Post by Kiwi Frontline on Nov 8, 2017 10:26:51 GMT 12
WHAT HAPPENED AT RANGIAOWHIA IN 1864?
Claims have been made that atrocities were committed by British soldiers at Rangiaowhia, most recently by historian Vincent O’Malley. John Robinson dispels these myths, based on the evidence of people who were there.
BRITISH FORCES ARRIVE IN THE AREA
Towards the end of the war of rebellion in the Waikato, in 1864, the kingite forces constructed a well-fortified pa at Paterangi.
It would have taken a considerable effort, with great loss of life on both sides, to defeat that stronghold.
So the British Army ignored it and walked past.
General Cameron outflanked the kingites’ heavy defences and the Government forces moved on to capture the food supplies of the garrison, the fields of wheat, maize and potatoes, and peach groves at Rangiaowhia.
O’MALLEY CLAIMS ATROCITIES WERE COMMITTED
In a recent account of the rebellion, The Great War for New Zealand, Waikato 1800-2000 Vincent O’Malley dwells on the subsequent controversy, with the claim that Rangiaowhia was a peaceful, undefended village. He then illustrates his narrative with a suggestive picture of Maori whares being torched by soldiers in the fictional movie Utu.
This creates the impression of a murderous attack by the British on an unarmed women and children; in his Introduction O’Malley refers to “British atrocities committed against women and children at Rangiaowhia, Orakau and elsewhere.”
O’Malley expanded the story further in an article in the Listenerwhere he described “a George Grey-inspired attack that killed up to 100 Maori men, women and children to crush a non-existent uprising”. His source of this new information of “an almost incomprehensible act of savagery” is “Maori oral histories”.
Others went further, that “the British locked over 100 Maori men, women and children in the church and burnt them to death.” This story was repeated by Dame Susan Devoy during her address at a dawn Waitangi Day ceremony at Mt Maunganui, and became widely reported.
These claims are not found in the accounts of the time.
NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE ATROCITIES STORY
When staying in the King Country in 1882, Andreas Reischek was told of their annoyance when they waited for three of four days for an expected attack only to hear of the capture of Rangiawhia (his spelling) when “a few of them had been killed”.
When he made a separate peace in 1865, Wiremu Tamihana voiced a great anger at what he thought had happened, but with no claim of a large number of dead or the burning of people trapped within a church.
Similarly there is no mention of the large death toll or of the burning of a church in the comprehensive account of those wars by James Cowan. Indeed both churches were standing after the fighting was over.
THE EVIDENCE OF PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE
In The Defenders of New Zealand (1887, pages 175-179) Gudgeon provides a more complete report, including an eyewitness account by a Maori lad who was in the whare, saw the first shots fired and then was allowed to leave before it caught fire.
By relying on people who were there, Gudgeon is able to tell us that the village was in fact defended by armed warriors, that the British tried to move them out without any deaths, and that the fighting was started by Maori who shot and killed officers who were simply asking them to leave.
Recent rediscovery of accounts of two participants, a member of Cameron’s force and a Maori named Potatau who was a lad at the centre of the action give us now a more accurate picture of the true story than even celebrated historian James Cowan was able to achieve.
IT IS OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE THAT THE TRUTH SO REVEALED BE TOLD.
On the night of 20th February at 11 o’clock, the mixed force of colonial cavalry, regular infantry, artillery and Forest Rangers paraded. Horses feet were muffled and their gear wrapped in cloth. Passing successfully close....
Continue reading John Robinson’s account of Rangiaowhia by people that were actually there > kapitiindependentnews.net.nz/what-happened-at-rangiaowhia-in-1864/
Claims have been made that atrocities were committed by British soldiers at Rangiaowhia, most recently by historian Vincent O’Malley. John Robinson dispels these myths, based on the evidence of people who were there.
BRITISH FORCES ARRIVE IN THE AREA
Towards the end of the war of rebellion in the Waikato, in 1864, the kingite forces constructed a well-fortified pa at Paterangi.
It would have taken a considerable effort, with great loss of life on both sides, to defeat that stronghold.
So the British Army ignored it and walked past.
General Cameron outflanked the kingites’ heavy defences and the Government forces moved on to capture the food supplies of the garrison, the fields of wheat, maize and potatoes, and peach groves at Rangiaowhia.
O’MALLEY CLAIMS ATROCITIES WERE COMMITTED
In a recent account of the rebellion, The Great War for New Zealand, Waikato 1800-2000 Vincent O’Malley dwells on the subsequent controversy, with the claim that Rangiaowhia was a peaceful, undefended village. He then illustrates his narrative with a suggestive picture of Maori whares being torched by soldiers in the fictional movie Utu.
This creates the impression of a murderous attack by the British on an unarmed women and children; in his Introduction O’Malley refers to “British atrocities committed against women and children at Rangiaowhia, Orakau and elsewhere.”
O’Malley expanded the story further in an article in the Listenerwhere he described “a George Grey-inspired attack that killed up to 100 Maori men, women and children to crush a non-existent uprising”. His source of this new information of “an almost incomprehensible act of savagery” is “Maori oral histories”.
Others went further, that “the British locked over 100 Maori men, women and children in the church and burnt them to death.” This story was repeated by Dame Susan Devoy during her address at a dawn Waitangi Day ceremony at Mt Maunganui, and became widely reported.
These claims are not found in the accounts of the time.
NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE ATROCITIES STORY
When staying in the King Country in 1882, Andreas Reischek was told of their annoyance when they waited for three of four days for an expected attack only to hear of the capture of Rangiawhia (his spelling) when “a few of them had been killed”.
When he made a separate peace in 1865, Wiremu Tamihana voiced a great anger at what he thought had happened, but with no claim of a large number of dead or the burning of people trapped within a church.
Similarly there is no mention of the large death toll or of the burning of a church in the comprehensive account of those wars by James Cowan. Indeed both churches were standing after the fighting was over.
THE EVIDENCE OF PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE
In The Defenders of New Zealand (1887, pages 175-179) Gudgeon provides a more complete report, including an eyewitness account by a Maori lad who was in the whare, saw the first shots fired and then was allowed to leave before it caught fire.
By relying on people who were there, Gudgeon is able to tell us that the village was in fact defended by armed warriors, that the British tried to move them out without any deaths, and that the fighting was started by Maori who shot and killed officers who were simply asking them to leave.
Recent rediscovery of accounts of two participants, a member of Cameron’s force and a Maori named Potatau who was a lad at the centre of the action give us now a more accurate picture of the true story than even celebrated historian James Cowan was able to achieve.
IT IS OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE THAT THE TRUTH SO REVEALED BE TOLD.
On the night of 20th February at 11 o’clock, the mixed force of colonial cavalry, regular infantry, artillery and Forest Rangers paraded. Horses feet were muffled and their gear wrapped in cloth. Passing successfully close....
Continue reading John Robinson’s account of Rangiaowhia by people that were actually there > kapitiindependentnews.net.nz/what-happened-at-rangiaowhia-in-1864/