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Story: New Zealand Wars

Rangiaowhia

Rangiaowhia

After outflanking Pāterangi overnight, the colonial and British forces attacked Rangiaowhia – occupied by Waikato Māori supplying food to the fighters at the front – on the morning of 21 February 1864. The attack was a complete surprise. It was led by Colonel Marmaduke Nixon's Colonial Defence Force Cavalry. One of their number, Sergeant McHale, went forward to storm a whare and was shot. His fellow cavalrymen set out to recover his body and shoot at the defenders. In the process, Nixon himself was shot and fell. (He died later from his wounds.) This is the moment captured in this illustration. Nixon is the second figure from left in the middle, while the soldier running to his assistance is Lieutenant Thomas McDonnell. Those arriving at right on horseback include Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron. This and other whare were set on fire. Five members of the British force died during the fighting. Cameron reported 12 Māori deaths at Rangiaowhia, but Ngāti Apakura are adamant the number was much higher and included many non-combatants.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-109-050

by John Wilson

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Danny Keenan, New Zealand Wars – Waikato War: major battles, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/36920/rangiaowhia (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Danny Keenan, published 11 June 2012, updated 29 November 2022.

Comments

SAM
21 April 2024
Question- is this picture from the catholic priest journal that was present at the time of the Rangiaowhia attack that is stated in the above article?
Mike
14 April 2015
The article does not mention that Te Ua Haumene's wife (and child? ) were allegedly killed in this raid. This is one (the main reason ?)put forward that drove him to develop the Hauhau cult in Taranaki in 1865. However many sorces say he began his cult in 1862 preceding the the Waikato war by at least a year. Haumene himself was one of the defenders in the pa that was by-passed. He was acting as a religious adviser to the Maori. Haumene's own whanau say it drove him mad. Settler sources say he was mad. Haumene spread the false story that Anglican missionaries were implicated in a massacre at the village. Part of the Hauhau myth was that the attack on the village was a massacre of innocent women and children. Notes taken by officers at the scene make it clear that the whare (not a church as in some accounts) was set on fire by the defender's own musket fire. His killing of Angliacn Missionary Volkner, the cannibalism, blood sucking and beheading and dumping of the body in a shit hole that followed, was his utu or revenge for imaginary wrongs. Haumene had close links with the 2nd Maori king. Haumene gave him the name Tawhaio. Tawhaio adopted the Hauhau cult(also called Pai Marire).