Rewi Maniapoto

Photograph of Rewi Manga Maniapoto taken in June 1879

Rewi Manga Maniapoto (1807–1894) was a Ngāti Maniapoto chief who led rebel Kingitanga forces during the New Zealand government Invasion of Waikato during the New Zealand Wars.

Kinship

Rewi, or Manga as he was known to his kin, was the child of Paraheke (Te Kore) and Te Ngohi. His mother Paraheke was from Ngati Raukawa with connections to Kaputuhi. His father Te Ngohi, also known as Kawhia, was a renowned fighting chief of Ngāti Paretekawa and was a signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi, one of five chiefs from Maniapoto who signed.

Invasion

Maniapoto was decisively beaten in every battle by General Cameron. He made a stand at Orakau in 1864. Rewi and the Kingitanga (Maori King Movement) rebels were surrounded by the government forces, with limited supplies of food and water. The government forces built a sap (trench) up to within 20m of the pā (earth fort) and threw in hand grenades. Gilbert Mair, an officer who spoke Maori fluently, invited them to surrender or at least let out the woman and children. The Kingites refused, saying they would fight on forever, but at 3:30pm the same day a gun was bought to the head of the sap and shelled the pā at point-blank range. At this the defenders panicked and, leaving 50 toa (warriors) in the pā, the rest made a sudden break through the government lines and into adjacent swamps. All 50 in the pā were killed or taken prisoner. 160 Kingitanga rebels died. Half of the escapees were wounded. Seventeen of the government forces died and 52 were wounded.

Maniapoto stayed in the King Country south of the Punui River with the surviving rebels. He constructed two more pā but the government forces did not follow him into the hills. Maniapoto played host to the rebel Waikato iwi (tribe) but relationships soured when the king tried to exert his authority over Maniapoto's land. This, together with Maniapoto's refusal to stand and fight at the battle of Rangiriri in 1863, left a bitter note between the two rebel groups. Rewi became concerned at the outbreaks of drunkenness among his people and the murdering of isolated Pakeha (Europeans) travelling in the area. Eventually he agreed to sell land to the government for the main trunk railway line on the understanding that his men would be paid to cut the bush for the surveyors and no alcohol was to be sold in the King Country. Maniapoto was returned his tribal land at Kihikihi and given a house and a government pension. He became a great friend of Governor Grey and wished to be buried with him.

External links

• Rewi Manga Maniapoto biography from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
• Biography in 1966 An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand