Pandora Research www.nzpictures.co.nz Available: Alexander Turnbull Library New Zealand Pacific (P q356 GUR 1935) Source: NLNZ ALMA 9910259313502836 History of the 58th regiment (The Rutlandshire regiment of Foot) which served in New Zealand bewteen [i.e. between] 1845 and 1858 Russell GURNEY 1935 Typescript extract from: Gurney, R. History of the Northamptonshire regiment, 1742-1934. Aldershot : Gale and Polden Last updated 15 November 2016 Contributed by Susan C Wilson, NZSG Hutt Valley Page 1 of 25 Pandora Research www.nzpictures.co.nz 1 In November, 1841, they moved to Chatham preparatory to embarking for New South Wales in relief of the 80th, who were ordered to India. They remained at Chatham for nearly two years before sailing. Being required for duty as convict guards on board ship, the Regiment sailed in small detachments as ship-loads of convicts were accumulated for deportation. This resulted in an interval of about eighteen months between the departure of the first and last contingents, and altogether the move to Australia was performed in fifteen different ships. The first detachment sailed from Deptford on 13th July 1843, in the Orator; they were followed by Headquarters on 14th May, 1844, who embarked at Gravesend on the Pestongee Bomangee; the move of the remainder continued at intervals until January, 1845, when the last detachment left England. On first arrival in Australia the 58th had its headquarters at Sydney, New South Wales. While there a mounted detachment was formed, in accordance with custom, to deal with bushrangers. Their stay in Australia was very brief, as in March 1845, a rising of the Maoris in New Zealand reached alarming proportions, and the 58th were sent to Auckland as reinforcements. Though New Zealand had been known since 1642, it was not until the latter part of the eighteenth century that England had any connection with the country. Captain Cook was the first Englishman to visit the country in 1769, which was then inhabited entirely by the native Maoris. "The Maoris were a strange mixture of civilization and savagery ... They were cannibals, yet they were essentially an agricultural people, and more scrupulous in Last updated 15 November 2016 Contributed by Susan C Wilson, NZSG Hutt Valley Page 2 of 25 Pandora Research www.nzpictures.co.nz 2 sanitary matters than many Europeans. Dark skinned though often not more so than the Portuguese, straight hared [sic], tall and athletic, with singular dignity of bearing, they were proud and bloodthirsty, as befits a race which lives only for warfare; but they had also remarkable power of oratory, and they passed from mouth to mouth a great body of heroic poems celebrating the great deeds of their ancestors. Withal they observed a certain sense ofchivalry [sic]. They would supply an enemy with food to enable him to continue in the field, and would fix time and place, which were faithfully observed, for a hostile meeting. They possessed a singular gift for the choice of strong positions, and very remarkable skill in fortifying them with ditches, embankments and palisades." Late in the eighteenth century roving Englishmen, mainly whalers and traders, found their way to New Zealand and began to traffic with the Maoris, selling then fire-arms. Frantic competition arose among the chiefs for the New weapons, for on them depended strength for their tribes - or extinction. Missionaries and more reputable traders settled in the country and undoubtedly did much good. For personal protection each man relied on some neighbouring chief, occupying a grant of land from the natives, and in return allowing himself to be plundered to almost any, extent by his protector. Unfortunately, a less reputable type of settler came and squatted on the land without due agreement with the chiefs. Out of this, considerable trouble arose; the land belonged not only to the chief, but to the whole tribe, so if one member of the tribe refused agreement a wily chief could always plead that the con-tract was invalid, even if the squatter had paid for his land in arms and ammunition.Naturally, before long the Maoris and English come to blows. Last updated 15 November 2016 Contributed by Susan C Wilson, NZSG Hutt Valley Page 3 of 25 Pandora Research www.nzpictures.co.nz 3 Conditions became so bad that, in 1840, a detach-ment of one hundred soldiers from New South Wales were transferred to New Zealand as a permanent garrison, and a governor was sent out from England. He endeavoured to get a concession of the sovereignty of the islands to the Queen by fair means, and the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, though it must be admitted that most of the chiefs only appended their signature after considerable bribery. Besides the continual argument about the possession of land, the native chiefs were upset by the cessation of the demand for timber from Australia, the establish-ment of Customs duties, and also by the removal of the seat of government from Korarareka (now Russell) to Auckland. Consequently a strong feeling against the British sprang up in the minds of the natives, which was constantly fostered by French and American settlers. Chief Heki seemed to attach some mysterious importance to the flagstaff at Russell, and in July, 1844 he cut it down. He was persuaded to apologise to the Government and a new one was erected; but Heki's superstitions were too strong for him, and he cut it down a second time. After that an iron-shod flagstaff was put up and a detachment of troops and a party of seamen were stationed near it. A climax was reached on 11th March, 1845 when Heki once more revolted and Russell, which is situated on the north coast in the Bay of Islands, was captured and burnt. After the sacking of the town "the redoubtable Hone Heki placed a white blind, which he had wrenched from a window, on a girl's shoulders to represent a flag of truce. The warrior then ordered her to accompany the remainder of her party down to the beach, her mantle of white affording a protection from the rifles of the Maoris who had surrounded the place." The girl was the daughter of one of the signalmen at Russell, and Last updated 15 November 2016 Contributed by Susan C Wilson, NZSG Hutt Valley Page 4 of 25 Pandora Research www.nzpictures.co.nz 4 later married a soldier in the 58th. Two companies of the 58th were at once rushed across from Australia in H.M.S. North Star, and reached Auckland on 25th March, 1845. On 22nd April they were joined by the headquarters of the Regiment under Major Cyprian Bridge, half a company going to Wellington; other companies followed on 27th April. On 27th April an expedition consisting of two hundred and fifty men of the 58th and detachments of the 96th Regiment, seamen and marines, under Colonel Hulme of the 96th, saild [sic] from Auckland to the Bay of Islands. They were landed on 30th April at Onewero, on the Kiri-kiri River, and on the 3rd May, 1845, the campaign opened and continued with short interruptions for the next two years. We were not opposed by one composite army which could be brought to battle and defeated, but rather by a number of independent chiefs who maintained a form of guerrilla warfare. One tribe would cause trouble and then retire to their pah. Here they would remain while a punitive column was prepared and moved against them, a slow and dificult [sic] business; then when all preparations were complete for an assault, they would slip away with their superior mobility to another pah, and the whole procedure had to be repeated. All this time oper-ations were complicated by the necessity of finding detachments for the protection of isolated settlers and friendly natives. The first objective was a pah, or fortified post, at Okaihu, about ten miles from the sea, which was occupied by Heki. The force, four hundred strong, could obtain no transport of any kind, so Hulme loaded his men with five days' ration of biscuit, two days' cooked meat and extra ammunition. They were entirely dependent on natives for information and guidance, and had to force their way through dense forest; twice they Last updated 15 November 2016 Contributed by Susan C Wilson, NZSG Hutt Valley Page 5 of 25 Pandora Research www.nzpictures.co.nz 5 were compelled to retire by heavy rain which ruined their supplies and ammunition. Finally, on 7th May they neared their ob-jective and encamped in the pah of a friendly Maori. Heki's pah was reported to be of great strength, consisting of three rows of stockades, each of trees a foot in diameter, with traverses and deep holes dug for shelter. Artillery was obviously necessary, but Hulme had none. He had, however, a few rockets, and hoped with these to set the stronghold on fire. The attempt failed as the huts had been thatched with green flax, so he pre-pared to retire. As he did so, the Maoris attacked and were only repulsed at the point of the bayonet. Hulme's casualties amounted to 53, of which the 58th lost 8 men killed and 14 wounded. After the action the wounded were carried by their comrades for eighteen miles over saturated country, but the column suffered no further molestation and reached their base at Onewero. The troops had been living on half rations, the difficulties had been great, and the possibility of future success seemed remote. In the meantime, farther south, a minor success attended the troops near Auckland, as on 15th May, Major Bridge, with two hundred men of the 58th, had captured and burnt the pah at Waikadi, afterwards returning to Auckland.