Ron Crosby followed directions from Samuel Austin on foot.
Ron Crosby followed directions from Samuel Austin on foot.
The role of Whanganui soldiers in ending one of the biggest abductions in New Zealand history has been highlighted in a new book.
Te Kooti’s Last Foray, written by Ron Crosby, details the capture of 218 Whakatōhea people near Ōpōtiki by Māori leader Te Kooti in 1870 — and whatcame next.
Crosby said until now, the history of the incident had been based on a diary by Lieutenant Thomas Porter, who served alongside Ngāti Porou in the pursuit of Te Kooti.
Porter credited Ngāti Porou for the eventual release of the captives but according to Crosby, that version of events wasn’t accurate.
“There were at least two prominent historians who had accepted Porter’s version but the more I looked into it, the more convinced I became that he had fudged things,” he said.
“It was actually written six to eight weeks after they got out of the bush.
“Porter compounded it when he wrote a series of articles for the Poverty Bay Herald around 1897, then when he wrote a book about 20 years later. It became historical record.”
In reality, it was a 500-strong force from Whanganui, under Te Kēpa Te Rangihiwinui (Major Kemp), that captured Te Kooti’s pā — Waipuna — and freed those inside, Crosby said.
An unpublished diary from Samuel Austin, a British army non-commissioned officer who was a part of the Whanganui contingent, was a starting point for the book.
To prove Austin’s version of events, Crosby retraced all the directions mapped out in his writings on foot.
Samuel Austin seemed to be “a good, decent bloke”. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library
That took years of tramping through the forests of Te Urewera in the eastern Bay of Plenty, but Austin’s directions lined up perfectly.
“If Austin said there was a spur, there was a spur. If he said there was a creek junction, there was a creek junction,” Crosby said.
“When you actually physically walked the ground, his diary became very conclusive.”
He said the Whanganui contingent walked vast distances before engaging with Te Kooti.
“When you look at what they did in that pursuit, the distances they were walking were just extraordinary.
“One day was 21 hours, then it was 42 hours continuously.”
Crosby said Whanganui had been successful in the pursuit of Riwha Tītokowaru in the months prior.
Forces from Whanganui and Ngāti Porou were brought to the South Taranaki coast and combined with the settler government’s constabulary forces.
“That involved a lot of attacks on a lot of pā, and it was then that Te Kēpa was identified as being an extremely effective rangatira leader.
“Within a few months, Whanganui was one of three Māori forces that attacked Te Kooti very successfully and killed around 37 of his fighters.
“They returned to Whanganui but after a month, they were back on the river again for these events.”
If not for Austin’s diary, Whanganui’s efforts at Waipuna would have been written out of history, Crosby said.
The diary stayed in the family until a distant relative, Barbara Mabbett, got hold of it.
Mabbett, now 90, wrote a book about Austin in 2019.
“I got in touch with her and, with her assistance, got the diary. As soon as you read it, you realised ‘Hell, it all fits’.”
Te Kēpa Te Rangihiwinui was identified as an effective rangatira leader in earlier conflicts with Te Kooti. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library
Whanganui didn’t lose a single fighter in the main conflict with Te Kooti while killing 25, Crosby said.
“One of the intriguing questions is whether they were killed in the heat of action or were they executed after capture.
“People who say they were executing prisoners will point to the fact that they didn’t suffer any casualties but, equally, they may have suffered no casualties simply because of the shock and awe of the way in which they did their attacks.
“It was at night and they [Te Kooti’s fighters] were taken by surprise.”
Te Kooti had lost a lot of men, horses, weapons and gunpowder in the year prior to taking the hostages, Crosby said.
“I think his intent was to grab fighters and weapons at Ōmarumutu and Ōpape [sites of abductions] but they were largely gone.
“He took those captives intending to hold them and that they would be followed by the young men in due course.”
Whanganui took Waipuna pā and secured the release of all the captives on March 24, although Te Kooti was able to escape.
Austin led a fairly simple life after Waipuna pā, Crosby said.
He seemed to be a “good, decent bloke”.
“He lost his wife around that time and had a number of children.
“Austin ended up in some bad financial straits. One of the records I got from the archives was a petition he sent to the government asking for assistance.
“When he referred to the Whanganui events [with Te Kooti] in his petition, he recorded the fact that he was the only Pākehā in the Whanganui contingent.”
Austin died in 1903 aged 72.
Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
