The Wairau Affray

(1843)

What happened

In all, 22 European men and, it is believed, four Maoris lost their

lives and others were badly wounded in the Wairau massacre of 17
June 1843.

Settlements planed.

The Nelson Settlement, planned in England, was to consist

of221,100 acresof cultivable, arable land. Despite warnings of
insufficient land of suitable quality in Tasman and Golden Bays,
the settlement proceeded. When theNew Zealand Company
realised it was 70,000 acres short, surveyors were sent to the
Wairau Plains in Marlborough. To take the land.

Te Rauparaha, Te Rangihaeata and other senior Toa

chiefs travelled to Nelson in early 1843 to convince
the Company to withdraw from the Wairau. They
escorted the survey parties from the Wairau to the
Company's ship, offering no violence to the men or
their equipment, although they burnt temporary
shelters made from local materials, and destroyed
survey pegs and ranging rods and set fire to their
villages.

Arrests

When the survey party returned to Nelson MagistateThompson

issued a warrant for the arrest of Te Rauparaha and Te
Rangihaeata, on charges of arson. Thompson and
Arthur Wakefield, the Company agent in Nelson, recruited fortyseven Special Constables (many labourers) and sailed to the
Wairau to execute their warrant. Most recruits had no police or
military training, and some had never handled a weapon. The
weapons themselves were not in good condition.

Battle

On 17 June 1843 the Company party formed on one side of the

Tuamarina Stream, with Te Rauparaha and his party, including
women and children, opposite. Despite pleas for peace by the
Christian chief, Rawiri Puaha, Wakefield and Thompson ordered
their ragtag constabulary forward.

Battle

There are differing accounts of what triggered the battle. Maori

accounts say that Te Rongo, Te Rangihaeata's wife, was the first
to die, perhaps from a stray shot. The ensuing skirmish saw
several Special Constables killed and the remainder put to flight.
Some who attempted to surrender were executed by Te
Rangihaeata, as utu for the deaths of his wife and comrades, and
as retribution for other perceived evils and insults including the
failure to convict the whaler, Dick Cook, for the rape and murder
of Te Rangihaeata's close relative, Rangiawa Kuika [sister of
Rawiri Puaha, and wife of James Wynen] and her child.

Effects

Twenty-two Europeans, including both Wakefield and Thompson,

and between four and nine Maori died at the Wairau. There were
immediate impacts. Ngati Toa vacated Marlborough to support
their chiefs in the North Island, manyTe Atiawain Queen
Charlotte Sound returned to Taranaki, and Maori who stayed
feared they would be attacked by Government forces. European
settlers were shocked and frightened, a Public Safety Committee
was formed, andChurch Hillin Nelson was fortified.

Final outcome

Governor FitzRoywho arrived in New Zealand in December 1843

investigated the Wairau Affray and exonerated Te Rauparaha and
Te Rangihaeata. When Spain sat in Nelson in 1844 he declared
that the Wairau had not been sold.