Tītokowaru's war begins

Three settlers were killed near Ketemarae, north of Hāwera, by Ngā Ruahine warriors acting on the orders of the spiritual leader Tītokowaru. This signalled a change of strategy in the Māori response to land confiscation.

Tītokowaru grew up in the shadow of the Musket Wars. He received formal training as a tohunga (Māori spiritual expert) before converting to Christianity in the early 1840s. Though he became a Wesleyan lay preacher, his opposition to land-selling led him to support the King Movement (Kīngitanga). He lost an eye in the Pai Mārire attack on Sentry Hill in April 1864.

In 1867 Tītokowaru began to campaign for peace, holding a series of large hui. He renounced his connection with the Kīngitanga and called for peaceful resistance to Pākehā encroachment. His hopes for reconciliation were dashed by the government’s ‘creeping confiscation’ of Taranaki land. By 1868 Ngā Ruahine faced a stark choice: war or starvation. Tītokowaru began a campaign of plunder without bloodshed. Government forces responded by seizing stolen goods and taking prisoners. When Tītokowaru refused to return an escaped prisoner, war broke out in earnest.

Image: Drawing of Riwha Tītokowaru