Gate Pa: Battle that shaped a city

Josh Te Kani spent yesterday with other members of Tauranga Moana iwi paying their respects on the site of the Battle of Gate Pa and educating school children and others who visited on the 151st anniversary of the battle.Photo / John Borren

A church bell tolled 60 times for the fallen of the Battle of Gate Pa at the exact time and place that British soldiers and Maori warriors were killing each other 151 years ago.

The Reverend John Hebenton of St George's Anglican Church led a moving commemoration yesterday in the church built on the site of the battle on April 29, 1864.

Sixty-five people gathered in the church for what Rev Hebenton hoped would become an annual commemoration of the attack that shaped modern Tauranga.

He used recollections of the battle by Ngai Te Rangi chief Hori Ngatai, taken down in shorthand when Hori visited Wellington for the last time in 1903.

Hori was 25 when the battle was fought, with the Maori defenders softened up by an artillery bombardment that began the previous day and demolished the pa's ramparts.

Taking shelter in the trenches, Hori said they were covered with mud and drenched with rain. British forces attempted to storm the pa at 4pm the next next day and breached the walls of the outer pa.

"All at once the tide of war was changed. Up leaped our men from the rifle pits as if vomited from the bowels of the earth ... and began a deadly hand-to-hand fight with the storming party.

"The defenders of the smaller [inner] pa held their position and raked the attackers with heavy fire. Men fell thick and fast. Tomahawk clashed on cutlass and bayonet - tupara [shotguns] met rifle and pistol. Skulls were cloven, Maoris were bayoneted ... the place was soon full of dying and dead men, pakeha and Maori.

"It was terrible work, but soon over. The pakehas were driven clean out of the pa, as they ran our men falling upon them," Hori said..

Talking about Maori chivalry, Hori said: "Ah! Those were glorious days, Every fighter was a rangatira and one was proud to meet each other in battle. Whatever the reverses were to either side, no bitter feelings were engendered to form any permanent hatred."

Ngaitamarawaho kaumatua Peri Kohu, whose great, great grandfather and great grandfather fought at Gate Pa, urged people to pause and feel the pain of the aftermath of the battle so that they could all go forward together and put aside differences. "Always remember the events on this hill."

Year 12 Aquinas College student Bryna Karl read a prayer followed by a Bible reading by Viv Whimster of the Wesley Methodist Church.