The Battle of Ōrākau

Following the battle at Hairini on 22 February 1864, Rewi Maniapoto moved a few kilometres south to the vicinity of the Pūniu River. In March Tūhoe and Ngāti Raukawa fighters arrived from the east to bolster the Ngāti Maniapoto force. Having missed the earlier action, they were determined to fight. Tūhoe and Ngāti Raukawa pleaded with Rewi to give them Ōrākau, near the Pūniu east of Kihikihi, ‘as a place to use our guns and ammunition. They are too heavy to carry all this way for nothing.’ Rewi did not want to fight, especially at this location. ‘Only by not fighting may I retain my lands … do not fight at Orakau’. He warned that ‘if you Tuhoe persist in your desire for battle, I alone will be the survivor’. Rewi’s pleas fell on deaf ears. Many of his supporters joined Tūhoe and Ngāti Raukawa in urging him to make a stand.

After playing for time by suggesting consultation with Wiremu Tāmihana at Maungatautari, Rewi relented. He would fight at Ōrākau.

Rewi’s men began building a redoubt-shaped pa at Ōrākau in late March 1864. The British stationed at Kihikihi soon observed this development. An armed force was sent to investigate. Within two days more than 1400 troops had arrived at Ōrākau, where the fortification was still incomplete. With the arrival of some Waikato reinforcements the number of defenders was about 300 – up to a third of them women. While it was easily fortified, the site was in a peach grove and lacked both an adequate water supply and an obvious escape route. Rewi’s fear that it could easily be surrounded was also to be confirmed.

As the British advance began, Rewi told his men to hold their fire until the troops reached the fence around the peach grove. The soldiers marched four abreast until they were ordered to charge. By the time Rewi gave the order to fire they were less than 50m from the pā. A volley from the parapet stemmed the advance. The troops fell back, reformed, and renewed their attack. When they were hit by another volley, their officers decided to surround rather than assault the position.

Steady fire prevented Māori reinforcements from reaching Ōrākau. Lieutenant-General Cameron arrived on 2 April with reinforcements that increased the British strength to more than 1400. By now almost out of food, water and ammunition, the occupants of the pā were becoming desperate.

At 3.30pm nearly all the Māori left the pā in a disciplined body. This move in broad daylight caught the British by surprise and the Māori broke through the surrounding cordon. The fugitives then split into small groups that were pursued by cavalry and Forest Rangers across 3km of open country to the Pūniu River. It was during this retreat that most of the Māori casualties occurred. Chris Pugsley estimates that at least 160 of the pā’s occupants were killed, with women bayoneted as they lay wounded.