#titokowaru

[gamerbrosephilon]

Alien Weaponry has three types of songs:

1: People in power have always used insidious methods to exploit and oppress the underprivileged and it is everyone's responsibility to resist the efforts of such people and bring justice to an unjust world. 2: The things that inflict misery upon a person can be extremely hard to escape alone and only with the help and support of your loved ones can you begin to travel the path of self-improvement. 3: Remember when Te Urekōhuru stabbed a guy? Was that badass or what?

[matteohudson]

Now Listening: Alien Weaponry - Tangaroa. #alienweaponry #alienweaponrytangeroa #titokowaru #hatupatu #ahika #tangaroa #unforgiving #blinded #kaiwhatu #crookedmonsters #buriedunderground #dad #ihenga #downtherabbithole #2021 #2021album #nowlistening #nowplaying https://www.instagram.com/p/CUF3by_sZwF/?utm_medium=tumblr

[javariscrittenton-blog]

Constable Garrett Lacey had sharp eyes, and in the murk more than a hundred yards away, he thought he discerned several moving forms. At first he thought they were Henry Morrison's sheep, but as they got a little closer he made out that the figures were human. Fugitives? Friendly Maori? A patrol from Waihi? 'Halt! Who goes there?' he yelled, levelling his carbine. No response. Lacey challenged again, without response. So he fired, and shouted, 'Stand to your arms boys! Surprise at last lost, Haowhenua leapt to his feet and roared 'Kokiri! Charge!' and several men returned Lacey's fire. Lacey's bullet went wide, but Taketake, aiming carefully, hit the sentry in the shoulder. Lacey dropped, and the Maori raced forward parallel with the east face of the redoubt towards the little group of exterior buildings. Cut off from his friends, Lacey lurched to his feet and staggered off into the fern clutching his wound. Captain Ross was up and out of his whare in an instant, dressed only in his shirt but carrying a revolver. He yelled to his men to stand to, and the constables inside the redoubt grabbed for their carbines and ammunition belts hanging on the tent poles within easy reach. Johnston, the other sentry, on duty near the gate, 'bolted in' with time to spare. His fellow settler-volunteer, Larry Milmoe, dragged suddenly from sleep in his flimsy tent outside the redoubt, was badly frightened but also made it inside. Constables Hamilton and Cowper, sleeping in the whare near the well, closer than Ross and Milmoe to the source of shots and shouts, panicked or decided they were cut off, and fled into the dark bush. Richard Lennon was less lucky or less prudent. Closest of all the charging Maori, he stopped to dress himself and was cut down by Tihirua and Charles Kane as he stepped out of his canteen. [..] When Lennon fell dead, Tihirua, the war party's priest, stooped, neatly cut open his chest, and removed the heart. With bullets now flying thick around him, he held the heart up, lit a match, scorched it slightly, and as the smoke rose cried 'Tu, The God of War, is with us.' This was the ancient Whangai Hau ceremony [..] Lennon's corpse was used for the Whangai Hau because he was Mata Ika, or 'First Fish', the first enemy slain in the battle. His killer gained considerable mana for their deed.

james belich, i shall not die: titokowaru's war (p. 88-9)

[javariscrittenton-blog]

Twelve miles away at Te Ngutu, on the evening of Saturday 11 July 1868, Titokowaru summoned his people to their great meeting house with a chant which began 'Here am I, at the Beak of the Bird'. Sitting cross-legged in front of them, he led prayers to Uenuku and then began pointing his finely carved taiaha, 'Te Porohanga' at individual warriors. Those picked out were the Tekau-ma-rua, The Twelve, an elite force or vanguard which actually varied in number. They would lead an attack on Turuturu Mokai that night. With The Twelve at its core, the taua or war party totalled sixty men, virtually Titokowaru's whole force, but he himself did not accompany it. Instead, it was lead by Haowhenua and another old veteran, Tautahi Ariki, or Tautai, who had fought at Otapawa and earlier lost all the flesh of one arm when pushing a shell away from his rifle pit. Haowhenua was close to seventy years old; among his younger subordinates was Te Kahupokoro, a lad of sixteen, who had fought his first battle at Sentry Hill four years before. Other members of the taua included Rapata Te Rangiora Nuku, Titokowaru's young half-brother, and the priest Tihirua, as well as Taketake and Taruhae, all young men of proven courage, whose boldness Haowhenua and Tautahi's experience was intended to keep in check. [..] Another member of the taua was an Irishman, Charles Kane, a deserter from the British army. Kane also went by the name Tiaki, or Jack (the generic Maori slang for a Pakeha soldier), James, and the alternative surname of King. He cannot be traced in the records of his regiment, the 18th, but the man himself definitely existed. Kimble Bent [another deserter] remembered he was 'exceedingly bitter against his old officers' [..] Kane was a fierce and courageous man, who would not brook ill-treatment from anyone. He felt vengeful towards the British and did not share Bent's inhibitions about shooting those of his countrymen in Victoria's service. Turuturu Mokai was his chance, and it was neither the first nor the last time that Irish blood was to be shed on both sides of the battlefield.

james belich, i shall not die: titokowaru's war (p. 82-3)

[javariscrittenton-blog]

A word for you. Cease travelling on the roads; stop forever going on the roads which lead to Mangamanga, lest you be left on the roads as food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, or for me, because I have eaten the European, as beef, he was cooked in a pot; the women and children partook of the food. I have begun to eat human flesh, and my throat is constantly open for the flesh of man. I shall not die; I shall not die. When death itself is dead I shall be alive.

titokowaru, letter dated 25 june 1868.

titokowaru's campaign of hikoi and hui espousing peace and reconciliation across the taranaki had widely been considered a success, but by 1868, the "slow cancer [of land confiscation] had begun again and would shortly leave them without enough fertile land to feed themselves."

so titokowaru turned his followers towards other passive forms of resistance, hoping to harass the military settlers off the land. he invoked muru, an ancient law that exacted compensation without war for an offence. practically, this meant targeted thefts across the farms of the taranaki, stealing horses, rustling livestock but also taking non-essential items.

again this failed; the chance of success was slim, but "slim hopes were the only kind available". the colonists responded with widespread arrests, hostage taking and village raids. when one of titokowaru's lieutenants, ihaka, escaped custody, the constabulary demanded his immediate return, with the implication of war if they did not assent.

titokowaru would strike first. on 9 june, 1868, a war party attacked and killed three colonists clearing logs at te rauna. then, on 12 june, tom smith of the armed constabulary strayed from the picket line chasing a horse. a war party of nga ruahine lay in ambush; they killed him and hacked him in two, taking his upper body with them to te ngutu.

there they performed the ceremonies associated with preparations for war on the body. "the heart was cut out and singed, the smoke an offering to tu, the god of war. and, in a ritual sometimes associated with uenuku, parts of the flesh were cooked for eating." a few warriors partook. titokowaru himself never ate human flesh, although found it useful as propaganda. it was intended as both a religious ritual and a weapon of fear, knowing the pakeha's dread of cannibalism.

this open letter was sent to the colonists on 25 june, making sure to publicise smith's fate. titokowaru's peace was over. titokowaru's war had begun.

[javariscrittenton-blog]

If he had thought about it, Governor Bowen might have described Katene [Tuwhakaruru] as the Maori Alcibiades. The son of Korere of Ngaruahine and Pinuia of Ngati Awa, he was taken prisoner by Waikato in the early 1830s. Until October 1866, he was a leading Ngaruahine warrior, eventually accumulating eight bullet wounds and a great reputation as a war leader, master of bushcraft, and 'a real fire-eater'. Then, after McDonnell attacked Pungarehu in October 1866, he suddenly turned his coat, explaining the action as follows: 'I have tried to do my best for the tribe. When I lead them into the fight they do not back me up; and when I told them that Pungarehu would one day be surprised, they laughed at me, and now these men are dead. I am sick of the whole thing. I shall stay with the Pakeha.' He then became chief guide to the colonial forces. Immensely active, an excellent shot and horseman, he has a wry wit and real military knowledge. Booth does not like him, but McDonnell, whose distrust of the Maori is otherwise universal, has great faith in his advice and believes that as a scout he 'could not be excelled'. But Katene is a man in two minds. As the conversation draws to its close, Katene asks Gudgeon: 'Do you trust me?' Gudgeon replies that he does and Katene says, 'You are right and you are wrong; you are right to trust me now, for I mean you well, but never trust a Maori. Some day I may remember that I have lost my land, and that the power and influence of my tribe has departed, and that you are the cause; at that moment I shall be your enemy; do not forget what I say.'

james belich, i shall not die (the year of the daughters, p. 44-5)