TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene (1780s â 4 August 1871) was a MÃÂori rangatira (chief) of the NgÃÂpuhi iwi (tribe) who fought as an ally of the British in the Flagstaff War of 1845âÂÂ1846.
TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene was born to chiefly rank in the NgÃÂpuhi iwi (tribe) of the Bay of Islands and Hokianga regions of the North Island of New Zealand. His father was Tapua, a rangatira (chief) of the hapu (subtribe) NgÃÂti Hao in the Hokianga. The date of his birth was around the 1780s and his elder brother was Eruera Maihi Patuone. He was related to the warrior Hongi Hika and could trace his ancestry back to RÃÂhiri, the founder of the NgÃÂpuhi.
Nene rose to be one of the war leaders of the NgÃÂpuhi. It is likely that one of his earliest battles was in about 1800, against the Ngare Raumati. Nene took an active part in the Musket Wars of 1818 to 1820, leading his warriors on a rampage the whole length of the North Island, killing and plundering as he went until he reached Cook Strait. It is said that he advised the warrior Te Rauparaha to acquire muskets to enhance his influence in the region.
In 1828 Nene successfully averted a war between the MÃÂori of the Bay of Islands and the Hokianga. Then his older brother moved south to what is now the Auckland region, Hauraki, and soon after the paramount chief of the area died of wounds received in battle. WÃÂka Nene now became the highest ranking chief among his own people and one of the three primary chiefs of the area. At baptism, he added "TÃÂmati WÃÂka" (Thomas Walker) to his name.
Early on Nene had recognised the value of trade with PÃÂkehÃÂ and used his position as chief to protect and encourage both the traders and the Methodist missionaries. He was baptised in 1839 taking the name Thomas Walker or TÃÂmati WÃÂka. He also worked with the British Resident, James Busby to regularise the relationships between the two races. In 1835 he signed the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand which proclaimed the sovereignty of the United Tribes.
At the negotiations leading up to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi Ngapuhi chief Te Wharerahi disagreed with his brothers Rewa and Moka Te Kainga-mataa and spoke for peace and the acceptance of the European, and was duly supported by Nene and Patuone. Nene's influence was significant in persuading many of the tribes to sign the Treaty.
The next few years saw a considerable loss of revenue and influence for the northern tribes. The capital of the new country was soon moved down to Auckland. Customs duties were also imposed. Then the Government began to manage the land, specifically they temporarily banned any further felling of kauri trees (Agathis australis), after an over-supply of milled kauri occurred in the Australian market.
On 8 July 1844 the flagstaff on Maiki Hill at the north end of KororÃÂreka was cut down for the first time, by the Pakaraka chief Te Haratua. Heke had set out to cut down the flagstaff but was persuaded by Archdeacon William Williams not to do so.
On 24 August 1844 Governor FitzRoy arrived in the bay from Auckland upon the frigate . Governor FitzRoy summoned the NgÃÂpuhi chiefs to a conference at the Te Waimate mission at Waimate on 2 September and apparently defused the situation. TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene requested the Governor to remove the troops and redress the grievances in respect of the Customs duties that were put in place in 1841, that Heke and PÃ Âmare II viewed as damaging the maritime trade from which they benefited. TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene and the other NgÃÂpuhi chiefs undertook to keep Heke in check and to protect the Europeans in Bay of Islands. HÃ Âne Heke did not attend but sent a conciliatory letter and offered to replace the flagstaff.
On 10 January 1845 the flagstaff was cut down a second time, this time by Heke. He again cut down the flagstaff on 19 January. When HÃ Âne Heke cut down the flag pole for the fourth time on 11 March 1845 and attacked KororÃÂreka, Nene was offended, feeling that his mana had been trampled on. Nene was already at war with Heke when the British troops began to arrive on the scene.
After the Battle of KororÃÂreka, Hà Âne Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti and their warriors travelled inland to Lake à ÂmÃÂpere near to Kaikohe some , or two days travel, from the Bay of Islands. Nene built a pàclose to Lake à ÂmÃÂpere. Heke's pÃÂ, named Puketutu, was away, while it is sometimes named as "Te Mawhe", however the hill of that name is some distance to the north-east.
In April 1845, during the time that the colonial forces were gathering in the Bay of Islands, the warriors of Heke and Nene fought many skirmishes on the small hill named Taumata-Karamu that was between the two pÃÂs and on open country between à Âkaihau and Te Ahuahu. Heke's force numbered about three hundred men; Kawiti joined Heke towards the end of April with another hundred and fifty warriors. Opposing Heke and Kawiti were about four hundred warriors that supported TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene, including his brother Eruera Maihi Patuone and the chiefs Makoare Te Taonui and his son Aperahama Taonui, Mohi Tawhai, Arama Karaka Pi and Nà Âpera Panakareao. F. E. Maning, Jacky Marmon and John Webster, of Opononi, Hokianga were three PÃÂkehàMÃÂori (a European turned native) who volunteered to fight with Nene and fought alongside the warriors from Hokianga. Webster used a rifle (a novel weapon at that time) and had made two hundred cartridges.
The colonial forces under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William Hulme arrived at Heke's pÃÂ at Puketutu on 7 May 1845. Lieutenant Colonel Hulme and his second in command Major Cyprian Bridge made an inspection of the pÃÂ and found it to be quite formidable. Lacking any better plan they decided on a frontal assault the following day. The attack was a failure and the forces retreated to the Bay of Islands. Lieutenant Colonel Hulme returned to Auckland and was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Despard, a soldier who did very little to inspire any confidence in WÃÂka Nene.
After the successful defence of Puketutu Pàon the shores of Lake à ÂmÃÂpere, Hà Âne Heke returned to his pàat Te Ahuahu. Te Ahuahu was a short distance from both Heke's Pàat Puketutu and the site of the later Battle of à Âhaeawai. Some days later he went on to Kaikohe to gather food supplies. During his absence one of TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene's allies, the Hokianga chief, Makoare Te Taonui (the father of Aperahama Taonui), attacked and captured Te Ahuahu. This was a tremendous blow to Heke's mana or prestige, obviously it had to be recaptured as soon as possible.
The ensuing battle was a traditional formal MÃÂori conflict, taking place in the open with the preliminary challenges and responses. By MÃÂori standards, the battle was considerably large. Heke mustered somewhere between 400 and 500 warriors while TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene had about 300 men. HÃ Âne Heke lost at least 30 warriors. Hugh Carleton (1874) provides a brief description of the battle:
Rev. Richard Davis also recorded that a
WÃÂka Nene remained in control of Heke's pÃÂ. Heke was severely wounded and did not rejoin the conflict until some months later, at the closing phase of the Battle of Ruapekapeka. In a letter to Lieutenant Colonel Despard the battle was described by WÃÂka Nene as a "most complete victory over Heke".
TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene and his warriors supported troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Despard in an attack on Pene Taui's pàat à Âhaeawai. Kawiti and Pene Taui had strengthened the defences of the pÃÂ.
Nene and Despard fought side by side as allies although Despard had an almost complete incomprehension about Nene's experience in attacking fortified pÃÂs. At à Âhaeawai, Nene offered to make a feint attack on the rear of the pÃÂ, to divert attention from the soldiers' assault, but this suggestion, like all others offered by Nene, met with a refusal. Nene described the British commander, Lieutenant Colonel Despard, as 'a very stupid man'. Despard on the other hand said "if I want help from savages I will ask for it". History tends to support Nene's opinion as he had achieved a decisive win against Hà Âne Heke on 12 June 1845, with no help from the British.
At the Battle of à Âhaeawai after two days of bombardment without effecting a breach, Despard ordered a frontal assault. He was, with difficulty, persuaded to postpone this pending the arrival of a 32-pound naval gun which came the next day, 1 July. However an unexpected sortie from the pàresulted in the temporary occupation of the knoll on which TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene had his camp and the capture of Nene's colours â the Union Jack. The Union Jack was carried into the pÃÂ. There it was hoisted, upside down, and at half-mast high, below the MÃÂori flag, which was a KÃÂkahu (MÃÂori cloak).
This insulting display of the Union Jack was the cause of the disaster which ensued. Infuriated by the insult to the Union Jack Colonel Despard ordered an assault upon the pÃÂ the same day. The attack was directed to the section of the pÃÂ where the angle of the palisade allowed a double flank from which the defenders of the pÃÂ could fire at the attackers; the attack was a reckless endeavour. The British persisted in their attempts to storm the unbreached palisades and five to seven minutes later 33 were dead and 66 injured, approximately one-third of the soldiers and Royal Marines.
TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene and his warriors supported troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Despard in an attack on the pàat Ruapekapeka. Kawiti's tactics was to attempt to repeat the success of the Battle of à Âhaeawai and draw the colonial forces into an attack on heavily fortified pÃÂ. The colonial forces started a cannon bombardment of Ruapekapeka Pàon 27 December 1845. The siege continued for some two weeks with enough patrols and probes from the pàto keep everyone alert. Then, early in the morning of Sunday, 11 January 1846, TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene's men discovered that the pàappeared to have been abandoned; although Te Ruki Kawiti and a few of his warriors remained behind, and appeared to have been caught unaware by the British assault. The assaulting force drove Kawiti and his warriors out of the pÃÂ. Fighting took place behind the pàand most casualties occurred in this phase of the battle.
After the Battle of Ruapekapeka, Heke and Kawiti were ready for peace. They approached WÃÂka Nene to act as the intermediary to negotiate with Governor Grey. Nene insisted that no action should be taken against Heke and Kawiti for leading the war.
The Government lost a great deal of mana and influence in the North as a result of the war, much of which flowed to Nene. He and Heke were recognised as the two most influential men in the North. He was given a pension of one hundred pounds a year and had a cottage built for him in Kororareka (Russell). He continued to advise and assist the Government on matters such as the release of Pomare II in 1846 and Te Rauparaha in 1848.
When George Grey was knighted he chose Nene as one of his esquires. Then when he returned for his second term of governorship in 1860 he brought Nene a silver cup from Queen Victoria. Nene accompanied Grey to Taranaki to negotiate a truce with Wiremu Tamihana (the King maker) to end the First Taranaki War in 1861. En route to New Plymouth the ship struck a huge storm but survived which was taken as a favourable omen.
TÃÂmati WÃÂka Nene died on 4 August 1871, and is buried in Russell. The Governor at the time, Sir George Bowen, said that Nene did more than any other MÃÂori to promote colonisation and to establish the Queen's authority.