names of the veterans who fought in defence of the Empire and died at the Auckland Veterans’ Home”).

The name, unit, age and date of death of each of the 52 veterans thus far buried in the cemetery were inscribed on small marble tablets mounted on the wall. Their individual plots were also restored and marked with plain marble slabs.

Many other names have been added to the memorial since. The early tablets mostly acknowledged service in various Imperial regiments, the Royal Artillery, the Royal Navy or the ‘N.Z. Forces’ (i.e. service in imperial campaigns overseas and/or the New Zealand Wars). Acknowledgements to service in the ‘Maori Wars’ [sic], Egypt, South African War, Great War and in the various branches of service, including the Samoan Relief Force and the Merchant Marine, were added in later years.

At the time of the unveiling, high tide on the Manukau reached almost to the foot of the memorial. Some land has been reclaimed since, and a servicemen’s lawn cemetery has been developed behind the memorial.

Sources: Onehunga Cemetery Act, 1898; ‘The Veterans Home’, NZ Herald, 8/4/1909, p. 6; ‘Veterans’ Burial Plot’, Auckland Star, 6/2/1917, p. 6; ‘Heroes of the Past … Waikaraka Memorial’, Auckland Star, 27/4/1917, p. 4; ‘Memorial to Veterans’, NZ Herald, 27/4/1917, p. 16; ‘Memorial to New Zealand Veterans’, Auckland Weekly News, 3/5/1917, p. 35; Janice Mogford, The Onehunga Heritage, rev. ed. Onehunga, 1989, pp. 42-3, 49, 55, 61; Chris Maclean and Jock Phillips, The Sorrow and the Pride: New Zealand War Memorials, Wellington, 1990, pp. 28, 30, 33.

Credit:

Images: James Patrick Ringer and Bruce Ringer, 2014; information: Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2014.

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Tītī Hill NZ wars memorial

On 23 October 1965 a concrete memorial cairn commemorating the battle of Tītīi Hill was unveiled alongside the Waiuku to Pukekohe road, near Mauku. The event was organised by members of the Franklin Historical Society.

The plaque on the cairn was worded as follows (in capitals): 'Titi. / Eight Europeans and / an estimated sixteen / Maori warriors / died fighting here / in the Waikato War / 23 October 1863'. Papapokaia Kaihau, representing Tainui, and Margaret Crisp, a descendant of one of the participants in the battle on the Government side, undertook the unveiling.

Sources: 'Memorial Cairn at Titi: Ceremony on Saturday Recalled Battle in 1863', Franklin Times, 27/10/1965, p. 1; 'Laying of Wreath at Titi' [photograph], Franklin Times, 8/11/1965, p. 1; Nigel Prickett, Landscapes of Conflict: A Field Guide to the New Zealand Wars, Auckland, 2002, pp. xvii, 74.

Drury NZ Wars soldiers memorial

On 6 June 2012 a memorial headstone to nine soldiers who had died of ‘non-battlefield causes’ (accident or disease) between 1862 and 1864 was unveiled in the churchyard of St John’s Anglican Church, Drury. Six of the soldiers, privates in the 2nd Battalion 18th Royal Irish Regiment, had been buried in the churchyard between September and November 1863; it is believed the three others may have also been buried there between 1862 and 1864.

The memorial stone was placed beside a 1st Waikato Regiment New Zealand Wars memorial, erected in 1867 to honour officers and men of the militia and volunteers who had died in action at the Battle of Titi Hill on 23 October 1863. Lieutenant J.S. Perceval had disobeyed orders by ambushing a large Kingite raiding party. By the time his small force was extricated from the predicament it soon found itself in, two officers and six men had been killed.

Sources

‘Memory of NZ Wars soldiers lives on’, Franklin County News, 19 June 2012, p. 2
‘Memorial pays tribute to soldiers’, Manukau Courier, 19 June 2013, p. 7

Credit:

Images and information: Bruce Ringer, Auckland City Libraries, 2013

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Howick NZ Wars memorial

On 1 November 1930 a substantial wooden lychgate was dedicated at the Selwyn Road entrance to All Saints Anglican Church, Howick. This was built to serve as a memorial to men of the imperial and colonial forces who had served during the New Zealand Wars between 1845 and 1865. According to a newspaper report, it was also intended as a memorial to ‘friendly Maori’.

The bronze tablet installed on the eastern wall listed the names of 68 ex-soldiers and members of the militia who had been buried in the churchyard since 1865.

Sources

‘Howick Memorial’, Auckland Star, 31 January 1930, p. 3
‘Maori War Veterans: Memorial at Howick’, NZ Herald, 3 November 1930, pp. 6, 11
Robert Hattaway and Margaret Willis, When All the Saints: Celebrating 150 Years of All Saints’ Church, Howick, Howick, 1997, pp. 83-4
Alan La Roche, Grey’s Folly, Howick, 2011, pp. 196-7

Credit:

Images and information: Bruce Ringer, Auckland City Libraries, 2013

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Keepa Te Rangihiwinui memorial

The memorial to Taitoko Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (Major Kemp) stands in Moutoa Gardens (Pākaitore), Whanganui. Nearby are the Moutoa monument and the Whanganui Māori war memorial.

Te Keepa was a rangatira of the Whanganui iwi Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi and of Muaūpoko from the Horowhenua district. By the early 1860s he was regarded as one of the leading pro-government Māori in Whanganui, and he took part in the fighting at Moutoa Island on the Whanganui River in 1864. From 1865 he was a leader of Māori troops who fought first against Pai Mārire followers, and then against forces led by Tītokowaru and Te Kooti.

After the wars Te Keepa continued to work for the government, but his focus increasingly turned to defending his own people’s interests in Whanganui and Horowhenua. In 1880 he had four poles set up to mark out a large area in the Whanganui district which was declared off limits to land purchasers. In the 1890s he was involved with the Kotahitanga movement, which advocated greater Māori autonomy and the retention of Māori land. He died in April 1898.

The idea of a memorial to Te Keepa was first proposed at a meeting of Whanganui Māori with government representatives in May 1898, but did not proceed until it was taken up in 1911 by Te Keepa’s sister, Rora Hakaraia. The resulting memorial, erected in September 1912, includes a marble statue and four panels of text carved into polished granite. The statue was based on a Gottfried Lindauer portrait of Te Keepa as a relatively young man in his military uniform. One of the panels of text is in Māori, and shows his whakapapa (genealogy). The inclusion of whakapapa in a memorial in a public place is unusual, probably unique.

On the lower half of the memorial are bronze relief panels depicting battles in which Te Keepa fought, and detailed descriptions of those battles. Two of the battles are from fighting in Taranaki: Pungarehu (1866) and Moturoa (1868). The other two are from the pursuit of Te Kooti: Te Pōrere (1869) and Maraetahi (1870).

The memorial was made by Frank Harris & Co., monumental masons, and initial work on the statue and bronze relief panels was done by Auckland sculptor W.H. Feldon. When Rora Hakaraia saw the memorial she objected to it, saying the statue did not look like Te Keepa. In 1913, Frank Harris & Co. sued her because she had not completed payment for the memorial, and she counter-claimed for the money she had already paid, saying the work on the memorial was poorly done. The case went as far as the Court of Appeal, which found against Frank Harris & Co. Records of the court case are a rich source of information about the memorial.

Inscription

Front face

In conjunction with his sister / Hihiko-i-Terangi / a chieftainess of several tribes / this monument is raised / by a grateful country / in affectionate remembrance / of / Major Kemp, / high-born Maori chief, / brave soldier & staunch ally of the / N.Z. Government during the troublous / times of the Maori rebellion against / British authority 1865–1870, who after / gallantly serving his Queen & country / in the field in the interests of law and / order, died covered with military / honour, at Putiki April 15^th 1898, / aged 74 years. / “Well done good & faithful servant, / enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” / Matt.25.21.

Left face

He panui whakaatu tenei naaku na Rora Hihipa ki te Rangi ki nga iwi e rua / Maori me te Pakeha me era atu iwi o te Ao. I mate tooku tungaane i te / 15 o Aperira i te tau o to tatau Ariki 1898 ki Putiki Wharanui wahi o Aotea / roa o te Tominiana o Nui Tireni. A i tapukea ano tona tinana ki Putiki / Wharanui. Ko maua ko tooku tungaane ko Meiha Keepa Te Rangihiwinui / he momo ariki he uri rangatira he uri toa, i heke iho i roto i nga whaka / papa o te iwi Maori. Koia tenei o maua whakapapa e mau ake nei.

[Whakapapa follows.]

Ko tenei tangata he tangata tuturu ia na te Kawanatanga no / toona tamarikitanga toona piripono, ki te Karauna tae noa ki / toona matenga. Ko ona turanga i te aroaro o te Karauna he / pirihimana he tangata pikau i te meera o Whanganui ki Poneke he / apiha hoia he kapene he meiha he ateha kooti hara ka mutu oona / turanga. He tangata kaha rangimarie hohourongo. / Heoi naku na / Rora Hihipa ki te Rangi.

[Note: spelling as in the original, but word division and punctuation have been modified.]

Right and reverse faces

The remaining faces feature extended quotations from T.W. Gudgeon, The defenders of New Zealand (1887), including tributes to Te Keepa from Colonel George Whitmore and Sir Walter Buller.

Further information

‘Meeting of the Premier and the Hon. James Carroll with the Chiefs and others of the Wanganui Tribe, held on the 14^th May, 1898, at Putiki, Wanganui’
‘Major Kemp Memorial. The Subject of Litigation’, Wanganui Chronicle, 29 May 1913
‘Major Kemp Memorial. Jury to Visit Wanganui’, Wanganui Chronicle, 29 May 1913
‘The Kemp Memorial. Supreme Court Case Continued’, Wanganui Chronicle, 30 May 1913
‘The Kemp Memorial. Supreme Court Case Continued’, Wanganui Chronicle, 31 May 1913
‘A Question of Art. Major Kemp’s Statue’, Evening Post, 6 May 1914
‘The Kemp Statue. More Criticism’, Evening Post, 7 May 1914
Harris v Hakaraia (1914) 33 New Zealand Law Reports 1074 (CA)
Anthony Dreaver, ‘Te Rangihiwinui, Te Keepa’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 30 October 2012
David Young, Woven by Water: Histories from the Whanganui River, Huia, Wellington, 1998, ch. 6

Credit:

Images: Andy Palmer, 2013

Text: Ewan Morris, 2013

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Moturoa NZ Wars memorial

This memorial to the battle of Moturoa stands a short distance south of the pā site. It was unveiled on 7 November 1993, the 125th anniversary of the battle.

The memorial records the names of 22 colonial troops and one allied Māori who were killed during the attack on 7 November 1868, or died later of their wounds. A similar number were wounded in the battle. Only one of their opponents, who were led by the renowned Ngāti Ruanui leader Riwha Tītokowaru, is known to have been killed. Though Inspector John Roberts, Henare Kepa Te Ahururu and Major Keepa Te Rangihiwinui were awarded the rare New Zealand Cross for their bravery at Moturoa, there was no hiding the fact that this was a disastrous defeat for a colonial army that was struggling to meet the twin threat from Tītokowaru and Te Kooti on opposite sides of the North Island. Read more about this battle.

Credit:

Main image and first thumbnail: Steve Watters, 2003

Other images courtesy of Maggie Lister and Google Earth, 2012

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Nixon memorial, Ōtāhuhu

The Auckland suburb of Ōtāhuhu, 13 km south-east of the central city, straddles the narrow strip of land between the head of Manukau Harbour and the estuary of the Tāmaki River. Ōtāhuhu was established in 1847 as one of a ring of garrison towns protecting Auckland from attack from the south by hostile Māori.

This memorial stands on a triangular reserve at the junction of Mangere and Great South roads. It commemorates Ōtāhuhu settler and Franklin Member of the House of Representatives Colonel Marmaduke George Nixon, who commanded the Colonial Defence Force Cavalry during the Waikato War (1863–4). Nixon died on 27 May 1864 from a wound received at the battle of Rangiaowhia earlier that year.

After war broke out in Taranaki, the government accepted Nixon’s offer to raise a volunteer force. From 1860 his cavalry guarded the communication and supply lines south of Auckland. In June 1863, Nixon became commander of the newly formed Colonial Defence Force Cavalry.

Nixon’s cavalry were among the imperial and colonial forces that reached Te Awamutu at dawn on 21 February 1864. More than 1200 troops had outflanked Māori positions along the great Pāterangi defensive line in a daring night march. Under the command of Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron, they immediately pushed on to Rangiaowhia, 4 km south-west of Te Awamutu.

The large unfortified Māori settlement of Rangiaowhia was a vital agricultural centre supplying food to Kingite warriors. With most of the Māori force still holding the Pāterangi line, the settlement was occupied by some 100 Ngāti Apakura and Ngāti Hinetū men, and many women and children. Although the British attack was unexpected, a small garrison of aged warriors put up a fierce defence.

Nixon’s men galloped ahead of the main attacking British force. When they reached Rangiaowhia, shooting broke out. The cavalrymen dismounted to concentrate their fire on a whare (house) in which the defenders had gathered.

Nixon, leading an assault on the building, was shot at the entrance and received a severe chest wound. Several troops and 10 Māori were killed, most of the latter inside the whare, which caught fire during the fighting. Cameron then withdrew his forces to Te Awamutu.

When Nixon’s chest wound proved fatal three months later, there was widespread mourning. Though the government initially demurred, on 30 October 1865 the New Zealand legislature passed an act granting a pension of £150 per annum (equivalent to $16,000 in 2012) to his surviving sisters, Catherine Elizabeth Nixon and Anna Susanna Nixon.

By the time Nixon was buried in Auckland’s Grafton Cemetery, the erection of a memorial to him was already being suggested, although some felt that money raised by public subscription would be better applied to educational scholarships. Two sites in central Auckland proved unsuitable for the elaborate design chosen, a scale model of Scotland's Wallace Monument. In May 1865 the Nixon Memorial Committee accepted an offer of land at the Triangle, Ōtāhuhu, and decided on a simpler obelisk. In August, the lowest tender for its construction was accepted, a decision that backfired when Ōamaru stone had to be replaced by Hobart stone.

Though the monument was ‘almost completed’ by August 1866, debts resulting from the use of more expensive stone and the failure of some ‘gentlemen’ to fulfil their promises remained ‘a slur on the district’ in April 1868. The committee persuaded the new Governor, George Bowen, to inaugurate the monument on 13 May. The debt was paid off from the proceeds of a concert and ball held that evening in the local hall under His Excellency’s patronage. On Anzac Day 1968, Nixon’s remains were transferred to the base of the memorial and a headstone was erected.

The Nixon memorial was the second of only three memorials to be erected in New Zealand during the New Zealand Wars (1845–72). The others were the Moutoa memorial in Whanganui, and the memorial to the 57th Regiment at Te Hēnui Cemetery in New Plymouth.

In the late 1920s, the reserve was expanded and beautified and a second war memorial was erected on it. Dedicated to Soldiers of The Great War, Ōtāhuhu’s First World War memorial was unveiled by Governor-General Sir Charles Fergusson on 25 April 1928. The new memorial features an impressive bronze figure of a New Zealand Mounted Rifleman which is sometimes mistaken for Nixon. There is scope for confusion, as the Great War memorial includes a plaque dedicated to the New Zealand Wars colonel.

The Nixon memorial also commemorates three Colonial Defence Force corporals who fell at Rangiaowhia: Edward McHale, Horatio Alexander, and Joseph Thomas Little.

Alexander’s name is also recorded on the New Zealand Wars memorial in the cemetery of old St John’s Church, Te Awamutu. However, a similar memorial in Ngāruawāhia Public Cemetery records that ‘Corporal Thomas Hill’ died at Rangiaowhia.

According to the ‘Nominal Return of Officers and Men of the Colonial Forces who have been Killed in Action or who have Died of Wounds prior to the 11th July, 1868’, no man with this surname died at Rangiaowhia. However, Corporal Thomas Little received a ‘severe’ – eventually fatal – gunshot wound to the thigh at ‘Rangiawhia’. It is likely that the surname ‘Hill’ on the Ngāruawāhia memorial resulted from a misreading of ‘Little’.

When the monument was repaired in 1992, the original marble plaques were replaced by black ones. The images below were taken some years earlier.

Additional images

Inscription

Headstone, beneath north plaque

Sacred / to / the memory of /Colonel M. G. Nixon. / Who died of wounds / received in the service of his / Country / May 27 1864. / originally interred in Symonds street / Cemetery / remains transferred to this site / 25th April 1968

North plaque

This monument is erected by public subscription / to the memory / of / Marmaduke George Nixon, M.H.R. / Colonel commanding the Colonial Defence Force / and / Royal Cavalry Volunteers, / who fell mortally wounded in action / at Rangiawhia 21. February 1864, / and died at Mangere on the 27 of May 1864.

West plaque

In memory of the men of the / Colonial Defence Force / who fell at Rangiawhia / on the 21 February 1864. / Namely / Corporal Edward McHale / Corporal Horatio Alexander / Corporal Joseph Thomas Little

East plaque

In memory of the brave men / who served their Queen & Country / in the Maori War. / Waikato Campaign 1864.

Further information

‘The Nixon Monument Movement. Public Meeting’, Daily Southern Cross, 13 June 1864
Reports of the Nixon memorial inauguration ceremony, Daily Southern Cross, 14 May 1868
‘Further Papers Relative to the Issue of the New Zealand War Medal’, Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1871, Session I, G-1A
Laurie Barber, ‘Nixon, Marmaduke George - Biography’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1 September 2010
James Cowan, ‘The Invasion of Rangiaowhia’, in The New Zealand Wars: a history of the Maori campaigns and the pioneering period: volume I: 1845–1864, R.E. Owen, Wellington, 1955, pp. 351–64
Chris Maclean and Jock Phillips, The sorrow and the pride: New Zealand war memorials, GP Books, Wellington, 1990, pp. 21–2
Mending a memorial, 1992 (Auckland Council Libraries)
The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Association, ‘The Otahuhu Soldiers’ Memorial’
Nigel Prickett, ‘The Waikato War, 1863–64’, in Landscapes of conflict: a field guide to the New Zealand Wars, Random House, Auckland, 2002, pp. 69–86
Neville Ritchie, ‘The Waikato War of 1863–64: a guide to the main events and sites’, Department of Conservation, 2001

Credit:

Images
Top: Google Maps, 2012; Others: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, c. 1986

Text: Karen Cameron with David Green, 2011/12

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Te Ranga NZ Wars memorial

The New Zealand Wars battle site of Te Ranga is located in a paddock on Pyes Pa Road (SH36) near the corner of Joyce Road, about 10 km south of the centre of the Bay of Plenty city of Tauranga. Here, on 21 June 1864, British forces decisively defeated local Māori.

The heavy British defeat at Pukehinahina (Gate Pā) on 29 April 1864 shocked New Zealand’s European settler community, and its military and political establishment. Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron returned to Auckland, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Greer in command of a large British garrison on the Te Papa peninsula. Greer was ordered to attack immediately should Māori forces begin constructing another pā in the district.

On the morning of 21 June, Greer left Camp Te Papa (now the Tauranga CBD) with a force of 600 men. Five kilometres inland from Gate Pā, the British force discovered 500 to 600 Maori working on defensive earthworks at Te Ranga. Led by Rāwiri Puhirake, they comprised Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Ranginui, supported by Ngāti Porou from the east coast and Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Rangiwewehi from Rotorua. Early that afternoon, following the arrival of reinforcements, Greer ordered men from the 68th and 43rd regiments and 1st Waikato Militia to advance.

The battle that followed at has been described as among the bloodiest of the New Zealand campaigns. In desperate hand-to-hand fighting, British troops exacted terrible vengeance for Gate Pā. The Māori garrison was unable to hold the incomplete defences and, when Puhirake himself was killed, those able to do so retreated.

British casualties were nine dead and 39 wounded. More than 100 of the defenders – including Puhirake – were buried in the trenches at Te Ranga.

Twenty-seven severely wounded Māori were taken to hospital at Te Papa camp. Fourteen did not long survive the battle and were buried at Mission Cemetery. Among the mortally wounded was Te Tera of Ngāi Te Rangi, the only one to be identified in official reports.

The one-sided battle at Te Ranga largely crushed resistance in the vicinity of Tauranga Harbour. Some Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Ranginui surrendered arms to the British at Camp Te Papa in ceremonies on 21 and 25 July. Much of their land was subsequently confiscated.

This Historic Places Trust marker was erected at Te Ranga in 1964, 100 years after the battle.

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Transcript

Here on 21 June 1864 after their / heroic stand at Gate Pa in April / Maori forces were overcome in / the decisive battle of Te Ranga

Further information

‘Tauranga. The Victory of the Rebels. Further Particulars. (From our own Correspondent.)’, Daily Southern Cross, 29 June 1864
‘The Engagement at Tauranga’, Taranaki Herald, 2 July 1864
James Belich, ‘The Tauranga Campaign’, in The New Zealand Wars and the Victorian interpretation of racial conflict, Penguin, Auckland, 1998, pp. 177–200
A.C. Bellamy, Tauranga: 1882–1982, Publicity Printing Ltd, Tauranga, 1982
Ernest E. Bush, ‘These Things We Must Not Forget’, Te Ao Hou, no. 76 (June 1975), pp. 38–40
James Cowan, ‘Gate Pa and Te Ranga’, in The New Zealand Wars: a history of the Maori campaigns and the pioneering period: volume I: 1845–1864, R.E. Owen, Wellington, 1955, pp. 421–40
Gilbert Mair, The Story of Gate Pa, April 29th, 1864, Bay of Plenty Times, Tauranga, 1937
Nigel Prickett, ‘The Tauranga Campaign, 1864’, in Landscapes of conflict: a field guide to the New Zealand Wars, Random House, Auckland, 2002, pp. 87–95
Chris Pugsley, ‘Walking the Waikato Wars: The Battle of Te Ranga: 21 June 1864’, New Zealand Defence Quarterly, no. 20 (Autumn 1998), pp. 32–7
Jinty Rorke, ‘Puhirake, Rawiri - Biography’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1 September 2010
Tauranga City Libraries, ‘War Memorials - Tauranga’, accessed 10 June 2011
War in Tauranga (NZHistory)

Credit:

Jock Phillips, 2010

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Jean Guerren NZ Wars memorial

This memorial stands on Taneatua Road, about 5 km south of the eastern Bay of Plenty town of Whakatāne. It commemorates French miller Jean Guerren, who died defending the Te Poronu flour mill on 11 March 1869.

Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki of Rongowhakaata raided Whakatāne and Mōhaka in March and April 1869, seeking new recruits and supplies of guns and ammunition.

On 9 March he led an attack on the Ngāti Pukeko pā of Rauporoa, about 5 km south of Whakatāne. Rauporoa was defended for several days before being abandoned at the cost of four lives. At the same time, less than 1 km to the south-east, Ngāti Pukeko’s flour mill at Te Poronu was attacked by a 100-strong war party led by the Ngāti Tuwharetoa chief Wirihana Koikoi.

Ngāti Pukeko had employed Guerren – also known as ‘John the Frenchman’, ‘John the Oui Oui’ and ‘Hoani Te Wiwi’ – to erect and run Te Poronu flour mill around 1867. The mill stood on a mound above a dam on the Poronu Stream which supplied water to turn the wheel.

Machinery for the mill had been gifted to Ngāti Pukeko by the government as part of an initiative by Governor Sir George Grey. In late 1868, the Armed Constabulary constructed a small redoubt next to the mill as a means of defence. This was not garrisoned in March 1869.

At the time of Koikoi’s raid, Guerren was about 45 years old. Of ‘short and sturdy build’, he was ‘an excellent mechanic’ with a good working knowledge of flour mills. Guerren’s wife was Erihapeti (Elizabeth) Manuera (‘Peti’), the daughter of Manuera Kuku, a Ngāti Warahoe chief of the upper Rangitāiki Valley. Her sister Monika (‘Nika’) lived with the couple in a house beside the mill.

Only seven or eight people were at Te Poronu when Koikoi’s war party descended on the mill. Along with the Guerren family, they apparently included two Ngāti Pūkeko men – Tautari and Te Mauriki – and two women – Maria Te Ha, wife of Kaperiera, and Pera.

Sources provide conflicting accounts of the engagement and its aftermath. However it is known that Guerren led this small group in ‘a heroic fight against overwhelming odds’. They defended the mill for two days against an enormously superior force before being overrun.

Of the mill’s defenders, it is thought that only Te Mauriki escaped. Guerren appears to have been shot dead during the fighting, while most of the others were probably killed immediately following the mill’s fall. Peti and Nika were captured by Te Rangihiroa from Tarawera; later, apparently on Te Kooti’s orders, he killed Nika and took Peti as his wife.

It is thought that seven men from the war party were killed. They included Koikoi and another chief, Paora Taituha, whose bodies were later found in the mill dam.

After the Rauporoa siege, Te Kooti’s men looted and burned Whakatāne village at the mouth of the river.

This memorial stands about 100 m from the site of the mill. It incorporates one of the grindstones supplied by the government to replace those destroyed by Te Kooti’s men during the attack. (The second millstone lies at the base of the flagpole at Ngāti Awa’s Wairaka Marae – also known as Te Whare o Toroa – at Whakatāne.)

The Whakatane & District Historical Society claims a significant role in the creation of the Jean Guerren memorial. Its unveiling in June 1965 ‘brought to a successful conclusion a dream the Society [had] cherished for ten years’. D.C. Butler, Chairman of the Whakatane County Council, accepted the memorial on behalf of the district before formally handing it over to Society President Ken Moore for safe keeping.

Inscription

Erected to the memory / of a gallant son of France / Jean Guerren / who died March 11th 1869 / heroically defending the Te Poronu Mill / on this site, against the rebel forces / under Peka Makarini, Lieutenant of the / Maori insurgent leader, Te Kooti / Erected by Y Squadron / Legion of Frontiersmen

Further sources

James Cowan, ‘Te Kooti’s Raid on Whakatane’, in The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume II: The Hauhau Wars, 1864–72, R.E. Owen, Wellington, 1956, pp. 314–25
James Cowan, ‘The Defence of the Mill: The Story of a Gallant Frenchman’, in Hero Stories of New Zealand, Harry H. Tombs, 1935, pp. 169–73
Chris Maclean and Jock Phillips, The sorrow and the pride: New Zealand war memorials, GP Books, Wellington, 1990, p. 43
Whakatane & District Historical Society, ‘Society History’

Credit:

Image: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, c. 1986

Text: Karen Cameron, 2011

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