January 24, 2011 • 19 mins
Also known as the Northern War, Hone Heke's Rebellion took place between in New Zealand over the course of 1845 and 1846. In this podcast, Sarah and Deblina recount the events leading up to the war -- as well as the consequences of Heke's actions.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how
Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm Develine a truck a boarding
And often wars are kicked off by big events or
complex organized efforts, you know, somebody is assassinated, a bomb
(00:25):
is dropped on an area. But other times the start
of a war could be more subtle. It can be
kicked off by a simple gesture that gets things rolling. Yeah,
and that's definitely the case with our subject Todayjna Hayk's
rebellion Um. It's also known as the Northern War or
the flag Staff War, and we're going to find out
(00:45):
later why that name is very appropriate. But like you said,
it was something tiny, it seemed that kicked off this
series of skirmishes absolutely, and all of these skirmishes as
you call them, took place in Northern Zealand from eighteen
forty five to eighteen forty six, and they occurred between
(01:05):
the indigenous people who are called the Mayori and the
British settlers there. And there were a few interesting things
about this particular war. For one thing, they occurred because
of disagreements over land that was kind of at the
root of it. They were also interesting because the battles
they've not only pitted Mayori against British but also Mayori
against Mayori in some instances, and they also included these
(01:29):
kind of random acts of kindness or civility so to speak. Yeah,
there's a few heartwarming moments that we're going to talk
about in these skirmishes. But the person who's credited with
starting all of this, starting these skirmishes was a guy
named Honei heck A, and he's a really interesting character.
I'd say, yes, he's a blend of rebellious, scrappy behavior,
(01:53):
a warrior, and on the other hand, he's also shrewd
and almost at times compassionate. His actions and decisions are
the heart of the story. So we'll start by taking
a closer look at him. Okay, So he was born
hone Hekekai in eighteen ten on New Zealand's North Island,
and his major tribal affiliation was with the Inga Pui tribe,
(02:14):
even though he had a few other connections to other
Mayori tribes. Um And I guess we should give you
guys a little background on the Miori. We have an
article about them, so you could read about their whole history,
but just a little background information. They're people of Polynesian
descent and they're said to have migrated to New Zealand
from other islands in Polynesia. But they also have a
(02:37):
pretty neat legend they do. The legend says that they
came to New Zealand on seven canoes from a place
called Hawaiiki. And Hawaiiki is an interesting place because some people,
some people have just assumed that it's a mythical place
that the Mayori are said to have originated from, but
there are some other people who think it might have
been an actual island in Polynesia or even part of
(02:58):
New Zealand. But whether you think it's a real place
or not, the Mayori have been in New Zealand since
about a d one thousand, So they go way back.
They go way back. And when Hannahke was young, he
lived within was educated by Christian missionary So this is where, uh,
this is where our story takes a turn a little
bit um. He attended the Carrey Carie Missionary School in
(03:21):
eighteen twenty four and eighteen twentive and even though he
was a really rambunctious mischievous young boy. He liked the missionaries.
He got along well with them, and one in particular,
guy named Reverend Henry Williams, became something of a father
figure for him. Yeah, they kept in contact even after
hannah Heck was no longer living with them. But hannah
(03:42):
Heck was definitely influenced by this encounter. He ended up
converting to Christianity. He was baptized, He learned the scriptures
through and through, and this becomes significant in our story later,
so just remember that aspect of it. Despite these Christian influences, though,
hannah Heck still remained a warrior. He participated in inter
tribal wars in the eighteen thirties and he really distinguished
(04:03):
himself in battle. So by the time the eighteen forties
rolled around, Hana Heck had really established a skill and
he's one of the leading chiefs of the Ngapui tribe.
And it's also around this time that the British government
really started to move in. And that was the way
it worked a lot of the times. The missionaries would
come in first, make the first contact, and then um
(04:24):
the imperial advance would follow. And I saw it referred
to one time as them being the shock troopers of
the Imperial Movement. Yeah, exactly, and that's definitely how it
was with So the British Governor, William Hobson showed up
and brought with him a new treaty, and the treaty,
the Treaty of why Tongi, seemed like it wasn't going
(04:45):
to be a terrible deal for the Mayori. It was
the pact between them and the British, and it claimed
to protect Mayori rights, including their land interests, and grant
them the full rights as British subjects in exchange for
their accepting in British sovereignty. Yes, sounded like a pretty
good deal founded fair enough. So on February sixty more
(05:07):
than forty Mayori chiefs signed the treaty, and many sources
say that Honehicky was actually the first one to put
his signature on there, which is a pretty big statement.
But it didn't take too long for him to change
his mind about that. Hanehicky became pretty unhappy with his
new neighbors, the British, soon enough. There were a few
things that he was upset about, first and foremost, the
(05:28):
way the land deal worked. Only the Queen, meaning the government,
not actually the Queen herself had exclusive rights to buy
and sell land in the area, and so that was
the way it was on paper at least, but in
actuality the demand for land continue to get greater as
more white settlers moved in, and sometimes illegal deals were
made or the colonials just flat out occupied Mayori land,
(05:50):
which caused a lot of trouble, as you might imagine.
So another thing they were upset about here was that
the Maori land that the colonial government did manage to
sell was often sold at a big profit. So obviously
none of that profit went to the Maori people, it
went to the government, so it didn't really work out
in their favor. Yes, so it's apparent this is a
false treaty. They don't really have land interest and they
(06:11):
don't really have full rights of British subjects. So that
was just the land portion of things. But by ety four,
in the township of Coro rika Hanaheck had yet another complaint.
Before the British showed up, he had been leving this
toll on all the ships coming into the Bay of Islands,
but Governor Robert fitz Roy, once he was in the picture,
he introduced his own customs, duties and regulations. And this
(06:34):
had two effects. It deprived Hanehika of his income and
it also increased the cost of living for his tribe.
So bad news all around. Then the final straw, a
former slave of Honehi Gays who was at the time
married to a white shopkeeper, was overheard calling hanehick a
pig's head while she was bathing in the bay with
some other women, and this was considered a really like
(06:55):
a bad curse to the by Maori standards. Now it's personal.
Son Haycki gets furious and he comes to the township
with some of his warriors in July, loots the shopkeepers store,
carries off the wife. I wonder to know what he
did with her. I just keep reading everywhere that he
carried off the one that I want to know where.
(07:15):
I was curious about that too. That meant exactly um.
But after he did that, so I mean, at that
point it's just this personal, pretty major affront to the
shopkeeper and his wife. But after that, in this symbolic
act of resistance against the British honey, he chops down
the Union flag flying over Maike Hill. And some people
(07:38):
say that it was really one of his followers who
did this, because Honecki was so close to Williams, the
missionary who had been his father figure to him, and
Williams had made him promise that he wouldn't do something
as dastardly is chopping down the flag. But we're not
really sure who did the chopping here, and there's some
conflicting accounts of that. What we do know is that
(08:01):
after this happened, fitz Roy heads over with some reinforcements
that he borrows from New South Wales because he didn't
have that many troops of his own at that time
in the area, and he meets with all of the
Mayori chiefs that are around there. Some of the chiefs
aren't really happy with Hannah's actions either. They aren't really
happy with the way that he went about things. Um
one of them in particular was to Mati Waka nene
(08:24):
he He and Hannah a kind of have some tensions
throughout this whole thing, so it's not surprising to see
here that he he disagrees with the way he went
about this. But they do explain where hana Heke was
coming from, and some concessions are made on both sides.
At this point, the governor agrees to abolish customs duties,
and Hannah Heck for his part, he offers to replace
(08:44):
the flagstaff. At this point, he's acting reticent, but we
have to wonder is it really genuine? Yeah, it doesn't
really mean to replace that flag staff. He does. He
does end up doing that, but it soon becomes apparent
that Hana Heke's fears have not been told le allayed.
He's still worried about the growing number of colonists in
the area, and because of that, he ends up chopping
(09:07):
down the flagstaff again and the chopping on the new flagstaff,
which he supposedly erected himself. So January nine he chops
that flagstaff down, and then again on January nineteenth he
chops it down again because they put it back up.
So we're we're at the anniversary, aren't we? Just a
(09:28):
few days ago? I think we are. We didn't even
do anything to celebrate, we didn't. I don't think we
have a flag around here. So that's something on Twitter, definitely.
So at this point the governor he realizes Honey is
just going to keep on taking the flag down as
many times as he puts it up and it's a
really bad statement to the to the British settlers who
(09:50):
are in the area. So he sends a few soldiers
and sailors to guard the flagstaff, and they have some
serious weapons with them, so they're I mean, they're taking
this pretty seriously, and Honehecki is taking it seriously too, though.
In March he brings two hundred warriors in the dead
of night to ambush Maike Hill, and at the same time,
more of his tribes warriors are making this diversionary attack
(10:15):
on the township. So by March eleventh, Honehicky cuts the
flag down for the fourth and final time. So, I mean,
this is this is kind of unbelievable that the British
have managed to let it be cut down four times,
and that Honehicki has managed to make it through four time. Yeah,
I mean, he well, he's got some serious firepower and
(10:36):
help behind him, and the fighting is going on full
force at this point. In the midst of it, though,
there are a couple of things that happened as they're
going at each other. Heck A holds up a white
flag to cease fighting at one point, so both sides
can bury their dead. As you'll see, he does this
semi frequently throughout the war, um in various battles, So
he definitely is respectful of various cultures real rights, especially
(11:01):
Christian burial rights. And the other thing that happens a
little more dramatic is that there's an accident in the
township's powder magazine which causes it to explode. You might
think it's a little coincidental that this happens to happen. Well,
you might think that it's a little coincidental that this
happens while there's a battle going on. I definitely did,
But it turns out that most historians do actually think
(11:22):
that it was an accident. So at this point the
town has to be evacuated. All the white settlers are
put on a ship and to part that way. And
after this the tribe starts looting and burning in the town. However,
hana Hecke orders that they leave the property of the
Anglican church and house, the Roman Catholic bishop's house, and
the Roman Catholic missions alone. So again these acts of
(11:44):
civility we mentioned earlier. Yeah, I read somewhere that he
actually sort of drew a line on the south end
of town, and nothing beyond that was allowed to be touched.
You don't cross that guy. So at this point the Ingapu,
a tribe of Honeck, and the British are at full
on war. And then some of the other Mayoris, those
who are friendly to the British, they're called ko Papa's
(12:07):
among them as Wakanne who we mentioned earlier, they join
up with that side, and the war continued, so it's
Mayori against Mayori as well as British. UM. The war
continues throughout the next year, and it basically consisted of
a handful of isolated battles that took place around Pause
and Pau is kind of an interesting um defensive Mayori
(12:31):
fort like a stockade earthwork that was really quite effective
for how it was constructed. UM. One example at Ohaoai
was an oblong shaped paw on really high ground, basically
a maze of these skillfully dug trenches and palisades that
were all covered by thick sheets of flax too absorb
(12:52):
the shots. So that's sort of the interesting part part
that makes it stand out. UM. And when the British
fought the Mayori here in the summer of eighteen forty five,
they weren't able to make any headway with their heavy arsenal.
Any damage they did, the Mayori would just repair at
night because it was so it seemed lightweight, but it
could deflect pretty easily and it was easy to repair.
(13:13):
And so when the British tried to just attack head on,
the entrenched Maoris would cut them down with their muskets
and their shotguns. Um a very effective defense building. Yeah,
I guess they had the depth advantage, you know, being
trench and uh, we're able to coverage, to have some coverage.
(13:34):
Definitely in this particular battle though Hannah Heck was actually
out of commission. He was injured, but the Mayori still
managed to follow his example of allowing the British a
chance to collect and bury their dead, and this was
a significant defeat for the British after afterward, after the defeat,
they replaced fitz Roy with Governor George Gray, and since
he couldn't fight, he wrote letters to Gray demanding that
(13:56):
Mayori rights be respected. And here's just part of one
letter that's pretty well known, and I quote, God made
this country for us. It cannot be sliced. If it
were a whale. It might be sliced. Do you return
to your own country, which was made by God for you.
God made this land for us. It is not for
any stranger or foreign nation to meddle with the sacred country.
(14:20):
So gray he put forth some armistice terms, but both
Hecka and his ally Kwiti rejected. Finally, everything came to
a head on January eleven, eighty six. Once again the
two sides have been fighting, but the British side had
had trouble penetrating Hecke's paw. As usual, the paw was
just so I mean, that's how the series of battles
(14:41):
kind of went throughout this whole war, is, you know,
traveling from one paw to another and attacking, and they
just had trouble getting through. But they hit a stroke
of luck on this particular day because it was a Sunday.
And as we know, heck A was Christian and many
of the Maori who were fighting for him were also Christian.
So the story that's generally accepted here is that Heckay
or perhaps Kawiti, we're not sure which one. Different accounts
(15:03):
have different ones as the instigator here, but one of
them led a bunch of warriors out for a church
service in a nearby valley, and they left the PA
virtually unprotected when they did this. So when Gray's Kopapa
allies heard them singing hymns out in this valley, he
sees the moment to attack, killed off several Mayori and
(15:24):
drove the rest of them off. So this is a
pretty weak picture of Britain here if they're attacking while
the theories off, they weren't a church where they know um,
and you were mentioning earlier that people have different accounts
of that too, whether there was some other reason for
them to to be leaving the paw, maybe to get food.
(15:46):
But yeah, there's some historians that think that they might
have left for another reason and that it might have
been unlikely that they would have just left for church.
But I think it makes a good story to think that.
It does make a good story, and it does seem, uh,
it does seem within the character of one heck A
to to do that, to to think about attending services
in the middle of battle, essentially it does. So after this,
(16:10):
Gray makes peace with Hannah Hecke and the other rebel
chiefs through an intermediary Nana, and Gray pardons the chiefs.
At this point, he doesn't insist on confiscating their land,
so really things kind of work out kind of neatly there.
They don't really get any harsh punishment that we know of. Yeah,
even though they're technically defeated. And interestingly, Hecke's status didn't
(16:31):
really diminish much either. He kept on writing letters hoping
that Britain would continue to honor the treaty, or rather
finally start honoring the treaty, and he eventually died of
tuberculosis on August six fifty, which is another surprise in
this podcast. You're expecting this leader of a rebellion to
(16:51):
Diane war Diane war or or be executed or be
imprisoned or something, but tuberculous is um. But the tensions
don't really stop up there, No they don't. Hanah Gay's
rebellion is really just the beginning. It just sets the
stage for another longer war that begins in eighteen sixty
and this war is known as the New Zealand Wars.
Sometimes it's called the Land Wars or the Mayori Wars.
(17:13):
But it just starts a new chapter. So I think
we're probably going to end of the air just in
case there are some other stories that we want to
tell from there in the future. There's some other interesting
characters involved that you guys might want to hear about,
so we'll save that definitely. So I think that about
wraps it up for now for the Mayori, and it
brings us to listener mail. This letter is from Jana
(17:37):
in Newfoundland, and she says, Hello, Sarah and Dablina. You
mentioned mumming in your Oliver Cromwell podcast. Well, I'm from
Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, where we have many small
towns with old traditions that we still do today. We
still every Christmas go out mumming. We dress up with
silly clothing on, often with rubber boots, underwear on over
our clothing and a pillowcases over our heads. Then we
(18:00):
go door to door and have people guess who the
dressed up people are. Mummers who are over legal age
get to drink liquor, and underage get to drink a thick,
sweet drink of raspberry syrup and water. Mummers also usually
have a dance or a jig with the people in
the house. It's a wonderful fund and something I love
every year. There's also a song written by new Findler
about the tradition that I will post on your Facebook wall.
(18:22):
So I haven't noticed that yet, but we'll have to
check for that, Sarah. Definitely, And it's interesting. We got
so many emails about momm ng. We did a lot
from the Philadelphia area. I think you're right. The alive
is the tradition is still alive and kicking. Definitely. Well.
I guess that about wraps it up. If you want to,
I don't share any more mumming stories you might have
(18:44):
or contribute anything else to our discussion of the Mayori.
You can find us on Twitter at Misston History, on Facebook,
and through good old email at history podcast at how
stuff works dot com. Yeah, and if you want to
find out more about the Mayori, as Sarah mentioned earlier,
we have How the Mayori Works on our website. You
(19:06):
can look at it by typing Mayori on our homepage
at www dot how stuff works dot com. For more
on this and thousands of other topics, is it how
stuff works dot com. To learn more about the podcast,
click on the podcast icon in the upper right corner
of our homepage. The how stuff Works iPhone app has
(19:27):
a ride Download it today on iTunes,
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how
Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm Develine a truck a boarding
And often wars are kicked off by big events or
complex organized efforts, you know, somebody is assassinated, a bomb
(00:25):
is dropped on an area. But other times the start
of a war could be more subtle. It can be
kicked off by a simple gesture that gets things rolling. Yeah,
and that's definitely the case with our subject Todayjna Hayk's
rebellion Um. It's also known as the Northern War or
the flag Staff War, and we're going to find out
(00:45):
later why that name is very appropriate. But like you said,
it was something tiny, it seemed that kicked off this
series of skirmishes absolutely, and all of these skirmishes as
you call them, took place in Northern Zealand from eighteen
forty five to eighteen forty six, and they occurred between
(01:05):
the indigenous people who are called the Mayori and the
British settlers there. And there were a few interesting things
about this particular war. For one thing, they occurred because
of disagreements over land that was kind of at the
root of it. They were also interesting because the battles
they've not only pitted Mayori against British but also Mayori
against Mayori in some instances, and they also included these
(01:29):
kind of random acts of kindness or civility so to speak. Yeah,
there's a few heartwarming moments that we're going to talk
about in these skirmishes. But the person who's credited with
starting all of this, starting these skirmishes was a guy
named Honei heck A, and he's a really interesting character.
I'd say, yes, he's a blend of rebellious, scrappy behavior,
(01:53):
a warrior, and on the other hand, he's also shrewd
and almost at times compassionate. His actions and decisions are
the heart of the story. So we'll start by taking
a closer look at him. Okay, So he was born
hone Hekekai in eighteen ten on New Zealand's North Island,
and his major tribal affiliation was with the Inga Pui tribe,
(02:14):
even though he had a few other connections to other
Mayori tribes. Um And I guess we should give you
guys a little background on the Miori. We have an
article about them, so you could read about their whole history,
but just a little background information. They're people of Polynesian
descent and they're said to have migrated to New Zealand
from other islands in Polynesia. But they also have a
(02:37):
pretty neat legend they do. The legend says that they
came to New Zealand on seven canoes from a place
called Hawaiiki. And Hawaiiki is an interesting place because some people,
some people have just assumed that it's a mythical place
that the Mayori are said to have originated from, but
there are some other people who think it might have
been an actual island in Polynesia or even part of
(02:58):
New Zealand. But whether you think it's a real place
or not, the Mayori have been in New Zealand since
about a d one thousand, So they go way back.
They go way back. And when Hannahke was young, he
lived within was educated by Christian missionary So this is where, uh,
this is where our story takes a turn a little
bit um. He attended the Carrey Carie Missionary School in
(03:21):
eighteen twenty four and eighteen twentive and even though he
was a really rambunctious mischievous young boy. He liked the missionaries.
He got along well with them, and one in particular,
guy named Reverend Henry Williams, became something of a father
figure for him. Yeah, they kept in contact even after
hannah Heck was no longer living with them. But hannah
(03:42):
Heck was definitely influenced by this encounter. He ended up
converting to Christianity. He was baptized, He learned the scriptures
through and through, and this becomes significant in our story later,
so just remember that aspect of it. Despite these Christian influences, though,
hannah Heck still remained a warrior. He participated in inter
tribal wars in the eighteen thirties and he really distinguished
(04:03):
himself in battle. So by the time the eighteen forties
rolled around, Hana Heck had really established a skill and
he's one of the leading chiefs of the Ngapui tribe.
And it's also around this time that the British government
really started to move in. And that was the way
it worked a lot of the times. The missionaries would
come in first, make the first contact, and then um
(04:24):
the imperial advance would follow. And I saw it referred
to one time as them being the shock troopers of
the Imperial Movement. Yeah, exactly, and that's definitely how it
was with So the British Governor, William Hobson showed up
and brought with him a new treaty, and the treaty,
the Treaty of why Tongi, seemed like it wasn't going
(04:45):
to be a terrible deal for the Mayori. It was
the pact between them and the British, and it claimed
to protect Mayori rights, including their land interests, and grant
them the full rights as British subjects in exchange for
their accepting in British sovereignty. Yes, sounded like a pretty
good deal founded fair enough. So on February sixty more
(05:07):
than forty Mayori chiefs signed the treaty, and many sources
say that Honehicky was actually the first one to put
his signature on there, which is a pretty big statement.
But it didn't take too long for him to change
his mind about that. Hanehicky became pretty unhappy with his
new neighbors, the British, soon enough. There were a few
things that he was upset about, first and foremost, the
(05:28):
way the land deal worked. Only the Queen, meaning the government,
not actually the Queen herself had exclusive rights to buy
and sell land in the area, and so that was
the way it was on paper at least, but in
actuality the demand for land continue to get greater as
more white settlers moved in, and sometimes illegal deals were
made or the colonials just flat out occupied Mayori land,
(05:50):
which caused a lot of trouble, as you might imagine.
So another thing they were upset about here was that
the Maori land that the colonial government did manage to
sell was often sold at a big profit. So obviously
none of that profit went to the Maori people, it
went to the government, so it didn't really work out
in their favor. Yes, so it's apparent this is a
false treaty. They don't really have land interest and they
(06:11):
don't really have full rights of British subjects. So that
was just the land portion of things. But by ety four,
in the township of Coro rika Hanaheck had yet another complaint.
Before the British showed up, he had been leving this
toll on all the ships coming into the Bay of Islands,
but Governor Robert fitz Roy, once he was in the picture,
he introduced his own customs, duties and regulations. And this
(06:34):
had two effects. It deprived Hanehika of his income and
it also increased the cost of living for his tribe.
So bad news all around. Then the final straw, a
former slave of Honehi Gays who was at the time
married to a white shopkeeper, was overheard calling hanehick a
pig's head while she was bathing in the bay with
some other women, and this was considered a really like
(06:55):
a bad curse to the by Maori standards. Now it's personal.
Son Haycki gets furious and he comes to the township
with some of his warriors in July, loots the shopkeepers store,
carries off the wife. I wonder to know what he
did with her. I just keep reading everywhere that he
carried off the one that I want to know where.
(07:15):
I was curious about that too. That meant exactly um.
But after he did that, so I mean, at that
point it's just this personal, pretty major affront to the
shopkeeper and his wife. But after that, in this symbolic
act of resistance against the British honey, he chops down
the Union flag flying over Maike Hill. And some people
(07:38):
say that it was really one of his followers who
did this, because Honecki was so close to Williams, the
missionary who had been his father figure to him, and
Williams had made him promise that he wouldn't do something
as dastardly is chopping down the flag. But we're not
really sure who did the chopping here, and there's some
conflicting accounts of that. What we do know is that
(08:01):
after this happened, fitz Roy heads over with some reinforcements
that he borrows from New South Wales because he didn't
have that many troops of his own at that time
in the area, and he meets with all of the
Mayori chiefs that are around there. Some of the chiefs
aren't really happy with Hannah's actions either. They aren't really
happy with the way that he went about things. Um
one of them in particular was to Mati Waka nene
(08:24):
he He and Hannah a kind of have some tensions
throughout this whole thing, so it's not surprising to see
here that he he disagrees with the way he went
about this. But they do explain where hana Heke was
coming from, and some concessions are made on both sides.
At this point, the governor agrees to abolish customs duties,
and Hannah Heck for his part, he offers to replace
(08:44):
the flagstaff. At this point, he's acting reticent, but we
have to wonder is it really genuine? Yeah, it doesn't
really mean to replace that flag staff. He does. He
does end up doing that, but it soon becomes apparent
that Hana Heke's fears have not been told le allayed.
He's still worried about the growing number of colonists in
the area, and because of that, he ends up chopping
(09:07):
down the flagstaff again and the chopping on the new flagstaff,
which he supposedly erected himself. So January nine he chops
that flagstaff down, and then again on January nineteenth he
chops it down again because they put it back up.
So we're we're at the anniversary, aren't we? Just a
(09:28):
few days ago? I think we are. We didn't even
do anything to celebrate, we didn't. I don't think we
have a flag around here. So that's something on Twitter, definitely.
So at this point the governor he realizes Honey is
just going to keep on taking the flag down as
many times as he puts it up and it's a
really bad statement to the to the British settlers who
(09:50):
are in the area. So he sends a few soldiers
and sailors to guard the flagstaff, and they have some
serious weapons with them, so they're I mean, they're taking
this pretty seriously, and Honehecki is taking it seriously too, though.
In March he brings two hundred warriors in the dead
of night to ambush Maike Hill, and at the same time,
more of his tribes warriors are making this diversionary attack
(10:15):
on the township. So by March eleventh, Honehicky cuts the
flag down for the fourth and final time. So, I mean,
this is this is kind of unbelievable that the British
have managed to let it be cut down four times,
and that Honehicki has managed to make it through four time. Yeah,
I mean, he well, he's got some serious firepower and
(10:36):
help behind him, and the fighting is going on full
force at this point. In the midst of it, though,
there are a couple of things that happened as they're
going at each other. Heck A holds up a white
flag to cease fighting at one point, so both sides
can bury their dead. As you'll see, he does this
semi frequently throughout the war, um in various battles, So
he definitely is respectful of various cultures real rights, especially
(11:01):
Christian burial rights. And the other thing that happens a
little more dramatic is that there's an accident in the
township's powder magazine which causes it to explode. You might
think it's a little coincidental that this happens to happen. Well,
you might think that it's a little coincidental that this
happens while there's a battle going on. I definitely did,
But it turns out that most historians do actually think
(11:22):
that it was an accident. So at this point the
town has to be evacuated. All the white settlers are
put on a ship and to part that way. And
after this the tribe starts looting and burning in the town. However,
hana Hecke orders that they leave the property of the
Anglican church and house, the Roman Catholic bishop's house, and
the Roman Catholic missions alone. So again these acts of
(11:44):
civility we mentioned earlier. Yeah, I read somewhere that he
actually sort of drew a line on the south end
of town, and nothing beyond that was allowed to be touched.
You don't cross that guy. So at this point the Ingapu,
a tribe of Honeck, and the British are at full
on war. And then some of the other Mayoris, those
who are friendly to the British, they're called ko Papa's
(12:07):
among them as Wakanne who we mentioned earlier, they join
up with that side, and the war continued, so it's
Mayori against Mayori as well as British. UM. The war
continues throughout the next year, and it basically consisted of
a handful of isolated battles that took place around Pause
and Pau is kind of an interesting um defensive Mayori
(12:31):
fort like a stockade earthwork that was really quite effective
for how it was constructed. UM. One example at Ohaoai
was an oblong shaped paw on really high ground, basically
a maze of these skillfully dug trenches and palisades that
were all covered by thick sheets of flax too absorb
(12:52):
the shots. So that's sort of the interesting part part
that makes it stand out. UM. And when the British
fought the Mayori here in the summer of eighteen forty five,
they weren't able to make any headway with their heavy arsenal.
Any damage they did, the Mayori would just repair at
night because it was so it seemed lightweight, but it
could deflect pretty easily and it was easy to repair.
(13:13):
And so when the British tried to just attack head on,
the entrenched Maoris would cut them down with their muskets
and their shotguns. Um a very effective defense building. Yeah,
I guess they had the depth advantage, you know, being
trench and uh, we're able to coverage, to have some coverage.
(13:34):
Definitely in this particular battle though Hannah Heck was actually
out of commission. He was injured, but the Mayori still
managed to follow his example of allowing the British a
chance to collect and bury their dead, and this was
a significant defeat for the British after afterward, after the defeat,
they replaced fitz Roy with Governor George Gray, and since
he couldn't fight, he wrote letters to Gray demanding that
(13:56):
Mayori rights be respected. And here's just part of one
letter that's pretty well known, and I quote, God made
this country for us. It cannot be sliced. If it
were a whale. It might be sliced. Do you return
to your own country, which was made by God for you.
God made this land for us. It is not for
any stranger or foreign nation to meddle with the sacred country.
(14:20):
So gray he put forth some armistice terms, but both
Hecka and his ally Kwiti rejected. Finally, everything came to
a head on January eleven, eighty six. Once again the
two sides have been fighting, but the British side had
had trouble penetrating Hecke's paw. As usual, the paw was
just so I mean, that's how the series of battles
(14:41):
kind of went throughout this whole war, is, you know,
traveling from one paw to another and attacking, and they
just had trouble getting through. But they hit a stroke
of luck on this particular day because it was a Sunday.
And as we know, heck A was Christian and many
of the Maori who were fighting for him were also Christian.
So the story that's generally accepted here is that Heckay
or perhaps Kawiti, we're not sure which one. Different accounts
(15:03):
have different ones as the instigator here, but one of
them led a bunch of warriors out for a church
service in a nearby valley, and they left the PA
virtually unprotected when they did this. So when Gray's Kopapa
allies heard them singing hymns out in this valley, he
sees the moment to attack, killed off several Mayori and
(15:24):
drove the rest of them off. So this is a
pretty weak picture of Britain here if they're attacking while
the theories off, they weren't a church where they know um,
and you were mentioning earlier that people have different accounts
of that too, whether there was some other reason for
them to to be leaving the paw, maybe to get food.
(15:46):
But yeah, there's some historians that think that they might
have left for another reason and that it might have
been unlikely that they would have just left for church.
But I think it makes a good story to think that.
It does make a good story, and it does seem, uh,
it does seem within the character of one heck A
to to do that, to to think about attending services
in the middle of battle, essentially it does. So after this,
(16:10):
Gray makes peace with Hannah Hecke and the other rebel
chiefs through an intermediary Nana, and Gray pardons the chiefs.
At this point, he doesn't insist on confiscating their land,
so really things kind of work out kind of neatly there.
They don't really get any harsh punishment that we know of. Yeah,
even though they're technically defeated. And interestingly, Hecke's status didn't
(16:31):
really diminish much either. He kept on writing letters hoping
that Britain would continue to honor the treaty, or rather
finally start honoring the treaty, and he eventually died of
tuberculosis on August six fifty, which is another surprise in
this podcast. You're expecting this leader of a rebellion to
(16:51):
Diane war Diane war or or be executed or be
imprisoned or something, but tuberculous is um. But the tensions
don't really stop up there, No they don't. Hanah Gay's
rebellion is really just the beginning. It just sets the
stage for another longer war that begins in eighteen sixty
and this war is known as the New Zealand Wars.
Sometimes it's called the Land Wars or the Mayori Wars.
(17:13):
But it just starts a new chapter. So I think
we're probably going to end of the air just in
case there are some other stories that we want to
tell from there in the future. There's some other interesting
characters involved that you guys might want to hear about,
so we'll save that definitely. So I think that about
wraps it up for now for the Mayori, and it
brings us to listener mail. This letter is from Jana
(17:37):
in Newfoundland, and she says, Hello, Sarah and Dablina. You
mentioned mumming in your Oliver Cromwell podcast. Well, I'm from
Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, where we have many small
towns with old traditions that we still do today. We
still every Christmas go out mumming. We dress up with
silly clothing on, often with rubber boots, underwear on over
our clothing and a pillowcases over our heads. Then we
(18:00):
go door to door and have people guess who the
dressed up people are. Mummers who are over legal age
get to drink liquor, and underage get to drink a thick,
sweet drink of raspberry syrup and water. Mummers also usually
have a dance or a jig with the people in
the house. It's a wonderful fund and something I love
every year. There's also a song written by new Findler
about the tradition that I will post on your Facebook wall.
(18:22):
So I haven't noticed that yet, but we'll have to
check for that, Sarah. Definitely, And it's interesting. We got
so many emails about momm ng. We did a lot
from the Philadelphia area. I think you're right. The alive
is the tradition is still alive and kicking. Definitely. Well.
I guess that about wraps it up. If you want to,
I don't share any more mumming stories you might have
(18:44):
or contribute anything else to our discussion of the Mayori.
You can find us on Twitter at Misston History, on Facebook,
and through good old email at history podcast at how
stuff works dot com. Yeah, and if you want to
find out more about the Mayori, as Sarah mentioned earlier,
we have How the Mayori Works on our website. You
(19:06):
can look at it by typing Mayori on our homepage
at www dot how stuff works dot com. For more
on this and thousands of other topics, is it how
stuff works dot com. To learn more about the podcast,
click on the podcast icon in the upper right corner
of our homepage. The how stuff Works iPhone app has
(19:27):
a ride Download it today on iTunes,
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