‘In Open Rebellion’: Māori Warriors Transported to Van Diemen’s Land’

ICONIC MOMENTS DURING THE THIRD SIGNIFICANT armed conflict between Maori and colonists in New Zealand included the murders of settler Andrew Gillespie and his son and namesake, Andrew, on 2 April 1846 at the Hutt Valley, and an attack on Boulcott's Farm by warriors under the command of Te Rauparaha's nephew, Te Rangihaeata, and Te Mamaku on 16 May 1846. Less well remembered are a series of events preceding these attacks. Rather than according these acts the status of frontier warfare, Maori actions preceding the attack on the Gillespies were described in a colonial newspaper as 'robberies and outrages' committed by a 'horde of robbers and murderers'. The actions of the warriors involved were diminished through being criminalised. The men were brought before the colonial judiciary to answer for their actions, rather than treated as prisoners of war. It was within this context that Te Kumete, one of five Maori warriors from Whanganui later transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), was first threatened with transportation. Eventually he was shipped with Hohepa Te Umuroa, Te Waretiti, Matiu Tikiahi and Te Rahui into exile as a form of exemplary punishment intended by Governor George Grey to subdue his Maori opponents, styled as 'rebels', into submission. For a range of reasons, Grey's plan did not unfold exactly as he had envisaged.