Hutt Valley Campaign

Infobox Military Conflict
partof=New Zealand land wars
date=1800's
place=New Zealand
result=British victory
combatant1=UK
European settlers
Maori allies
combatant2= Maori tribes

The Hutt Valley Campaign of 1846 during the New Zealand land wars could almost be seen as a sequel to the Wairau Affray. The causes were the same and the protagonists almost the same. The careless or unscrupulous purchase of land from the Māori by the New Zealand Company, and the impatience of the settlers to move on to disputed land, were the triggering factors.

Land ownership

Complicating this was dispute among the Māori as to who owned the land. Originally the area had been occupied by three small tribes (or hapu), Rangitane, Ngāti Apa, and Muaūpoko. They had been displaced during the Musket Wars by other hapu, Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Rangitane. Seeing that they had been dispossessed of the land, Rangitane did not mind selling it to the Pākehā. Of course the new occupants, who saw themselves as the owners by right of conquest, objected strongly. Meanwhile the New Zealand Company did not question the vendors' right to sell the land.

Valley floor

Tension had been high around Wellington since 1842, particularly concerning the fertile bottom land of the Hutt Valley. The occupants, Nga Rangatahi, were determined to retain possession. They assembled a force of about 200 warriors led by Te Rangihaeata, one of the participants in the Wairau Massacre. The British began moving men into the area and by February had assembled nearly a thousand men together with some Māori allies from the Te Atiawa hapu.

The conflict started in February 1846 with both sides plundering and destroying each other's property. The British probably struck first when on 27 February they burnt the Māori settlement at Maraenuku. Te Rangihaeata then began to systematically destroy the settlers' farms and property in the Hutt Valley. At this stage he appears to have deliberately avoided attacking persons and caused no casualties; but that soon changed. On 3 March he attacked a company of militia but was driven off. Governor Grey then declared Martial Law and strengthened the garrisons.

On 2 April 1846, two settlers were murdered, possibly by men answering to Te Rangihaeata. On 16 May there was a major attack on a defended position; Boulcott's Farm, one of the most forward homesteads in the Hutt Valley. The siege lasted several hours before reinforcements arrived and managed to drive of the Maori attack, resulting in sixteen British casualties. A month later an armed patrol in the same area was ambushed and four men wounded.

End of resistance

Māori leaders retreat northwards

This was effectively the end of the Hutt Valley Campaign. Te Mamaku returned to the Wanganui region. Te Rangihaeata built himself a strong Pa near the Manawatu River from which he was able to block European penetration onto that area until he died in 1856.

Why withdraw?

The Māori were not beaten. Indeed until then they appear to have had the better of all the skirmishes. They simply withdrew and chose to no longer resist European settlement into some areas. There were probably several reasons for this. With their main stronghold in the Wanganui area, some distance north, they were operating with extended supply lines and were short of food and ammunition. This problem was considerably aggravated when a shrewd move by Grey recruited the Te Atiawa to his side.

Arrest of Te Rauparaha

However, the principal factor was probably the British decision to arrest the paramount chief of the area, Te Rauparaha. He had been the other main protagonist in the Wairau Massacre and was Te Rangihaeata's uncle. Hitherto he had been inactive in the conflict and there was no evidence to justify his arrest. The move was taken to forestall any trouble he might cause. Justified or not, the effect on Māori morale was great and it seems to have been a strong factor in their decision to end the campaign.

Further reading

* Barthorp, Michael (1979). "To face the daring Māori". Hodder and Stoughton.
* Belich, James (1988). "The New Zealand wars". Penguin.
* Belich, James (1996) "Making peoples". Penguin Press.
* Simpson, Tony (1979). "Te Riri Pakeha". Hodder and Stoughton.
* Sinclair, Keith (ed.) (1996). "The Oxford illustrated history of New Zealand" (2nd ed.) Wellington: Oxford University Press.
*"The people of many peaks: The Māori biographies". (1990). From "The dictionary of New Zealand biographies, Vol. 1, 1769-1869". Bridget Williams Books and Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand.

External links

* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/Cow01NewZ-fig-Cow01NewZ090a.html Map of Hutt Valley c1846 showing stockades and scenes of engagements from Cowan]
* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Cow01NewZ.html "The New Zealand Wars" Volume I by James Cowan (etext, originally published 1922)]