Kawiti Te Ruki 1770 1845

edmondsallan - Hello - " Kawiti Te Ruki " resisted the idea or actions of having british rule over him and his peoples . I can understand that . In fact , he stood up to it all and made his own decisions, on what be of benefit for his whanau . In 1840, when William Hobson arrived in New Zealand having been commissioned as lieutenant governor, Kawiti vigorously resisted the introduction of British rule. He aimed to ensure that the lands of his people would be left intact so that Ngati Hine would never become landless or homeless, or slaves to the Pakeha. Before 1840 he had already lost Opua lands; it is said that a Paihia missionary had waited until Kawiti was absent at Kaipara, before negotiating a purchase with a local chief of lesser rank. Kawiti was not in a trusting mood when confronted by Hobson and other British officials at the Waitangi meeting on 5 and 6 February 1840. He refused to sign the treaty for fear that his sacred moko would provide the means by which the government would commence taking the lands. He said to Hobson, 'Who said we want you to stay here? We don't want to be restricted, or to be trampled on by you. The missionaries may stay, but you must return to your own country. There is no place here for the governor!'
Kawiti did not give his agreement to the treaty on 6 February when others signed at Waitangi, but his people still pressed him to sign. At a special meeting with Hobson, in May 1840, Kawiti reluctantly agreed to sign the treaty. (His name appears above the signatures of 6 February.) He expressed his reservations in the strongest terms, saying the Maori population was declining so fast that the Europeans were likely to get the land anyway. He did not want to 'sign away his land'. Possibly Kawiti regretted giving his agreement. Early in 1845 he joined forces with Hone Heke in challenging British sovereignty. At Kororareka, on 11 March, his forces created a diversion while the flagstaff on Maiki Hill was cut down for the fourth and last time. Kawiti saw the flagstaff as a symbol of the assertion of British sovereignty over Maori land, and was determined that it should not be re-erected (which it was not, until 1858).
The northern war of 1845--46 involved the forces of Kawiti and Heke against British troops and Maori allies. The British launched three major expeditions into the hinterland of the Bay of Islands. In the first, at Puketutu, Kawiti and his warriors remained outside the pa. When the British attacked the pa, Kawiti's forces staged well co-ordinated strikes at the British rear. They sustained quite heavy casualties but it was a Maori victory, despite British claims to the contrary. Skilled in military tactics, Kawiti never risked his men in open combat again. At Ohaeawai he saw to the construction of a carefully designed pa that withstood a British attack on 1 July. Outnumbered six to one, the Maori forces inflicted a serious defeat on the British. Kawiti's military tactics were crucial to this Maori victory. For five months fighting ceased while Governor Robert FitzRoy tried to arrange a peace which would salvage British pride. Kawiti rejected the peace terms, which included a cession of land.
It is said that he censured Heke, who was tempted to make peace, with these words: 'You and your territory have done enough. This time let me have them [the British]. I warned you that the water was too deep for you alone to net the big fish, but you would not listen. Now the water just barely reaches your knees and you cry, enough!'Governor Robert FitzRoy was replaced by George Grey, who arrived in November 1845. Grey gave Kawiti and Heke only five days to respond to the peace offer, and meanwhile organised an expedition against Kawiti's new pa of Ruapekapeka. Kawiti's aim was to draw British troops into battle on a fairly inaccessible site. He succeeded: 1,100 men took nearly a month to cover the 15 miles from the Bay of Islands to the inland pa. Kawiti, knowing that the pa had to be stronger than Ohaeawai, selected puriri trunks 20 feet long and 3 feet thick, and embedded them 8 feet into the soil for the main palisades. No major building was erected within the pa; underground rooms were built instead. These pits could hold up to 20 men each; they were designed to withstand the heavy bombardment which the British launched in late December 1845 and which lasted two weeks. Kawiti and his men sheltered together in the dark bunkers like a colony of bats, an arrangement which gave the pa its name, Ruapekapeka, the Bats' Nest. Heke and his men were camped outside. Its all on !! How do you conquer a proud man fighting for what he believes in ? ? Some of the would be go getters in our world's history have gone down over something simular . Till we meet again - Regards - edmondsallan