The Battle of Taumatawiwi - Lake Karapiro
The area on the southern side of Lake Karapiro where the sports facility is today was the scene of a bloody episode of the musket wars.
On this site around 1830 the local Ngati-haua led by Chief Te Waharoa with only 300 warriors defeated the Nagti-maru who fielded some 3,000 warriors.
Below - the memorial gateway, plaques, and "stinking rocks":
Background: Some years previously, the Ngati-maru had fled from the Thames area after Hongi Heke and his Ngapui armed with muskets had captured and sacked their main pa Te Totara. Ngati-maru then settled on Ngati-haua land forming a large pa (Hao-whenua). This pa was sited about 3km up the present Luck-at-Last Road on the left - see map below.
The Battle of Taumatawiwi (Literally Taumata: “the brow of a hill”; wiwi: - “the old term for the fear engendered by musket fire”) - at present-day Lake Karapiro: “Stinking Rocks”.
The following account is from:
“Guide to Historical Sites of Maungatautari and Roto-O-Rangi”
Complied by John Scott (1994)
Cambridge Museum booklet #993-357 Sco
Te Waharoa was born at Maungakawa in the Maungatautari area (Mt Maungatautari being the local mountain - today a predator-free sanctuary), and at the age of two was captured by a raiding party of Ngai-whakaue (Arawa) from Rotorua. In about 1795, at the age of 18, Te Waharoa was permitted to return to his father’s tribe in the Maungakawa hills. Although he was very determined to recapture his ancestral lands and avenge the indignity of their capture, Te Waharoa was well-aware that he was hopelessly outnumbered - therefore he bided his time.
Eventually his opportunity for revenge arose when news reached him that Waikato tribes were planning an attack on his oppressors the Ngati-maru. At this time Te Waharoa was about 50 years of age.
Realizing that he would still remain in a subservient position under Waikato victory over the Ngati-maru, Te Waharoa devised a clever tactic to ensure that the victory and subsequent mana would be his as battle-leader:
He asked his old friends the Ngai-te-rangi (of Tauranga) to lend him 1000 men, who, he assured the chiefs, would simply be present at the battle just for a show of force - and therefore they would gain mana as well as prizes (loot and slaves) from a victory but suffer no losses themselves.
Under this condition, the request was granted, and so shortly afterwards Te Waharoa met up with the Tauranga force at the junction of the Karapiro stream and the Waikato River (site of present-day Cambridge). His fixed intention was to conquer the Ngati-maru before the Waikato tribes arrived on the scene.
Ngati-maru were eager to fight and so confident of victory (and a great feast) themselves, that they had chosen a point on the site of Tamatawiwi (Lake Karapiro) to defend for the battle, forsaking in their bravado the protection of their nearby strong fortification at Hao-whenua - their 3,000 warriors facing what they regarded as a paltry inferior tribe of 300 mere vassals.
With the advantage in these circumstances of being able to employ attacking tactics, Te Waharoa divided his own force of 300 - sending 140 to attack the enemies' flank, while 140 led by himself to attack the enemies’ position frontally.
Crucially, 20 of his best warriors were delegated to stand on a high bank at the far end of the site and at the end of the long row of the well-armed Ngai-te rangi formation of 1,000. At an agreed sign these 20 were to race forwards in attack, passing all along the Tauranga line.
When the 20 warriors got the sign and attacked, they raced downhill towards the enemy -past the Tauranga 1,000 - shouting, grimacing and brandishing their weapons. As planned by Te Waharoa, the Tauranga warriors became so excited by this tremendous display that they of course rushed forward also and joined in the attack - their impetus and ferocity ensured that the battle was won.
The Ngati-maru survivors fled back to their pa.
Now in possession of the battlefield, Te Waharoa regrouped and also instructed his followers to immediately set about burning their dead unless they should fall into the hands of the enemy, after a possible counter-attack, and thereby suffer the indignities of customary Maori practice under such circumstances: including ritual cannibalism, the decapitation of heads for preservation (mokai for the musket trade or future insult), and the taking of bones for carving cultural artefacts (flutes, fish-hooks, etc).
The number of dead are not given, but it is reported that the gruesome task took two days to complete - so the number must have been considerable. The large pyre was lit on a group of rocks near the river. The stench of the mass-cremation was such that the spot was named “Karapiro”: “stinking rocks”.
The counter-attack did not eventuate. According to the record, some lengthy negotiations took place, after which, rather surprisingly (given Maori custom in such cases) the Ngati-maru they were neither slaughtered and eaten, nor enslaved, but escorted back to the Thames area by the victors.
Further detail of the proceedings is given by RD Crosby in his book “The Musket Wars”.
When the hydro dam at Lake Karipiro was finished (1947) the rocks were submerged, but were were later retrieved from the water for the 1978 World Rowing Championships.
One of the rocks is erected on the nearby Maungatautari Marae, f
our of the others have been placed as a memorial, complete with brass plaques, and a waharoa (carved gateway) at the northern corner of the Sir Don Rowlands Centre near the Western bank of Lake Karapiro - just down the roadway from entrance #2 to the Karapiro Reserve.
Above and below: the rocks themselves:
On this site around 1830 the local Ngati-haua led by Chief Te Waharoa with only 300 warriors defeated the Nagti-maru who fielded some 3,000 warriors.
Below - the memorial gateway, plaques, and "stinking rocks":
Background: Some years previously, the Ngati-maru had fled from the Thames area after Hongi Heke and his Ngapui armed with muskets had captured and sacked their main pa Te Totara. Ngati-maru then settled on Ngati-haua land forming a large pa (Hao-whenua). This pa was sited about 3km up the present Luck-at-Last Road on the left - see map below.
The Battle of Taumatawiwi (Literally Taumata: “the brow of a hill”; wiwi: - “the old term for the fear engendered by musket fire”) - at present-day Lake Karapiro: “Stinking Rocks”.
The following account is from:
“Guide to Historical Sites of Maungatautari and Roto-O-Rangi”
Complied by John Scott (1994)
Cambridge Museum booklet #993-357 Sco
Te Waharoa was born at Maungakawa in the Maungatautari area (Mt Maungatautari being the local mountain - today a predator-free sanctuary), and at the age of two was captured by a raiding party of Ngai-whakaue (Arawa) from Rotorua. In about 1795, at the age of 18, Te Waharoa was permitted to return to his father’s tribe in the Maungakawa hills. Although he was very determined to recapture his ancestral lands and avenge the indignity of their capture, Te Waharoa was well-aware that he was hopelessly outnumbered - therefore he bided his time.
Eventually his opportunity for revenge arose when news reached him that Waikato tribes were planning an attack on his oppressors the Ngati-maru. At this time Te Waharoa was about 50 years of age.
Realizing that he would still remain in a subservient position under Waikato victory over the Ngati-maru, Te Waharoa devised a clever tactic to ensure that the victory and subsequent mana would be his as battle-leader:
He asked his old friends the Ngai-te-rangi (of Tauranga) to lend him 1000 men, who, he assured the chiefs, would simply be present at the battle just for a show of force - and therefore they would gain mana as well as prizes (loot and slaves) from a victory but suffer no losses themselves.
Under this condition, the request was granted, and so shortly afterwards Te Waharoa met up with the Tauranga force at the junction of the Karapiro stream and the Waikato River (site of present-day Cambridge). His fixed intention was to conquer the Ngati-maru before the Waikato tribes arrived on the scene.
Ngati-maru were eager to fight and so confident of victory (and a great feast) themselves, that they had chosen a point on the site of Tamatawiwi (Lake Karapiro) to defend for the battle, forsaking in their bravado the protection of their nearby strong fortification at Hao-whenua - their 3,000 warriors facing what they regarded as a paltry inferior tribe of 300 mere vassals.
With the advantage in these circumstances of being able to employ attacking tactics, Te Waharoa divided his own force of 300 - sending 140 to attack the enemies' flank, while 140 led by himself to attack the enemies’ position frontally.
Crucially, 20 of his best warriors were delegated to stand on a high bank at the far end of the site and at the end of the long row of the well-armed Ngai-te rangi formation of 1,000. At an agreed sign these 20 were to race forwards in attack, passing all along the Tauranga line.
When the 20 warriors got the sign and attacked, they raced downhill towards the enemy -past the Tauranga 1,000 - shouting, grimacing and brandishing their weapons. As planned by Te Waharoa, the Tauranga warriors became so excited by this tremendous display that they of course rushed forward also and joined in the attack - their impetus and ferocity ensured that the battle was won.
The Ngati-maru survivors fled back to their pa.
Now in possession of the battlefield, Te Waharoa regrouped and also instructed his followers to immediately set about burning their dead unless they should fall into the hands of the enemy, after a possible counter-attack, and thereby suffer the indignities of customary Maori practice under such circumstances: including ritual cannibalism, the decapitation of heads for preservation (mokai for the musket trade or future insult), and the taking of bones for carving cultural artefacts (flutes, fish-hooks, etc).
The number of dead are not given, but it is reported that the gruesome task took two days to complete - so the number must have been considerable. The large pyre was lit on a group of rocks near the river. The stench of the mass-cremation was such that the spot was named “Karapiro”: “stinking rocks”.
The counter-attack did not eventuate. According to the record, some lengthy negotiations took place, after which, rather surprisingly (given Maori custom in such cases) the Ngati-maru they were neither slaughtered and eaten, nor enslaved, but escorted back to the Thames area by the victors.
Further detail of the proceedings is given by RD Crosby in his book “The Musket Wars”.
When the hydro dam at Lake Karipiro was finished (1947) the rocks were submerged, but were were later retrieved from the water for the 1978 World Rowing Championships.
One of the rocks is erected on the nearby Maungatautari Marae, f
our of the others have been placed as a memorial, complete with brass plaques, and a waharoa (carved gateway) at the northern corner of the Sir Don Rowlands Centre near the Western bank of Lake Karapiro - just down the roadway from entrance #2 to the Karapiro Reserve.
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| The Hydro dam at Lake Karipiro |
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| Site of the gateway and the rocks |
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| The memorial plaque |
Below - Karipiro Dam and the nearby site of the rocks (circled), approximate site of Hao-whenua Pa on Luck-at-Last Road (pinned):
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