This virtual cache brings you to the Te Ranga battle site of 21st June 1864, the final and decisive engagement between British troops and Māori Kingite warriors during the Tauranga Campaign of the New Zealand Wars.
In the aftermath of the shock defeat of General Cameron’s British forces at the Battle of Gate Pā (Pukehinahina) on 29th April 1864, Governor Grey wrote to a relative that ‘we are all here plunged into a sorrow and grief that I cannot describe’. He arrived in Tauranga on 12th May and spoke of his ‘desire for the two races, to be at peace’. The local iwi, Ngāi Te Rangi had successfully taken the war to the British and with relatively few casualties. Maori hopes were raised that peace could be negotiated and they might yet keep their land.
With winter approaching, General Cameron considered his options. From the outset he had been unhappy about what he saw as Governor Grey’s interference in military matters, and the governor’s arrival may have hastened Cameron’s decision to return to Auckland. It seems he saw little point in seeking revenge for Gate Pā and although he cited “inaccessible terrain” and “increasingly unfavourable weather” as reasons not to continue the offensive against Ngāi Te Rangi and their allies, the real reason was that, despite meticulous preparations and overwhelming superiority in men and artillery, he had failed at Gate Pā and (as he himself admitted), he did not know why.
On 15th May Cameron announced that he had abandoned aggressive actions in Tauranga. The 43rd (Monmouthshire) and 3rd Waikato Regiments were to be withdrawn. Cameron believed that the British presence in Tauranga would be enough to enforce the blockade of Waikato that had been the original purpose of their deployment. It was now more important to consolidate the Waikato frontier and deal with new problems in Taranaki and Whanganui. On 16th May Cameron embarked to Auckland with 700 men, leaving instructions for more men to follow. Lieutenant-Colonel Greer was instructed to hold the territory they already had.
The British occupied the Te Papa peninsula, the early nucleus of what is now the modern city of Tauranga. Redoubts were built to provide protection from a hostile approach from the sea or from west or east along the coast. Greer still had at his disposal 1500 British and colonial troops. From June this force included the 1st Waikato Regiment, a militia unit recruited in Australia. They, along with men from the 68th (Durham) Regiment, garrisoned Gate Pā and Maketū to the east. A further 100 men were stationed at the India Redoubt north of Gate Pā, while Greer and a mobile force of 500 men remained at Te Papa.
Lt Colonel Henry Greer commanded the British forces on 21st June 1864
Cameron was convinced Ngāi Te Rangi would not attack the British. They would instead seek to repeat the tactics that had brought them success at Gate Pā by building a pā and provoking the British into assaulting it. Cameron’s parting instruction to Greer was to remain vigilant and mount constant patrols. If Ngāi Te Rangi attempted to build a pā, they should be attacked without delay.
Ngai Te Rangi war chief and Gate Pa strategist Rawiri Puhirake's fighting force was bolstered by the arrival of allies from Ngāti Rangiwewehi (Rotorua), Ngāti Pikiao (Rotoiti) and Ngāti Porou. With 500 men at his disposal, he made plans to build a new pā inland from Gate Pā to draw the British out from Te Papa, just as Cameron had predicted. The Māori force arrived at Te Ranga late on 20th June 1864 and immediately set to work digging rifle pits...
Meanwhile, on 20th June Captain Colville and other officers in camp rode over the district conducting a regular patrol. Their route took them to Te Ranga, the narrow ridge on the track leading inland. They saw nothing. The next morning at 8am, Colonel Greer marched out of Te Papa on a reconnaissance in strength. 3 field officers, 9 captains, 14 subalterns, 24 sergeants, 13 buglers and 531 rank and file were under his command. Some accounts say the British ‘stumbled’ across the Māori force before they had a chance to complete their defences. Historian Chris Pugsley, on the other hand, believes that Greer had good intelligence on developments at Te Ranga. To Pugsley, it ‘seems more than coincidental’ that Greer chose the morning of 21st June to leave Te Papa with over 530 men and a 6-pounder Armstrong field gun.
On 21st June the rifle pits and trenches at Te Ranga were far from complete and therefore vulnerable. In his report later that day Greer gave his account of what took place:
"I found a large force of Maori (about 600) entrenching themselves about four miles beyond Pukehinahina. They had made a single line of rifle pits of the usual form, across the road, in a position exactly similar to Pukehinahina, the commencement of a formidable pa. Having driven in some skirmishers they had thrown out, I extended the 43rd and a portion of the 68th in their front and on the flanks as far as practicable, and kept up a sharp fire for about two hours, while I sent back for reinforcements... As soon as they were sufficiently near to support, I sounded the advance, when the 43rd, 68th, and 1st Waikato Militia charged, and carried the rifle pits in the most dashing manner, under a tremendous fire, but which for the most part was too high. For a few minutes the Maoris fought desperately, and then were utterly routed."
It was a bloody scene. The close confines meant that much fighting took place, hand to hand, in the rifle pits, estimated at 250 yards long and four and a half feet deep. The 43rd and 68th regiments, which had suffered badly at Gate Pā, were determined to avenge their dead comrades and their regiments’ reputation. As a result of their bravery during the fierce hand-to-hand fighting, the twice-wounded Captain Frederick Smith of the 43rd and Sergeant John Murray of the 68th were both awarded the Victoria Cross. Forced into a fighting retreat, Puhirake was able to briefly rally his men before he fell, after which the defenders broke and fled, suffering terrible casualties as the British fired at them from the trenches they now controlled. Historian James Belich believes that Ngāi Te Rangi and their allies had chosen to stay and fight (when they could have escaped) because they were expecting reinforcements. Perhaps Colonel Greer’s deployment of his troops around the rear and flanks made this an impossibility. In any case, by the time the expected reinforcements were near, their comrades had already been forced to retreat and the battle was all but over.
Captain Frederick Augustus Smith, commander of a detachment of the 43rd Regiment, and winner of one of two Victoria Crosses awarded at Te Ranga.
The following day the rifle pits became a mass grave for 108 Māori found dead in and around the trenches. Another 43 were taken prisoner, 32 of them wounded – 15 later died from their wounds. To the British, who lost 13 killed, Te Ranga was a resounding victory, and vengeance for the humiliating defeat at the Gate Pā a few months earlier. To the Maori, who had lost over 120 warriors and their leaders Rawiri Puhirake and Henare Taratoa, it was a disaster which would mark the last major engagement between government and Kingite Māori forces in the Waikato-Tauranga wars of 1863-64.
Henare Taratoa, Ngai Te Rangi leader and teacher, one of over 120 Māori killed at Te Ranga. Taratoa wrote the challenge and code of conduct sent to Col. Greer prior to the Battle of Gate Pa.
2024 marks the 160thanniversary of the Battle of Te Ranga.
Tauranga City Council has provided funding to redevelop this historic site and help tell the story of June 21,1864. As of March 2024, the works are as yet incomplete but will include...
- A tomokanga (gateway) at Joyce Road for entry to the site
- A carpark on Joyce Road near the tomokanga
- Walkways
- Planting parallel to Pyes Pa Road for sound protection and planting on the hillside and the land below the reserve.
Once further funding has been secured, carvings, additional walkways, information panels and a covered structure will be added.
The site is on the corner of Pyes Pa Road and Joyce Road. I suggest accessing this virtual by parking on Joyce Road (S 37 45.264 E 176 07.173) as there is no safe parking on busy Pyes Pa Road.
First to log congratulations go to tryfyn (16.3.24, 11:23am) with an honourable mention to TNXPro who logged just a few minutes later.
To claim this virtual cache;
1) You need to prove your presence at the battle site by supplying a photograph of yourself (or part thereof -showing your face is optional) with either the centennial memorial or the pouwhenua (carved wooden post) in view.
2) You also need to send me a message with answers to the following two simple questions;
a) How many faces of the centennial memorial have a plaque attached?
b) What is the approximate distance between the pouwhenua and the memorial? (You can state in metres or paces).
Send your answers to me privately (do not put the answers in your log), post your photo(s) in the public log (not the personal message to me with the answers) and proceed to log the cache. I reserve the right to remove any logs which do not meet the logging requirements.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.