Gate Pā

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Pukehinahina Gate Pā
partof=the Tauranga Campaign
date=April, 1864
place=Tauranga
result=Ngai Te Rangi victory
combatant1=Ngai Te Rangi
combatant2=
commander1=Rawiri Puhirake
commander2=Duncan Cameron
strength1=~230 troops
strength2=1700 troops
casualties1=~25 dead, unknown wounded
casualties2=111

Gate Pā is the name given to provocative fortress the Māori built in 1864 only 5km (3 miles) from the main British base of Camp Te Papa at Tauranga during Tauranga Campaign of the New Zealand land wars.

A Pā was a Māori hill fort, and the name comes from its appearance, the palisade looked liked a picket fence while a higher part in the middle resembled a gate. Also that the Pā was built on the edge of Maori land where the the Missionaries had built a gate between the Maori and British people .

The Pā was built at the instigation of Chief Rawiri Puhirake of Ngai Te Rangi, who believed British reprisal for his support of the King Movement during the Waikato War to be inevitable. He therefore constructed Gate Pa, only 5 kilometres from the British Camp. When this alone failed to rouse the British he began sending taunts to the British and declared that he had built a road from the British camp to the Pa, "so that the British would not be too tired to fight".

General Duncan Cameron, whose Invasion of the Waikato had ground to a halt determined to attack the Pa with the majority of his forces to destroy the King Movement's allies. By the end of April the British were ready to attack. They had 1,700 men and were opposed by 230 Māori.

A heavy bombardment was begun at daybreak on 29 April 1864 and continued for eight hours; the British had 15 artillery pieces including one of 110 pounds (50 kg). By mid afternoon the Pā looked as if it had been demolished and there was a large breach in the center of the palisade. At 4 p.m. the barrage was lifted and 300 troops were sent up to capture and secure the position.

The British forces suffered casualties and retreated. There was no second assault. During the night the Māori gave assistance to the wounded and collected their weapons; by day break they had abandoned the position. Gate Pā was the single most devastating defeat suffered by the British military in the whole of the New Zealand land wars.

Gate Pā was not quite what it appeared to be. From the British positions it looked like fairly large strongpoint occupying the entire hill top. In fact it was much smaller being two low redoubts on either side of the ridge joined by a deep trench about forty metres long and the whole shielded by a strong wooden palisade. It seems likely that British concentrated their barrage towards the center, that is where the palisade had collapsed and that is where the attack went in. Meanwhile the two redoubts had been built very strong with deep and effective bomb proof shelters. The Māori may have been deafened by the bombardment but as soon as it ended they were able to ambush the British troops.

In the aftermath, Governor George Grey came down to Tauranga and began peace negotiations. Cameron returned to Auckland leaving Colonel Greer in command, strictly on the defensive.

References

External links

* [http://the-art-of-battle.350.com/The_Battles.htm Battle of Gate Pa animated battle map] by Jonathan Webb
* http://www.historyorb.com/nz/gate_pa.shtml
* http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/G/GatePapukehinahina/GatePapukehinahina/en

Further reading

* [http://history-nz.org/wars4.html The New Zealand Wars: The Waikato war in the Tauranga area: The Battle of Gate Pa - 1864]
* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-MaiStor.html The Story Of Gate Pa, April 29th, 1864] by Gilbert Mair. (Full text at the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre)