Wairau Affray captured in Pale History exhibition 178 years later

Thursday, 24 June 2021

Christian chief Rawiri Puaha, of Ngāti Toa, who called for peace before the battle for land, is part of a striking sculpture exhibition at the Millennium Art Gallery that opened on the 178th anniversary of the Wairau Affray.

A sculpture exhibition has vividly reimagined the moment sparking the first armed conflict over land after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.

Rangatahi from Te Puna Mātauranga o Toa Rangatira in Porirua at the opening of Pale History in Blenheim on June 17.

The Wairau Affray broke out on June 17, 1843, when British settlers from Nelson tried to evict Māori with a fraudulent land deed, and wrongly arrest Ngāti Toa chiefs in Marlborough. The battle claimed 26 lives.

The significant event has been revisited by Ngāti Toa Rangatira Ki Wairau, who gathered 178 years later to the day, to open the Pale History exhibition at the Millennium Art Gallery in Blenheim with karakia.

Ngāti Toa spokesperson Dr Lorraine Eade said the day was particularly emotional as some of the guests were directly descended from the historic figures depicted in the installation.

Karanga Wineera Metekingi of Porirua takes in the images, including her ancestor behind her, Ngāti Toa paramount chief Te Peehi Kupe, who travelled on English trading boat Urania to Liverpool to buy muskets in 1824.

New Zealand Company agent Arthur Wakefield sailed to Wairau to arrest Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata.

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Nelson police magistrate Henry Thompson sailed for the Wairau to arrest senior Ngāti Toa chiefs on arson charges.

“The Wairau Incident was a place marker in history … and the demonstrable effects that event had for Ngāti Toa as an iwi, those impacts are still being felt today,” Eade said.

“It was an event that has been regularly recalled over the past 180-odd years, and no doubt will continue into the future.”

At the opening of Pale History, from left, Nanny Tahu, Lois Weston, Pandra Reihana, and Molly Luke.

Nelson artist Sally Burton’s carefully researched work, in found wood, tapa cloth and paint, depicted the moment after the death of Te Rongo, wife of Ngāti Toa chief Te Rangihaeata, who was killed by what was believed to be the first shot of the battle.

New Zealand Company agent Arthur Wakefield, upon realising he had over-sold land and needed an extra 70,000 hectares, set out to survey land in Wairau Valley, Marlborough which he believed had been sold by Ngāti Toa after buying a fraudulent deed of sale.

Kiri Naik will play Pirihira in The Wairau Affray, a theatre adaptation written by Justin Eade.

Senior Ngāti Toa chiefs petitioned for a review from the Land Commissioner, but he was too busy in Wellington, so they escorted surveyors from the Wairau, pulling up survey pegs, taking their equipment and burning down makeshift huts.

A warrant for arrest was issued for chiefs Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata on arson charges, and about 50 settlers sailed from Nelson to arrest them.

Ngāti Toa chief Te Rangihaeata called for utu (revenge) for the death of his wife Te Rongo.

After deaths on both sides, some of the settlers fled, while others were killed after surrendering, partly as utu for deaths including Te Rongo.

The Affray was the first battle of Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (The New Zealand Wars), and the only one to take place in the South Island.

Governor Fitzroy investigated the Wairau Affray and exonerated Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata. The Land Commissioner declared in 1844 they were correct that the Wairau had not been sold.

But many Māori had vacated the area. Those who stayed were afraid of further Government attacks, while European settlers also feared retaliation and the Company’s Nelson base was fortified.

Eade said on behalf of Ngāti Toa she was pleased to share Burton's Pale History with the Marlborough community. “Those individual sculptures of people involved in the event tell an emotional story.”

The name of the exhibition was chosen to reflect that narratives told about historical events were often pale versions of the truth.

Ngāti Toa, whanaunga (relatives) from Porirua attended the opening last week as part of a historical tour of Marlborough, marking the treaty signing in Port Underwood, which was exactly three years before the Affray, on June 17, in 1840.

Eade said the kaupapa behind the exhibition started in 2018, with bigger plans for the trust’s commemoration of the event, with support from Te Puni Kōkiri’s, Te Pūtake o Te Riri fund (NZ Wars and Conflicts), but Covid-19 affected the planning process.

However, this year the trust was able to open Pale History to coincide with The Wairau Affray at the ASB Theatre Marlborough from June 24 to 26, as well as at the Theatre Royal in Nelson from July 1 to 3.

Ngāti Toa Rangatira Ki Wairau, chairwoman Patricia Joseph said Ngāti Toa thought signing the treaty would enable them to look after their own affairs while the Queen governed, as the Māori version promised tino rangatiratanga (full authority) over their lands, forests, fisheries and other possessions, as well as the same rights as other New Zealand citizens.

However, the Affray was an attempt to ignore what was promised, and employed the bullying tactics previously used in Massacre Bay and Tākaka in 1842, among other incidents, Joseph said.

“Many Māori and European lives were lost, needlessly,” Joseph said.

“The New Zealand Company contingent fired the first shot. Ngāti Toa responded, to protect their lands, and their people. European ‘law’ had not worked previously in terms of protecting Ngāti Toa under the Treaty, so in this instance, they used their own ‘lore’, their own customs, to address what was an intentional act of land theft, and justice for the murder of their own.”

Ngāti Toa preferred to describe the area as maungārongo, meaning peace and amity, as suggested by Hapareta Rore Pukekohatu on behalf of Wairau Pā Māori in 1904, instead of its name at the time, “Massacre Hill”.

“We hope that as people come to attend the Wairau Affray play and Pale History exhibition, that it starts you on a journey and search for the truth,” Joseph said.

Pale History can be viewed at the Millennium Art Gallery in Blenheim until July 25.